Animation studio chief sets sights on own content 

When he graduated in industrial engineering at Kasetsart University in 1997, Nop was interested in photography and wanted to continue his studies by focusing on that field. 
At that time, computer graphics was very new, with the first 3D animated film being the hugely successful “Toy Story”, which was released that year.
“It [the movie] grabbed my attention and inspired me to look into the computer graphics field, which I found was a good one in which to blend my engineering background with creativity. So I decided to continue my study [master’s level] in computer art at the Savannah College of Art and Design, in the US state of Georgia,” he said.
“After finishing my master’s degree, I worked as a 3D animator and interactive designer in Atlanta for a year, before I moved back to Thailand and started my first studio with friends. I have been in the business ever since, having founded Tomogram Studio, my current studio, in 2009,” Nop added.
He recognised the great potential for a design-based animation studio in Thailand.
“First of all, I think Thais are creative by nature, and we are also very good at colour. We also grow up exposed to various cultures – Western, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and so on – so we learn to mix and understand each culture, and I think that gives us many advantages as creators and designers. 
“So yes, I think the biggest strength of our business is our creative people. I also believe that this strength is known around the world and that gives us great potential to grow our industrial globally. Moreover, what we call ‘Thainess’ – the way that we handle things with more flexibility, and our hospitality – also plays a big role in creating opportunity for Thai studios in the global market,” he explained.
He also said that most studios involved in the animation and computer-graphics industry in Thailand were very close, and were friends more than competitors.
“We also do many projects together, such as ‘The Story of Mahajanaka’, or very recently more than 30 studios joined together in one project to create a Royal Anthem animation to pay tribute to the late King Rama IX. 
“I also think that when compared to the world industry, the animation sector in Thailand is still very small, so we are more likely to work together than compete against each other. It is very common in our industry to share work that is too big or complex for one studio to handle,” the managing director said.
 “We even help in the training of staff for each other,” he added, citing the example of the Thailand Animation and Computer Graphics Association (TAGCA), which has a “TAGCA Apprentice” programme that is basically a pooled training programme that any studio member can get involved in. 
 “They can send a staff member, trainee or potential student to be trained by a studio that specialises in a certain field, such as my studio can offer to train people in motion graphics for other studios, or I can sent my staff to be trained in modelling by other studio,” he said.
“For Tomogram, we have our own unique position. We call ourselves a design-based animation studio. We are an animation studio that can apply our graphic design and creative skill to our work, which was reflected in our well-known work like MCOT HD branding, which won a BIDC [‘Bangkok International Digital Content Festival’] award last year,” Nop said.
Tomogram Studio has a business goal of having its own intellectual property (IP), while “Quality, Creative and Fun” is the founder’s working philosophy.
He said the quality and creative elements were obvious, as they were the things expected by individual clients.
However, the company also needs to keep its work fun for staff and any others involved in the process, he stressed.
“Since I have been in the service business for more than 15 years, it would be nice to own content [IP] and a brand. Right now, at Tomogram we are developing our own animated series, characters for licensing, and even our own brand for bags and lifestyle products,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the service-side of the business, Tomogram Studio is expanding globally. 
The company has worked with many foreign clients from the US, Japan and China, and will continue to do so, he added.