Looking for some advice on how to get started with brush calligraphy.

Let me state first that the suggestions below are all for entry-level scholars.

First, choose the appropriate pen, ink, paper and felt. I don’t know where you are from, but if you are in the Jiangnan area, such as Tunxi Old Street in Huangshan, it is easy to prepare everything. A medium-sized pen should be a suitable size. When choosing, you should at least check whether the pen barrel is straight and whether the tip of the pen can return to a sharp point after getting wet (it cannot be uneven). Pens that cost about a few yuan to more than ten yuan are fine; ink Use the ink from "Yidege". It has a strong fragrance, is about the size of a medium-sized bottle, and is not very expensive. The ink color is better than elsewhere. Use rough-edged paper (yellow with the word "rice" on it, which looks like Like toilet paper, with weeds in the middle), raw-edged paper is sold in terms of "knives". There are about 80 to 100 pieces in a knife, which is cheap and plentiful, and is very suitable for beginners to practice; just buy a small piece of felt, about one meter long and wide. Enough.

Second, don’t rush to write. After laying out the pen, ink, and paper felt, draw circles and flowers in the "rice" grid on the felt paper. The so-called "circle" means starting from the center point of the rice character and going around in circles like the "wavy candy texture". The circle drawn should try to keep "even strokes, even strokes between strokes, and many circles"; the so-called "flower", The petals are drawn in sequence along the eight branches of the "rice" grid, but remember to follow the "8" stroke order (if you don't understand well, just figure it out yourself or ask a friend who knows you). These two are the basis of the basic practice pen.

Third, make it clear what font and which font you want to write in, and then buy a copybook. For starters, some say to use official script and others say to use regular script. I suggest using regular script. Regular script is used to lay the foundation and sharpen the mind. Once you have practiced regular script, the others are variations of it or are easier to learn than it, but it needs to be explained. It is not easy to reach the peak of regular script writing. I used Liu Gongquan's "Liu Ti" character for the first time, because it has detailed stroke order and structure, as well as the position of each character in the "meter" character grid, which is easy to imitate. But I don’t know if it’s still available for purchase now. You can go look for it and see if there are any similar copybooks.

After completing the above steps, you should be considered a beginner. Once you are almost done with regular script, you can practice a series of fonts such as official script, seal script, running script, and cursive script. The last thing is the understanding of "calligraphy". Xiaosheng has not yet fully understood this point. You can also check out some calligraphy explanation videos and related materials by calligraphers.