Why do we have to practice hanging elbows? There are three reasons.
First, in order to pay attention to the pen end. Hanging elbows can relax shoulders and facilitate wrist movement, and the whole body strength can be concentrated at the milli-end because there is no obstacle. Therefore, hanging elbows can be the best, "hanging in the air is the most powerful" (Chen Yuanyi once wrote Hanlin Tactics).
Second, for freedom. As we said before, the flexibility of the wrist is very important for writing. Because the elbow is attached to the desktop, the flexibility of the wrist is greatly limited, and the range of activities of the pen is very small. It is necessary to complete the writing of strokes by the movement of fingers and the inclination of the pen up, down, left and right. In this way, the front is not straight and complete, the weight is not accurate, and the swing is not healthy. Therefore, only by hanging your elbow can you have more room for manoeuvre, and you can work freely and run freely with a pen. The ancients said that hanging elbows is "infinite, otherwise it will be difficult to catch." The "potential" here refers to the above two aspects, that is, comfortable and powerful writing.
Third, in order to exercise without arm strength. People who practice boxing need strong legs first, so as to be as stable as Mount Tai and be invincible. Therefore, there is a saying that "practicing boxing without practicing legs is an old daredevil". Writing needs strong arms. Hanging elbows is very effective training.
When learning to write, even if you put your arms on the table, you may tremble, especially when you hang your elbows. Any great calligrapher who starts practicing calligraphy is no exception. Because the muscles on the arm are not used to this kind of action. To put it bluntly, this is a kind of muscle training. As long as we persist for six months and three months, we will lay a good foundation. Once you master the basic skills of hanging elbows, you will benefit for life. So beginners must practice hard.
However, hanging your elbow doesn't mean raising your elbow too high. Generally, as long as it doesn't stick to the desktop. When the elbow joint is raised, the shoulder will be raised and the joint will be tense. It won't work if used, but it will be harmful.
When lifting a pen, the elbows should be basically kept at the same level, which is called "flat elbow".
Whether the writing posture is correct or not affects not only writing, but also the body, which should not be underestimated.
When writing, you should sit in a chair and keep a certain distance from the table. The head and neck are upright and natural, the head leans forward slightly, the shoulders are relaxed, the shoulders are not shrugged, and the back is not arched. Feet stable, flat on the ground, shoulder width. The stability of feet and body is related to the stability of words. Hold the pen in your right hand and lay your left hand flat on the table naturally. The left hand should not be the support point of the center of gravity. Open your hands, as if holding a big ball. In short, we should be dignified and straight, stretching our joints; Spiritual convergence and smooth breathing; The right hand is light and agile, and the body is steady and natural.
Only when you are upright and solid can you be stable and easily exert your strength. The so-called "strength lies in the waist and roots in the feet"; Loose shoulders can reach elbows, wrists, fingers and pens, and they can be unconstrained and flexible.
Tables and chairs also have a certain influence on writing posture. The height and size should be appropriate, and sitting up feels natural, comfortable and not awkward.
Write in big letters standing. The general requirement is similar to sitting posture. Stand still and take a small step forward with your right foot. Starting from the waist, the waist pushes the shoulder, and the shoulder drives the wrist, sending the strength of the waist and shoulder or the whole body to the pen tip, and sending it to every part of the stroke through the pen tip. Anyone who practices hanging elbows well will have no difficulty writing standing up.
Everything has a law. Law is an understanding of the law and a winning skill to the point. If you want to be superb, you must train your skills to the point you want.
China's calligraphy has become a high-level art, which largely depends on its ever-changing lines, and the lines are expressed by the brush. Because the brush is elastic, it is most convenient to express the beauty of lines, which can be thick or thin, thick or thin, fat or thin, round or dry or moist, and so on. But because of this, it is very difficult to control the brush. There are many people who call calligraphers in ancient and modern times, but not many people really know the brushwork. In order to get a volume of Calligraphy, Zhong You stole Dan Wei's tomb; Yan Zhenqing studied under Zhang Xu, seeking brushwork, "not being taught", and finally it was tight; Zhang Zhao begged Wang not to write, so he had to hide in the small building where Wang wrote and wanted to see how he wrote ... These legends seem mysterious today, but the brushwork is really mysterious to the ancients. This also shows from one side that it is not easy to master brushwork, and we have to pay attention to brushwork.
