A Cup, Made Real

It started as a school assignment. I drew the cup on paper: right under the rim, a row of silver moons lines up; below them, a grass field where cows graze — the one on the left is enjoying it (a little "yum" over its head) until it looks up and sees a creature labeled WRONG ANIMAL. It bolts at once, crying "mom" all the way. Design, drawing, coloring, breaking the picture into a story you can read, then turning the draft into something that can actually be produced — I carried those steps from start to finish, mostly on my own. Once the artwork was final, I found a factory online, negotiated the process, checked samples, adjusted colors and confirmed the production run, step by step turning the paper drawing into a cup you can hold. The finished cups were sold at a charity sale, and every yuan of the proceeds was donated. Below are three 360° turns of the same cup in three body and lid styles — one full spin and you have read the whole story.

The story was painted on paper, then printed onto the cups by the factory; all three clips and their covers are real video frames. Design and artwork by Chen Qiushi.