What are the characteristics of large seal script, small seal script, Wei stele, official script, regular script and running script?
Big Seal Script:
Big Seal Script is a commonly used font in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and is said to have been created by Boyi of the Xia Dynasty. According to different writing media, seal script can also be divided into oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions (or "Zhongding inscriptions"), and Zhen inscriptions. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into large seal scripts.
Characteristics of large seal script:
First, lineization. The early lines with uneven thickness have become even and soft, and the lines they draw according to the actual object are very concise and vivid;
The second is standardization, the glyph structure tends to be neat, and gradually deviates from the original shape of the picture, laying the foundation for square characters. The big seal script is for the later small seal script. The broad seal script includes the previous oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and Six Kingdoms inscriptions. The big seal here refers to the Qin characters that were popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyang, Qin occupied the old place of the Western Zhou Dynasty and also inherited the writing of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was developed from the inheritance of bronze inscriptions.
Xiaozhuan:
After Qin Shihuang unified China (221 BC), Xiaozhuan implemented the policy of "writing with the same text and carriages with the same track" and unifying weights and measures. Prime Minister Li Si was responsible for it. Based on the large seal script (zhou) originally used by the Qin State, it was simplified, canceled the variant characters of the other six countries, and created a unified Chinese character writing form. It was popular in China until the end of the Western Han Dynasty (about 8 AD), and was gradually replaced by official script. But because of its beautiful font, it has always been favored by calligraphers. And because its strokes are complex, its form is ancient, and twists and turns can be added at will, seals were carved in seal script, especially official seals that required anti-counterfeiting, until the fall of the feudal dynasty and the emergence of new anti-counterfeiting technology in modern times.
Characteristics of Xiaozhuan:
First, it is rectangular, with one and a half characters in square regular script as the measure, one character as the main body, and half characters as the vertical feet. The approximate ratio is about 3:2.
Second, the strokes are horizontally and vertically, evenly rounded, and basically the same thickness. All horizontal and vertical paintings are equidistant and parallel, and all strokes are mainly circles, with circles rising and closing, circles within squares, and squares within circles, making the circles flexible and interesting.
The third is balance and symmetry. The balance and symmetry of space division are the unique charm of seal script. Symmetry not only exists in left-right symmetry and up-down symmetry, but also exists in the local symmetry of the characters and the symmetry of the left and right inclinations of the arc-shaped strokes.
The fourth is to tighten up and loosen down. The main part of most characters in Xiaozhuan is in the upper half, and the lower half is a telescopic hanging foot. Of course, there are also characters with no feet at the bottom. The main strokes are in the lower part, and the upper strokes can be raised.
Wei stele:
Wei stele is the general name for the stone carvings with characters in the Northern and Southern Dynasties in my country during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-588 AD). The Northern Wei Dynasty is the most refined. It can be roughly divided into stele inscriptions, epitaphs, and statues. There are four types: inscriptions and cliff-engraved stones. At this time, calligraphy was a transitional calligraphy system that carried forward the past and opened up the future. Zhong Zhishuai said that the Wei stele "can glimpse the old styles of the Han and Qin Dynasties from the top, and the customs of the Sui and Tang Dynasties from the bottom." The Wei stele calligraphy played an important role in the formation of the later Sui and Tang regular script styles. had a huge impact. Calligraphers of past dynasties also drew useful essence from it in their innovation and transformation.
Characteristics of Wei stele:
Wei stele is a type of regular script. Wei Kai, Jin Dynasty regular script and Tang Dynasty regular script are called the three major regular script fonts. The Wei stele shows some transitional factors in the development process from official script to typical regular script. Regular script already existed during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and regular script works such as Zhong Yao's "Declaration Table" and Wang Xizhi's "Huang Ting Jing" were already relatively mature regular scripts. However, after a large number of intellectuals from the Western Jin Dynasty migrated south with the Jin Dynasty, the calligraphy style of the Northern Dynasties was different from that of the Southern Dynasty. Different. Most of the existing inscriptions in the Northern Dynasties are the work of unknown folk calligraphers, which is naturally different from the so-called "Feng Liuyun-{borrowed}-" calligraphy style of the Southern Dynasty scholar-bureaucrats. Zhong Yao and Wang Xizhi completed part of the process of changing from official to regular script. Due to the migration of the Jin Dynasty to the south, the folk calligraphers of the Northern Wei Dynasty did not inherit much of their achievements. Instead, they followed the development trajectory of the original folk calligraphy, more directly from the Han Dynasty. It evolved from the official script of the Wei Dynasty.
