Craig Rousseau - Early Career

Early Career

Growing up Craig Rousseau never saw comic books as a viable career option, instead wanting to explore a career as a commercial artist. "(I) wasn't planning on doing comics for a living. I grew up reading comics with a few of my good friends and never outgrew them. I always wanted to get into the art field and my parents were very supportive of that."

Rousseau began in comics in the mid-1990s while he was graduating from college with a double major in Painting/Illustration. His initial plan was to do freelance illustration and not comics, however he was hired to work at Marvel's Creative Service Department designing POGS and children's books and soon began illustrating comic books.

Rousseau's influences are varied. In a 1998 interview he stated, "There are lots of guys whose work I like and try to take something from and use it in my own way - Art Adams, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, Teddy Kristianson, Mike Weiringo, and lots more." He has also drawn from non-comic book artists and has cited artists such as Norman Rockwell, NC Wyeth, Aubrey Beardsley, Egon Schiele and Mucha as being strong influences on his work.