The brushwork is how to use a pen. It is the most important basic skill of calligraphy. If you don't use a pen properly, you will never write well in your life.
The brushwork includes center, side, hidden front, exposed front, Fiona Fang, turning, folding, lifting, pressing, standing, walking, deficiency and disease.
The strokes in the center and the horizontal center are consistent with the running direction, and the ink contained in the writing brush is the easiest to flow down along the nib and seep evenly in all directions, so the strokes written in the center are clean, round and three-dimensional, just like round steel bars.
Whether you can keep the center in the process of writing is an important criterion to test a person's ability to control the pen. But generally speaking, except for most strokes of seal script and other characters, the center is not omnipotent, that is to say, the use of flank has its reasonable factors and aesthetic value. The ancients said, "There is spirit in the front (that is, in the middle) and beauty in the next pen" (and New Interpretation of Linchi in Tang Dynasty). The brush strokes formed on the front side (the included angle between the brush strokes and the running posture is about 45 degrees) show a natural and smart posture. For example, Wang Xizhi's cursive script naturally has sides in the process of writing; On the contrary, some cursive players like Badashanren blindly use the center, which shows their lack of self-awareness and agility. (pictured) Of course, the winger takes the momentum, and when the momentum arrives, it will return to the center. Related to this is the so-called "oblique front" (the stroke is T-shaped with the running direction, that is, the included angle is about 90 degrees). The strokes written by Pianfeng (actually swept out) are relatively thin, which is generally regarded as a sick pen in calligraphy. However, it has been used occasionally in history, forming a more eccentric style. Beginners should, of course, proceed from fairness and practice hard in the center.
By the way, "drag" must be a sick pen. Never put off writing, or the strokes will be blurred.
Show the front, hide the front. This is the brushwork when starting and closing the pen. When writing, the nib is exposed, or when closing, it does not return to the front, which is the front; When you start and end a pen, it is your hidden front against the trend.
The ancients said: "hide the front to cover its qi, and expose the front to longitudinal its waves"; "If there is a front, it will be light, and if there is no front, it will be spiritual." Tibetan positive strokes are round and thick; Lu Feng's brushwork is sharp and full of spirit.
Fiona Fang and Fiona Fang, who turn strokes, refer to the stroke form (not the structural form) formed by brushwork. It is reflected in two aspects: first, in the general stroke processing process, the strokes written in the center are round and muddy, with the same three-dimensional sense as round steel bars, which is called "circle". The shape of the strokes written on the side is called "square"; On the other hand, it is also obvious at the turning point. Turn into a circle and fold into a square.
Generally speaking, writing is combined with Fiona Fang, except that only a round pen is used for seal script. Inner and outer rings, inner and outer rings, are also round and square, not square and not round, with great changes.
According to the ancients, it makes sense to call the pen a line pen. When people walk, their feet naturally fall down together; There is also a lift when I start writing. In other words, strokes cannot be dragged horizontally. Especially at the transition point, it is necessary to raise the pressure to make the pen tip change smoothly and return to the middle of the appropriate stroke without distortion. If the pen tip is twisted with the assistant, it will lose its function, and it will not be a "Qi Li". In other words, lifting and pressing not only makes the strokes have rich changes, but also can adjust the strokes.
All the strokes are continuous pressure increase. The writing process of each stroke can't be exactly the same as mechanical force (if so, the generated lines will become uninteresting straight lines), but the movements of lifting and pressing always run through them, while the changes of lifting and pressing in general strokes are extremely subtle and won't attract our attention. In the process of writing, it is not necessary and impossible for us to artificially arrange where to mention and where to press, unless there are some rules, such as pressing before lifting the pen, folding the pen and so on. Since we can't arrange it, how can we master the proposal and the press? The answer is to cultivate a feeling in long-term training. Just like a good cook puts condiments, he never needs to weigh them. But many people, including some famous calligraphers, such as Li Ruiqing, turn lifting into shaking in pursuit of a sense of fur and stone, which is unnatural. So novices must understand the difference between lifting and shaking. The handwriting is shaky and ugly!