Compared with the Southern Dynasty stele inscriptions, Liu Xizai, a calligraphy critic of the Qing Dynasty, believed that "the southern calligraphy is gentle and the northern calligraphy is vigorous"; compared with Tang Kaihua, Tang Kaihua pays attention to legality, and the brushwork and structure tend to be standardized and unified, while the Wei stele uses the brush freely and freely. The structure takes shape according to the situation and is not restricted.
Official script:
Official script, also known as Han Li, is a common solemn font in Chinese characters. The writing effect is slightly wide and flat, with long horizontal strokes and short straight strokes, and is rectangular. Shape, pay attention to "silkworm head and wild goose tail", "twists and turns". Official script originated in the Qin Dynasty and was compiled by Cheng Miao. It reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty and had a significant influence on later calligraphy. In the calligraphy circle, it is known as "Han Li Tang Kai".
Characteristics of official script:
Official script developed from seal script. Official script is the transformation of seal script into simplicity, circles into squares, and arcs into straight lines.
(1) Structural Characteristics of Official Script
1-shaped flat square with left and right sides
Li characters reverse the normal tendency of seal characters to take the vertical direction, and change it to the horizontal direction (Left and right) takes the position, resulting in a flat and square shape, and the strokes shrink the vertical stroke and strengthen the horizontal expansion.
2. Start the pen with silkworm head and close the pen with swallow tail
This is a typical feature of the pen used in official script, especially the main strokes of horizontal and vertical strokes in official script are almost all made with this method. The so-called "writing silkworm head" means that in the process of using the pen to hide the (reverse) edge of the pen, the outline of the strokes formed during the starting process is written into a shape similar to that of a silkworm's head. "Closing the pen swallowtail" means pressing the pen at the pen closing position and then lifting the pen diagonally to the upper right to strike.
3. Turn circles into squares and arcs into straight lines
These are the two basic ways to simplify seal script in official script. However, if you don't understand the circle of seal script, it will be difficult to master the square of official script. Because the straight drawings or square folds in the official brush all contain the arc of the seal characters, the straightness of the official brush often has obvious fluctuations and is full of vitality. In fact, the meaning of official script is based on the movement of strokes.
4. Change the drawing into dots and the connection into disconnection
We know that dots are not needed in seal characters, and even if dots are used, they are just round dots. The dots in official scripts have become independent and no longer attached to paintings, and the dot methods are becoming increasingly rich, including flat dots, vertical dots, left and right dots, three connected dots (next to water), four connected dots (next to fire), etc.
In addition, the official script also breaks up the many circling and continuous strokes in the seal characters, which opens the door to the convenience of writing. Later, the regular script further developed this method, allowing the pen to stroke. There are traces of connection between them, and even the connection between writing and meaning is broken.
5. Strengthen the change of the thickness of the strokes
When writing seal script, the vertical strokes of the pen are required to leave no traces, while the official script intentionally emphasizes the stroke movement to form a thickness with obvious stroke trajectories. , inheritance and change, the three processes of starting, moving and closing the pen are clearly reflected. This is very similar to the later regular script.
Regular script:
Regular script is also called Zhengkai, Zhenshu, and Zhengshu. It gradually evolved from the official script and became more simplified, horizontal and vertical. "Cihai" explains that it has "a square shape and straight strokes, which can be used as a model." This type of Chinese character font is the current popular handwritten traditional Chinese character.
Characteristics of regular script:
1. Pay attention to the use of pens
The strokes of regular script include strokes in regular script, such as titon, hidden dew, square and circle, fast and slow, etc. Different methods of using brushes produce lines of different shapes and textures, and different lines require different methods of using brushes to express them. The fonts of fountain pen regular script are small, and the thickness of the lines does not change much. If you are not careful when writing, the strokes will not meet the requirements, and the strokes will appear weak, stiff and rigid. Therefore, one must undergo rigorous training to master the method of using the pen.
2. Clear strokes
The starting and ending of each stroke in regular script must be clearly explained, neat and standard, clean and neat, and cannot be scrawled or stuck together.
However, there must be an inherent echo between strokes, so that the strokes can be: orderly, clear-cut, solid and powerful, yet stop and continuous, straight but not stiff, curved but not weak, smooth and natural.
3. Square structure
In terms of structure, regular script emphasizes the balanced distribution of strokes and radicals, a stable center of gravity, appropriate proportions, correct fonts, and compliance with standards. When the characters are arranged together, they should be evenly sized and neatly arranged. Although there are also uneven changes in form, overall it is still neat and tidy.
