Roger Melliès started his career as an illustrator in the early 1920s. He started out making aircraft drawings for an American factory, located in Paris. He then became the longtime illustrator of catalogues for the Lafayette department stores, and for the magazine L'Auto. After working several years as a commercial artist, Melliès created his first aviation comic, 'Pilotes des Sables', published in Pierrot in 1939.