Stay in line, stay in Ji Xu, which means stop and stay here. If lifting and pressing are the vertical movements of the pen, then standing and walking are the horizontal movements of the pen. As we said before, all strokes are continuous, but they are also continuous. To forward, to keep. Take care of this pen, don't lose it. For example, it's like pushing a cart off a bridge. You have to come forward and hold it so as not to roll over out of control.
Related to this is the writing speed, that is, fatigue and illness. Should I use a pen quickly or slowly? Quick pen, not easy to kill, easy to slip. "The busiest thing is to lose it." So, I'd rather slow down a little to avoid slipping and keep my pen. Even if it is fast, it will be killed. Sometimes we even have to stop for a rest, but the rest is not a real rest, but a pen rest, which can be indirect, intentional or unintentional. It is common for some people to write Li Shu and Yan Zi, but there is no word at the turning point, which is harsh and unnatural. Of course, being too slow is as bad as being too fast. It's fast, it's slow, it's time to stop, it's time to have a sense of rhythm. There should be a sense of rhythm not only between strokes, but also between a word and a whole work. But this sense of rhythm can't be arranged, and it is also cultivated by long-term training. Therefore, a master in any line actually has an excellent feeling. It feels important!
The ancients often called it "disease". In fact, "convergence" is not just a matter of speed. The rapid delivery against the trend also produced astringency. Sese, which is what the ancients called "hair". "The ancients theory of pen, pen need to send. Mao is old and bright. " (Lin Sanzhi) Mao in this sense shows a kind of strength and charm.
Generally speaking, the so-called "astringency" means that the pen does not slip off the paper; You should rub it to make the strokes strong and tasty. The reasons for astringency are: 1. Stay. The pen doesn't slide in the process of marching, but it is everywhere. This is the relationship between the station and the line mentioned earlier. What the ancients called "leakage marks" and "cone painting sand" should be this effect. Rainwater flows down the wall, because the wall is not smooth, so it flows down from time to time, and it is blocked from time to time, marching in the contradiction between "flow" and "stay"; Second, reverse. In turn, it is "sending", which is the antonym of dragging. Simply put, the pen points in the opposite direction. Dongpo's "sailing against the current" refers to this; Third, press. In the process of pen transportation, grasping and effectively controlling the microsecond of boosting pressure is another reason for astringency. But there is an essential difference between pressing and trembling. Using trembling technique to express astringency is very artificial and lacks aesthetic feeling. Of course, in addition to the above three factors, the use of brush and rice paper in China's calligraphy itself is more likely to produce astringency.
Speaking more with a pen is good for everyone. Don't relax, don't give up, try your best to write. "Marriott Qi Li may be tough, and Qi Li with five fingers may be clumsy." Especially in the middle of the strokes, be full and energetic. "Look at the middle and don't look at both ends."
Mr. Huang summed up the basic requirements of using a pen in a few words, which is worth our understanding: "There are taboos in using a pen: sharp, slippery, flat, light and vulgar; It is advisable to stay, be round, be flat, be heavy and be elegant. "
Although Chinese characters are complex in structure, they are all composed of some basic strokes. These basic strokes are like bricks for building a house. With them, we can build all kinds of houses in different ways. Therefore, beginners must practice basic strokes in a down-to-earth manner and prepare high-quality "bricks" for future "building houses".
The predecessors took the word "Yong" as the representative, and analyzed that this word contains eight basic strokes, namely the so-called "eight methods of Yong". In the past, for a person who is good at calligraphy, it was often called "eight methods of intensive research". Even for modern people, it still has certain reference value.
