Commonly used fonts for couplets are regular script, official script, running script, etc.
Chinese calligraphy includes five calligraphy styles: seal script (oracle bone inscriptions, large and small seal scripts), Li (Han steles and Qin and Han bamboo slips), regular script, running script, and cursive script (Zhangcao, Jincao), all of which can be used for writing. Couplet, re-create. In view of the fact that the practicality and appreciation of couplet calligraphy are often integrated, in order to facilitate viewers to read the couplets, three fonts: regular script, official script and xing script are commonly used by calligraphers.
Introduction to commonly used fonts for couplets
1. Regular script
Mainly refers to Tang regular script and Wei stele script (there are also Jin people’s small regular script, script writing style, etc.), which are standardized and Neat and static calligraphy. When writing couplets, the characters occupy one grid, usually vertically in rows and horizontally in columns, or vertically in rows and horizontally not in columns, but the size of the characters is basically the same. If you adopt a vertical position, you can increase the line spacing and shorten the word spacing to make the flow of energy compact. You can also widen the line spacing and word spacing to achieve a clear and even layout throughout the text.
2. Official script
The mature official script of Han stele is also a neat and static calligraphy style. The fonts are mostly flat and square, and the written couplets occupy one grid, whether square or square. The long square grid makes the couplets naturally form a horizontal position, that is, the vertical rows are closely spaced, the word spacing is large, and the horizontal columns are obvious. This is the unique form of official script. The words can also be placed in a flat square grid, so that the vertical and horizontal spacing is basically the same. Equal to form a uniform layout horizontally and vertically.
The character shapes of Han bamboo slips and silk scripts are of different lengths and sizes, and some are vertical, apostrophe, and vertical. It is better to write in a vertical position. The horizontal columns are not required to be neat, but the vertical and horizontal lines are required to be numbered. Equal, the line spacing is consistent, and the start and end are basically even and symmetrical.
3. Running Script
Running script is based on regular script, incorporating some cursive writing techniques to simplify the complex, with lingering stipples, continuous calligraphy, lively brushwork, and variable font sizes. It expands and contracts with the situation to form a calligraphy style that is beautiful, easy to read, convenient to write, and of great practical and appreciation value. Because it is between regular script and cursive script, there is a lot of room for maneuver in the movement, stillness, and flow of the body posture.
Therefore, there are also regular script and cursive couplets that can take advantage of the continuous character style and the free and lively structure. The composition only requires the overall balance of the upper and lower couplets, the spirit and rhyme are connected, and they take care of each other, not each one. Each part of the character is symmetrical, so as to form as many uneven and intricate compositional changes as possible in the overall basic symmetry, so as to better exert the artistry and expressive power of cursive writing.