Running script:
Running script is developed on the basis of official script. It is a font between regular script and cursive script. It is to make up for the slow writing speed of regular script and cursive script. caused by difficulty in identification. "Xing" means "walking", so it is not as sloppy as cursive script, nor as straight as regular script. In essence, it is the cursiveization of regular script or the regularization of cursive script. Those with more regular script than cursive script are called "Xing Kai", and those with more cursive script than regular script are called "Xing Cao".
Characteristics of running script:
Characteristics of writing:
Running script is a calligraphy style between regular script and cursive script. Those who write more freely and freely, closer to cursive script, are called Xingcao; those who write more upright and steady, closer to regular script, are called Xingkai.
In the process of writing, the movement of the brush strokes is more obvious in various forms of stipple painting. This movement of the brush strokes often leaves traces between stipples and characters. There are traces of mutual involvement, as thin as a gossamer. This is a silk connection.
Running script is the fast writing of regular script and the flow of regular script. After analyzing several groups of characters in regular script and running script, it was found that when writing in regular script and running script, the stipple writing method and the guidelines to be followed when using the pen, such as center front, spread hair, reverse in and out, lift and press the main, hide the front, etc. are all They are the same, except that the running script is more stretched and flowing when written.
Structural features:
Both large and small. That is, each character appears in different sizes, and the pens of a character are connected to each other. The connections between characters are both real and intentional, broken and connected, and they echo each other.
Combined retraction and retraction. Generally, those with short lines are closed, and those with long lines are released; returning to the front is closed, and flanking is released; most of them are left closing and right opening, upper closing and lowering, but they can also be converted into each other, and it is not ruled out that left opening is closed, right closing, and upper and lowering receive.
Decent and decent. Generally, it is dense at the top and sparse at the bottom, dense on the left and sparse on the right, dense on the inside and sparse on the outside. The middle palace is tightly knotted, and the smaller the blank space for the frame, the better, and the smaller the blank space for the circled strokes, the better. In the layout, the word spacing is tight, the line spacing is wide, and the writing is vigorous and colorful.
A blend of shades and shades. Running script writing should be easy, lively and quick, and master the combination of speed and delay, movement and stillness. In the design of ink color, the first character should be thick and the last character should be dry. The lines are long, thin, short and thick, with appropriate weight and alternate shades. It's similar to cursive writing, but not as cursive.
When I first read the book, I thought the writing on the Wei stele was very strange. Are they all rubbings?
Many of the copybooks handed down from the Wei stele were rubbed from the stele to keep them the same as the original fonts.
What are the differences between these types of calligraphy?
The similarities and differences between these types of calligraphy can be compared with the above calligraphy characteristics.
What fonts should beginners learn?
The ancients had this saying when learning calligraphy: "To learn calligraphy, you must first write regular script, and to write calligraphy, you must first use large characters. Large characters use Yan as the method, and Chinese regular script uses Ou as the method. Once you are familiar with Chinese regular script, you can then focus on it. It is written in regular script and King Zhong is used as the law." However, the results of many years of experimental research show that when you first learn to write, it is not advisable to learn characters that are too large first, and Chinese regular script is more suitable.
Small characters were necessary calligraphy for daily use in ancient times. In the past, when taking the imperial examination, most of the people who marked the papers read the characters first and then the articles. If the wording is not good, no matter how good the article is, it will be affected. The number one scholar in the Chao Kao and the Imperial Academy paid special attention to calligraphy. Therefore, all the small characters of the number one scholar and Hanlin scholar are exquisite. Generally speaking, they are also good at writing small characters.
Nowadays, hard pens are popular, and not many people use brushes to write small characters. However, using hard pens to write in small regular script copybooks has a significant effect of getting twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, if you want to write hard pen calligraphy well, you might as well find a good small regular script copybook and practice it. It will surely lay a solid foundation that will benefit you throughout your life.
There are many small regular script calligraphy manuscripts. Among the ink rubbings handed down from generation to generation, the small regular script of the Jin and Tang Dynasties is the most famous. These usually include Wei Zhongyao's "Proclamation Post" and "Ji Zhi Biao", Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Xizhi's "Le Yi Lun", "Cao E Stele", "Huang Ting Jing" Wang Xianzhi's "Thirteen Lines of Luo Shen Fu", Tang Zhong Shaojing's "Ling Ling" Fei Jing" and so on. There are also ink photocopies of small regular script works by Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Chong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunming and others, which are also very good examples.