Ask Runyu
A continuing experiment in telling stories and explaining ideas through AI short films.
Explore →Independent creator · Shanghai
Life, seen in pictures and words.
I’m Tee Sang. I paint watercolors, take photographs and write about what I notice. I also bring AI into real projects and keep a record of what works, what changes, and what I am still unsure about.
Reading & Writing
Thinking things through, one essay at a time.
Recently I have been spending more of my creative time reading and writing. Painting and photography are still ways of looking; words help me sort through experience, daily life and AI.
How Do You Follow Up in a User Interview? Follow the Answer to Find the Sticking Point
How do you keep a chain of five questions going? A hypothetical conversation about relaxing before bed eventually puts even “she needs a lamp” back into question.
Marketing, sales, and growth: using one lamp to tell them apart
Helping people understand value, bringing about a specific purchase, and finding needs that remain unmet. I put three ideas from an interview into the story of a single lamp to see what happens at each step.
Who Is the Product Really For? Get Specific About People, Situations, and Problems
Moving from people who like beautiful things to a specific situation in everyday life. An eight-panel comic uses a moon lamp to practice asking questions, while leaving a question mark over needs that have not yet been validated.
For My Future Self: Sanmu’s Memoir 009
Seeing paintings of Sanmu from different periods brings back small details from those years. Writing down everyday life with a cat also records how I have lived. I want to leave a few images and words so my future self can still remember.
Watercolor & Photography
A way of paying attention.
Most pieces here are studies or personal records. Available commissions are described on the service pages.
Sanmu in watercolor
Photographs
Ongoing Projects
Things I keep returning to.
99 Paintings for Sanmu
An ongoing series of watercolors, source images and stories about the cat beside my drawing board.
Explore →Shanghai Sketch Map
A personal record of drawing outdoors, with photographs, paintings and observations from each visit.
Explore →Sanmu Memoir
The small incidents of living with a cat, remembered through photographs, drawings and words.
Explore →TEVIA
My original virtual character. I act as her manager, turning interests in cities, photography, painting and daily life into pictures and short films. Separate site, mainly in Chinese.
Explore →Venice, 1518
My ongoing Chinese novel about watercolor, light and Titian. The serial was checked at 119 chapters on August 20, 2026. Read on Fanqie, in Chinese.
Explore →Working Together
Have something you want to make?
Watercolor in Shanghai
Observe a place, find a composition and make a painting, even if you are starting from zero. Read the current workshop and learning arrangements.
Explore →Pet portraits in watercolor
A hand-painted portrait from your pet’s photographs. See sizes, examples, prices in CNY and the commission process.
Explore →Creative guidance
Work from your experiences, materials and tools to clarify what you want to say and how to make it.
Explore →AI creative & product videos
Short films for independent creators and small businesses, with the creative direction and deliverables agreed before production.
Explore →The Little Help Shop
A document to untangle, a piece of writing to clarify, a visual idea to try, or an AI tool you are stuck with. Start with one concrete task.
Explore →For any service, we will confirm the language, location, timing and scope together before making arrangements. Published prices are in Chinese yuan (CNY).
Contact
Start with what you have in mind.
You do not need a finished brief or an account. Leave a little context and an email address or WeChat ID so I can reply privately.