1, point (edge). There are many changes in points, and the basic writing methods are as follows: ① Exposing the front into the paper and writing with the trend; (2) unfold the brush and make an arc pen to the right; Go back to the front to collect the pen. The main points are: sharp head, round back and flat abdomen. The head is pointed, the blade is exposed, and the gas is out; Round back, flat abdomen, full of strength and tension. Point is the eye of a sentence, "a little loss is like a glimpse." At the same time, on the basis of mastering the basic point method, we should be flexible, extrapolate, and cooperate with different acupoints according to different fields, which is called "extremely different"
2. Level (music). The ancients called horizontal painting "music", which makes sense. "I will save money for painting, but it is expensive and late." That is to say, when writing a horizontal painting, just like a reins, you can't slip along the front, be astringent and slow, and you can keep people everywhere if you want to do it, especially in the middle, which is why there is a saying that "look at the middle and don't look at both ends". Basic writing: ① Zangfeng began to write; (2) cut off the front; 3 spread the brush, the pen is straight; ④ Lift to the right; ⑤ Turn to the front and descend; 6. Go back to the front to collect the pen. Horizontal painting should not be peaceful, with a slight arch in the middle, full of strength and intensity. As we all know, stone arch bridges are made up of pieces of stones. The reason why it can withstand thousands of tons of pressure lies in the arch.
There are many lateral changes, so it is forbidden to arrange them mechanically and monotonously like calligraphy. "Every flat painting is like an operator. In the end, what is exhibited is playing, but the horizontal painting is not seen. It is calligraphy." (Chen Duo once) Some people write, and at first glance, the most striking thing about the whole word is the horizontal painting of one root, which is the problem.
3. vertical (Nu). The basic writing is as follows: ① Start writing against the trend from bottom to top (hidden front); ② Turn the front of the car to the right to descend; 3 points spread out and try to go down against the front; 4 at the end; ⑤ Put the pen back upward. It should be noted that the vertical position should not be too straight, but it will lose momentum; There should be a little curvature, the bending potential should be straight, there should be tension, and it should be straight and powerful. Another common hanging needle is a vertical needle, the beginning of which is the same as the pen above. Head down, slowly pick up the pen in about two thirds, and harvest in the shape of a needle tip. Hang the needle straight and full, and don't worry when collecting the pen. You should bring it up gradually and write sharply, comprehensively and healthily.
4. Hook. The basic writing methods are as follows: ① Before the pen is hooked, pause to the lower right (make the lower right full); (2) Then put down the pen to the left; ③ Turn the pen upward; 4 squat down and get ready, and kick out decisively. Just like a race, you have to squat first and then suddenly jump out to succeed. Due to different directions, there are many different shapes of hooks, such as hooks, heart hooks, cross hooks and so on. , can be roughly compared.
5. Select (policy). The basic writing is as follows: ① Zangfeng began to write; ② Cut down to the right; 3 Pick up the pen. Riding a horse like a whip.
6. Long (long). Basic writing is: ① Start writing against the trend; (2) turn to the front; (3) the auxiliary hair is thrown hard, such as swallows sweeping under the eaves and steep. When the wrist moves, the strength must be sent to the tip of the stroke to avoid the symptoms of virtual tip and floating. Never sweep it out with your fingers.
7. Short (peck). The basic writing is slightly the same as long left. After cutting with a pen against the trend, there will be a slight retrogression, that is, a quick and powerful left-handed. Just like birds pecking, it's just short, sharp and fast.
8. Hehe (hehe). Basic writing: ① Tibetan front (or exposed front) began to write; (2) Turn the front to the right, spread it out gradually, and fully spread it when it reaches the limit (widest place); (3) Pause a little, then gradually pick up the pen and send it to the end. There are ups and downs, so it is also called "wave", and there is a saying of "twists and turns".
In fact, I personally think that the word "forever" also implies the ninth stroke, that is, "fold." So it is actually a "nine-character method".
There must be something wrong with stippling when I am a beginner, because I don't know the meaning of brushwork. The most common are the following eight kinds: ox head, rat tail, bee waist, bamboo joint, crane knee, corner, broken wood and firewood.
Since strokes are building materials, structure is building design. Of course, architectural design must be based on building materials. If the materials are inferior, then no matter how beautiful the design is, there will be problems sooner or later. However, if there is no design, or the design is not good, then the house will be ugly or the same.
In terms of structure, the ancients summed up some laws, although most of them are unscientific, but they still have certain reference value. Here are two most popular and concise expressions.
The first statement comes from the 36 laws about the structure of Ou Yangxun. According to my own experience, I will make some additions and deletions.
