Peyo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peyo
Peyo in 1990
Born	Pierre Culliford (1928-06-25)25 June 1928 Brussels, Belgium
Died	24 December 1992(1992-12-24) (aged 64) Brussels, Belgium
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Notable works	The Smurfs Johan et Pirlouit Benoît Brisefer
Spouse(s)	Nine Culliford ​ (m. 1952)​
Children	2
Signature

Pierre Culliford (June 25, 1928 – December 24, 1992) was a talented Belgian comics artist and writer. He was known by his pen name, Peyo. He created many popular comic series. His most famous works are The Smurfs and Johan and Peewit. The Smurfs actually first appeared in the Johan and Peewit comics!

About Peyo

Peyo, whose real name was Pierre Culliford, was born in 1928 in Schaerbeek, Belgium. His father was English, and his mother was Belgian. In 1952, he married Nine Culliford. They had two children, Véronique and Thierry.

How Peyo Got His Name

Pierre Culliford started using the name "Peyo" very early in his career. This nickname came from an English cousin. The cousin had trouble saying "Pierrot," which is a small version of "Pierre." So, "Peyo" stuck!

Starting His Career

After a short time at a small animation studio called CBA, Peyo began drawing comics for daily newspapers. This was soon after World War II. In the early 1950s, he introduced his character Johan to Spirou magazine. Soon, Johan got a small friend named Peewit. Their comic strip quickly became very popular.

Peyo first showed the Smurfs in a Johan and Peewit story called The Magic Flute in 1958. The Smurfs quickly became even more popular than Johan and Peewit. They soon got their very own comic series.

Peyo's Studio and Later Work

In 1960, Peyo opened his own studio. This allowed him to work with assistants like François Walthéry and Gos. Here, he created new series such as Steven Strong and Jacky and Célestin.

Peyo's work slowed down in the 1970s. This was partly because he spent a lot of time on The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1976). This was a movie based on a Johan and Peewit story. In the 1980s, he worked even more, even though he had health problems. He focused on an American animated TV show called The Smurfs.

After the TV series ended, Peyo left his publisher, Dupuis. He started his own publishing company, Cartoon Creation. He also launched a cartoon magazine called Schtroumpf!. However, these new ventures soon closed due to management issues. He joined Le Lombard in 1992 but sadly passed away a few months later.

Today, Peyo's children continue to share and promote his amazing work under the "Peyo" brand.

Early Comics and Characters

Peyo studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He then started working at a small Belgian animation studio called CBA. There, he met future famous artists like André Franquin and Morris. When the studio closed, Peyo was not accepted by the larger publisher Dupuis.

He drew his first comics for the newspaper La Dernière Heure. He also took many drawing jobs to earn money. From 1949 to 1952, he drew Poussy, a funny comic about a cat, for Le Soir newspaper. For the same newspaper, he also created the character Johan.

In 1952, his friend Franquin helped Peyo join Spirou magazine. This was a popular children's comic magazine. Peyo wrote and drew many characters and stories for Spirou. These included Pierrot and Benoît Brisefer (known as Steven Strong in English). But his favorite was Johan et Pirlouit (Johan and Peewit). This was a continuation of his earlier Johan series. He also continued drawing Poussy in Spirou.

Johan et Pirlouit stories were set in Europe during the Middle Ages. Johan was a brave young page to the king. His faithful, but sometimes boastful, friend was a dwarf named Peewit. Johan rode his trusty horse to help those in need. Peewit rode his goat, Biquette, behind him. They were driven by their duty to the king and their courage to protect the weak. Peewit first appeared in the third adventure in 1954 and stayed for all later stories.

The Smurfs

The very first Smurf appeared in Johan and Peewit on October 23, 1958. This was in the album La Flûte à Six Schtroumpfs (The Six Smurfed Flute). As the Smurfs became more and more popular, Peyo started a studio in the early 1960s. Many talented comics artists began working there. Peyo himself oversaw the work. He mostly focused on Johan and Peewit, leaving the Smurfs to his studio team.

In 1959, the Smurfs got their own comic series. In 1960, two more series began: Steven Strong and Jacky and Célestin. Many writers and artists helped with these comics. Peyo became more of a manager and supervisor. He was less involved in drawing the comics himself. He let his son, Thierry Culliford, lead the studio. His daughter, Véronique, was in charge of all the Smurfs merchandise.

The Smurfs merchandise started in 1959. PVC figurines were very important until the late 1970s. Then, with the success of Smurfs music by Pierre Kartner, the Smurfs became famous all over the world. This led to a new boom in toys and gadgets. Some of these reached the United States. There, Hanna-Barbera created a Saturday morning animated series in 1981. Peyo helped supervise the stories for this show.

Peyo's health began to get worse. In 1989, after his partnership with Dupuis ended, he started Cartoon Creation. This company was meant to publish new Smurf stories. But in late 1991, the company had to close due to problems with how it was managed. The rights to publish the stories were soon sold to Le Lombard.

Peyo passed away from a heart attack in Brussels on Christmas Eve 1992. He was 64 years old. His studio still exists today. New stories for his different series are still created under his name.

In the 2011 movie The Smurfs, Peyo was included in the story. He was shown as a researcher who studied myths about the Smurfs. In the film, the Smurfs were real-life legendary creatures.

Awards and Honours

• He received the Youth Prize (9–12 years) award in 1984. This was at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France.
• The 50th anniversary of The Smurfs and Peyo's 80th birthday were celebrated in 2008. Belgium issued a special coin for this occasion. It was a 5 euro commemorative coin for the 50th anniversary of The Smurfs.

See also

In Spanish: Peyo para niños