Payut Ngaokrachang

Payut Ngaokrachang
Payut at the Cherd Songsri Retrospective in September 2007 in Bangkok.
Born	(1929-04-01)1 April 1929 Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
Died	27 May 2010(2010-05-27) (aged 81)
Known for	Cartoonist, animator, film director, teacher
Notable work	The Adventure of Sudsakorn

Payut Ngaokrachang (Thai: ปยุต เงากระจ่าง, April 1, 1929 – May 27, 2010) was a Thai cartoonist and animator. He created Thai cinema's first cel-animated feature film, The Adventure of Sudsakorn.

Payut was born at Klong Warl village, Warkoe, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. As a child, Payut was interested in nang drama (shadow-puppet plays) and Felix the Cat.

In 1944, he enrolled in classes to become an art teacher. Payut studied by correspondence with illustrator Hem Vejakorn, whose work was seen on the covers of 10-satang pulp novels. Through their letters back and forth, Hem introduced Payut to drawing.

"I had been a fan of Khru Hem’s drawings since 1944, when I was 14. So, I wrote him asking to become his student. He was a great teacher and taught me a lot, from how to draw anatomy to getting the right perspective on paintings. I learned all this from his letters," Payut told The Nation newspaper in a 2004 interview.

At age 17, Payut took his first job painting backgrounds for play sets as he traveled around Thailand with theater groups. Payut also worked as a block printer, making etchings, and was employed at an advertising agency.

One of Payut's influences was artist Sanae Klaikluen, whom Payut had met in 1941. Sanae was interested in animation and wanted Payut to join him in a project. Sanae was commissioned in 1945 to make a one-minute animated film for the Thai government, which was campaigning to get citizens to wear hats and farmers to wear boots. Sanae died a year later, and it was then that Payut decided he wanted to be an animator.