zephtangstudio.com approached the making of the first animated feature painted in ink on xuan paper through deconstruction, reweaving its production process, narrative threads and frame-by-frame animation technique into a composite reading structure.

The text pages are printed on a two-tone, medium-bulk long-grain art paper, creating a warm, enveloping reading atmosphere that echoes the interplay of intuition and reason in filmmaking, and the Eastern idea of balance, transformation and coexistence.

In printing, ink density was controlled page by page to set the rhythm of the book, so that the depth of the ink becomes a narrative language in itself. Where the image is most charged, heavy ink heightens presence and tension; some spreads are printed in silver on black art paper, echoing Ranbiwa’s eyes and courage as he makes his way through the night.

The second volume restores frame-by-frame animation to the printed page. A large number of original drawings are printed inside pockets left uncut at the head, so that turning a page offers a passing glimpse of a landscape, an ease and elegance that matches the character of the film’s protagonist.

The binding is built in an upper and a lower part; fully opened, the book forms the image of “two ranges of mountains”, and leafing through it becomes a crossing of ridges, the cultural and spiritual core of the work. The case is plain outside and rich within: restrained on the exterior and layered inside, it releases “scenes never seen before” with every opening, turning the reading of this book into a spatial exploration.