(1) Reduplicated words such as "longevity, painting, pen and beauty" are more horizontal and more vertical. Beginners tend to write "out of line"; Even if it is not "out of line", the internal stippling of words is very crowded. It is necessary to arrange between the length and the density, so that the secret place will not be committed, and the sparse place will not leave, and there will be no complicated detention state. It should also be noted that it cannot be arranged as rigidly as writing good calligraphy. Another example is the words next to "iron" and "character", and the radicals must be arranged well.
(2) Avoid "Lu". For example, the "Guang" above and the two apostrophes below are all to the left, and they should be light and heavy, give and take, properly reflect and avoid similarities. Another example is the word "Lin". The last stroke on the left of the word "wood" and the left stroke on the right of the word "wood" can neither fight (avoid) nor interweave (just).
(3) Top-wearing is to write some words, like people wearing things, like people wearing high makeup. When looking straight, it should be straight up and down, so there is no inclined shape; Look around, be exquisite and loose, but look at the ingenuity of the structure. For example, the words "Taiwan, Camp and Belt" are positive, high and low, and they are not biased at all, and they feel very stable; The words "shrug" and "rush" are sideways, dense in space and extremely pretentious in meaning, so the words are steep. Whether it is a positive trend or a lateral trend, it must be arranged as "upper download", and it is not allowed to be light on the top and light on the bottom.
(4) interpenetration refers to penetrating its width; To insert is to insert its imaginary part. For example, the word "zhong" runs vertically, the word "book" crosses it, and the word "double" crosses it; The word "Qu" is inserted vertically, the word "Er" is inserted х, and the word "Mi" is inserted point by point.
(5) The two halves of the word "good" are opposite, and the word "north" is opposite. The word "governance" is right in the left note, and the word "tick" is right to help the left. These situations must be shown.
(6) The words "mind, spirit and clothes" are to the right, and the words "being, being less" are to the left. The words "hai, female and mutual" seem biased, but they are not biased. These must look at the situation of each word, either left or right, in order to be partial and stable.
(7) Fill in the blanks. This is the wonderful principle of the coexistence of reality and reality. Fill its void and make it square and full of vitality. But filling the blank is not to cancel the blank, sometimes to leave the blank, but to write softly in the blank, showing the blank, so the charm is vivid in the air. So is the so-called "hiding God in the void". For example, the word "less" is left blank, the word "a" is left blank, and so on.
(8) Sticking zeros, such as "Ling, Winter, Cold" and other words, are all dots below, which are fragmentary and easy to run out of electricity. It is necessary to return the focus of the whole word to the last point.
(9) The meanings of the words "Lie, fly, door" and so on, without any strokes inserted between the two sides, should be coordinated with each other as far as possible, and should not be taken care of inadvertently. The shapes of the words "I" and "Nana Ogawa" seem to be broken, but when writing, we should relate the ups and downs of the strokes before and after.
(10) words as dense as "country, nursery, four, bag, south, eye and hook" should be written all around.
(1 1) There are some words in Fumao, the shapes of which are big, such as the two ends of the word "cloud", such as the cave head of the word "poor", such as the words "gold, food, lane and Thailand". Be sure to write so that the top can cover the bottom without being top-heavy.
(12) drag, that is to say, some words need to be shown and softened. For example, the words "Du" and "Zhong" should be hung down all the time, and the words "water, debt, skin and leaves" should be put off until the end.
(13) Replace the word "dense" with the right point next to the word "obvious" as the left point on the right side of the word "beard". For another example, writing "goose" and the like is also borrowed. However, writing words must be based on the positive body, so as to change it and do it as a last resort.
(14) There is an independent word on the pillar, such as "Ke, Ting, Si, spear, bow", which must be well written.
(15) Paying homage to the DPRK has the same meaning as the above-mentioned "avoiding the important" and "wanting more". But those two kinds of words mostly refer to words synthesized by two halves, while this kind refers to words synthesized by three parts, such as "Xie, hoe" and so on. And be sure to meet when writing.
