There are tens of thousands of ways to write the word longevity, and the picture above shows the most famous way of writing "a stroke of longevity".
How to practice calligraphy well
1. Combination of copying and copying?
Copying is the most basic method of learning calligraphy. Not only do beginners need to copy, but they also have certain skills. After the basics, you still need to copy.
Learning regular script requires copying, while learning seal script, official script, running script, and cursive script still requires copying.
A calligrapher spends his life in copying, learning in copying, thinking in copying, and creating in copying.
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Copying is to cover the copybook with tissue paper, and then the pen follows the shadow and writes according to the revealed handwriting. It is also called "imitation" or rubbing.
There is another method of copying called "drawing red", which is to fill in the words printed with double hooks and red lines.
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How to copy: first draw red.
That is, select clear and complete words from a calligraphy book, cover them with transparent and ink-proof thin paper, such as typing paper, glossy paper, tracing paper, etc., and follow the words The outline of the word is hooked into hollow characters with extremely thin lines. This is called "double hook".
Then use the hooked words as a tracing book, fill it in with red ink, then with blue ink, and finally with ink. Writing in this way can not only deepen your memory, but also save paper.
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When copying the calligraphy, you should pay attention to the pen moving along with the calligraphy and not losing shape. You should pay close attention to the ins and outs of the strokes and figure out its brushwork and structure.
The copy should have the meaning of "writing". Write the strokes one by one, full and precise, and do not follow the gourd and the gourd to fill in and smear.
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Imitation of the calligraphy, that is, based on copying the calligraphy, after having a basic understanding of the rules of writing and knotting, then writing against the calligraphy.
There are three ways to write a post: face to face, close to face, and back to face.
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Duplicate, that is, put the copybook on the opposite frame and write accordingly. This is the most convenient and commonly used method of copywriting.
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Ge Lin, that is, use transparent paper to lay out a grid (field grid, rice grid, Jiugong grid, etc.) and write according to the pattern.
Mainly used to grasp the structural parts of the text.
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With your back, you put away the post and write down the words in the post from memory, not only for its shape, but also for its spirit.
After reading, you can collect the words into couplets or into articles, and then enter the creation stage.
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Copying the calligraphy pen follows the shadow. How the ancients wrote is how we write. The size, length, width, thickness, square and circle, slant, etc. must all be according to the calligraphy. There are certain norms and constraints when it comes to writing.
The characteristic of copying is that it is easy to learn the structural positions of the ancients. However, because the rules are too rigid, the writing style of the ancients is lost. The writing style is rigid and inflexible, which makes people feel uneasy and intolerable. Either facing, facing from behind, or facing with intention, many calligraphers' own personal characteristics are added, so it is easy to get the ancient writing style, but easy to lose the ancient structural position.
I write freely and pursue individuality, but get very little.
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Therefore, copying must be combined with copying, copying first and then copying, so as to obtain both the ancients' writing methods and the ancients' structural rules.
When practicing, you can copy first and then review, then copy in reverse, and then review after copying.
Or use the "double hook" method to study structural rules.
Copying and copying are interspersed, and the effect is excellent.
When copying, you should look more, think more, and ponder more, and then write.
The writing must be accurate, first similar in form, and then similar in spirit, so as to achieve both form and spirit.
After copying, you should check it repeatedly, sum up experience and lessons, improve through negation, and mature through lessons.
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2. First in, last out?
Copying is the most basic and effective way to learn calligraphy.
Copying is inheritance, that is, learning from the ancients, learning the beautiful brushwork, beautiful knotting, beautiful composition, beautiful charm and momentum in the excellent inscriptions of the predecessors.
But there is another key issue in copying: entry and exit.
If you don’t enter the post, can’t write it, or the writing doesn’t look like it, you won’t be able to have a dialogue with the ancients and learn the beauty of their calligraphy.
But if you don’t post, you can’t come out even if you go in. It’s too much like the ancients, and you have become a slave to the ancients. You have no personality at all. If you write like this, you won’t be able to form your own calligraphy style in the end. .
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Regarding entering and leaving posts, Yao Mengqi of the Qing Dynasty said it well: when entering posts, "I must not be there, as it is customary to have me"; when posting posts, "it cannot be without me" "I am here, and without me there will be chaos." "Not with me here" means to study the ancient calligraphy with concentration, grasp the spiritual outlook of the calligraphy, and "every word must come from the ancient calligraphy." There is no basis for the calligraphy; "cannot be without me" means that on the basis of the image, you should absorb the strengths of other stele and calligraphy, integrate them, combine them with your own artistic qualities and creative talents, and gradually form your own style, personality and creativity , and gradually move towards a new realm of free creation.
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3. Read posts to be enlightened?
Posts should not only be written, but the important thing is to read them. Learning books and being enlightened means understanding from reading posts. Some of the excellent calligraphy works of the ancients may not necessarily come to you. As long as you read them carefully, appreciate them repeatedly, and understand the rules and charm, they will naturally be incorporated into your own calligraphy creations.
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Reading the inscriptions does not mean reading the text content of the inscriptions aloud.
The so-called reading of inscriptions is a specialized term for calligraphy, that is, the calligrapher reads the inscriptions and scans the ink before copying the inscriptions, or in the break of normal work, that is, carefully analyzes, studies, and ponders the inscriptions on the inscriptions. The strokes, structure of each character and the organization, momentum and charm of the entire work are memorized while reading. I can't help but draw them with my fingers, copying them with my heart and my hands, and I am very excited.
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The ancients read posts very seriously.
Cao Cao was not only a famous politician and military strategist, but also a famous poet and calligrapher. The Shaanxi Hanzhong Museum has the official script inscription "Gunxue" written by him.
It is said that he liked Liang Hu's calligraphy, so he hung Liang Hu's calligraphy in his tent and read it whenever he had time, even when he was marching and fighting.
It is said that Zhong Yao, a great calligrapher in the Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, "painted the ground while sitting and the quilt while lying down." He studied calligraphy very hard, paying special attention to reading and dictating famous calligraphy.
Ouyang Xun, a calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, once discovered a stele written by Suo Jing, a calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty, while he was traveling. He turned around and read it. His legs were sore from standing, so he simply sat down to read it.
This lasted for three days before reluctantly leaving.
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Reading posts is like having a conversation with the ancients, making friends, and achieving intellectual and emotional resonance.
Start reading the post from point to point, and carefully study and ponder the beauty of the ancients' brushwork, word formation, composition, momentum and charm.
Through reading, eye observation, and subtle understanding, you can deepen your understanding, exercise your visual memory, and enrich, accumulate and improve your art appreciation ability.
One post can read hundreds of books.
Reading calligraphy is not limited to one or two books. The practical experience of many calligraphers in ancient and modern times has proved that reading calligraphy is better than copying calligraphy.
We may not necessarily read some inscriptions, but we can read them and deeply understand the three flavors in ancient calligraphy works. Accumulate a little and gradually absorb and digest it, so that it can flow to the bottom of the wrist and be enriched on paper, naturally. The hands follow the height of the eyes, and the eyes make the hands smart.
It enters the eyes, melts into the heart, and comes out of the hands. The heart and hands correspond, and the effect is twice the result with half the effort.
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