Calligraphy Foundation: Essentials of Common Rules and Techniques of Seal Cutting

First, fairness and unity.

This is the most basic point, that is, to make the sealing arrangement symmetrical and suitable. However, it is worth noting that strokes cannot fill the space in zigzag, nor can they be as rigid as type. Generally speaking, people with too many strokes don't realize its complexity, and people with too few strokes don't realize its scarcity. China, Indian and famous artists have many excellent works, which can be studied carefully.

Second, the density is unified.

The ancients sometimes used the method of "wide strokes and dense needles" to deal with seals with large differences in the number of characters on the surface of seals. Instead of letting more strokes occupy more land, they give more status to fewer strokes, thus making the contrast between density and density stronger and giving people a deep impression. Sometimes we can adjust variant characters and traditional characters, and artificially arrange the density (such as ten thousand, none, first class) to make them unified.

Third, skillful and clumsy, thick and thin.

The styles of seals should be diversified, and "Qiao" and "Zhuo" are two different styles. But the pursuit of "cleverness" cannot be lost: the pursuit of "clumsiness" cannot be lost. Many clever words in printing are clumsy, and many clumsy words are clever. In traditional art, "beauty" is not a good word and is often used as a derogatory term. The author doesn't want his work to be rated as "too beautiful". The thickness of the seal is related to the author's calligraphy and epigraphy. More attention and analysis should be paid to the natural treatment of line thickness in antique seals and famous seals.

Four, increase or decrease, repetition

In order to print properly, some words sometimes need to be added or subtracted, but it should be noted that a printed matter cannot be added or subtracted word by word, nor can there be too many strokes added or subtracted; Increase or decrease does not hinder the meaning of the word, without losing the seal style. If you change it to another word after adding or subtracting, or it is unnecessary to add or subtract, it will be self-defeating.