(16) Words attached with beauty, such as "form, fly, drink and encourage", should be attached to small places, or attached to small places, such as "inadequate", attached to small places. In this kind of words, as the radical of positive trend, it should be written correctly and dignified, while as the radical of beauty, it should be written in a graceful manner, or tactfully, or procrastinated, or pushed forward on airs first, or postponed later, and should be guided by the situation and adapted to local conditions. For example, it's like the relationship between architecture and decoration.
(18) If the word "one" bends to the left and the words "Bao" and "Xu" bend to the right, it must be bent in the appropriate direction. Too many bends make you look sloppy, too small makes you look narrow and can't hold anything. The ancients also mentioned a wrapping method, that is, wrapping the words "garden" and "country", wrapping the words "business" and "Xiang", wrapping the words "travel" and "concealment" and "wide", which is similar to this.
In addition, there are some sayings, such as "from small to large", "from left to small, from right to big", "from left to high, from right to low", "from left to short, from right to long", which are all methods of properly arranging glyphs. In short, when writing each stroke, we should consider the up and down or so of other strokes, and the strokes should get along harmoniously and beautifully.
The second is "Huang Ziyuan's Ninety-two Methods of Ci-writing".
Since writing is like architectural design, the above statement can only be used for reference. Because a thousand people can write a word with a thousand faces, there is absolutely no road that must be adhered to and cannot be changed. Therefore, if the word formation is too fine and too dead, it will not work. The result will inevitably lead to "thousands of people and thousands of faces."
There are four ways to learn to paste: hook, copy, face and read.
Hook is to cover the copybook with transparent paper, double hook down along the edge of the stroke, and then fill in the words with ink. This is called "double hook contour filling". There is a way to "draw red", similar to this. This method is intended to teach people how to spread out the pen at the beginning, how to center the pen, and ensure that the stippling is consistent and the pen is perfect. Otherwise, empty words are not filled (or overstepped), and red words are not covered (or overstepped). When filling in ink, you are required to finish each stroke. If you don't fill in or exceed the outline, you can find your own problems by raising your pen.
Copying is to cover the copybook with transparent paper and copy it according to the strokes on the copybook below the paper. By copying this method, you can also immediately know how much your writing is insufficient compared with the copybook.
Dear, just put the copybook in front and write according to it. At first, it was often a matter of reading and writing; Later, I read and wrote a few strokes; Then look at a word and write a word; Until you stop reading the copybook, you can recite the words in the post.
Reading means not writing with a pen, but using leisure time such as after dinner or before going to bed to look at the words in the post and remember them in your mind. "The ancients learned books and never copied them. Ancient Zhang wrote in the wall, and when he was fascinated, he wrote as he wished. " (Huang Tingjian)
For friends who have no foundation, they often feel that they can't start from the beginning, so the method of hooking and copying is very effective.
No matter what method you use, the key is to keep it in mind. It's no use writing 10 thousand times without putting it in your head. Sun said in the Book Score: "The test is acceptable, but the imitation is expensive." Beginners should carefully observe and analyze every word and stroke in the post, find out the ins and outs, and memorize the internal and external relations between words and lines; For some words that are not easy to master, we should repeatedly observe their writing, writing and turning points (these places are often places where people are eager to learn) until the dynamics of the ancients seem vivid, and then start writing, which will get twice the result with half the effort. Mr. Shen said that he "never neglected the most subtle points in painting. When showing the ink and shadow of the sages, he always carefully and quietly looks for their brushwork, draws light and shade, and puts aside all similarities and differences. "
Of course, at the beginning of the post, we must follow the trend and strive to be like. Some people compare it to "earthworm style", that is to say, we should specialize in one family and seek deeper and deeper. Of course, after you have a solid foundation, you can't just ask for job similarity. "If you want to be between similarity and difference, you can succeed ... You need to get rid of everything and go straight ahead before you can really become a scholar" (in Lin Sanzhi).
Beginners' posts must not be changed until they have fully mastered the words in the posts. What are the criteria for mastering and not mastering? That is, when you are completely divorced from this post, whether the words written are similar to those on the post in appearance and spirit. This is a hard job. Huai Su practiced writing on the blackboard and passed it. Mr. Lin Sanzhi has just attended the daily class of "Alina Zhang Veron", and the bound book is as high as a cupboard. A friend who is determined to write well will work hard.