Conveying a longing for simplicity, Sa-ard’s pen name translates as “clean”. Manga storytelling was formative in his teenage years, through the works of Osamu Tezuka and Takehiko Inoue, while he was further nourished by local alternative artists Wisut Ponnimit, Suttichart Sarapaiwanich and Kamla. His discovery of graphic memoirs by Art Spiegelman and Marjane Satrapi was critical, as Sa-ard states, “It wasn’t until I discovered work by Maus or Persepolis that I understood the world of comics was much bigger than I imagined.”

He made his debut in 2011, while studying Journalism and Mass Communication at Thammasat University – an anthology of ‘slice of life’ short stories that earned him an award from Japan’s International Manga Award. He then created the lively comic strip series “Khropkhrua JengPeng” (The JengPeng Family), which were compiled and published in book form by Kai3, the independent company Sa-ard co-founded with his brother Peataya Werasakwong. Sa-ard has continued developing comics’ journalism works, or “drawcumentaries” in his nonfiction – such as Kued: a student life at the multicultural ethnicity(s) school, which tackles issues of education and indigenous people in Thailand.