Center movement of the brush
Center movement of the brush is the main operation mode of the brush when writing. The "center of the brush" in Cai Yong's words "make the center of the brush always move in pointillism" refers to the front and tip of the brush. "Always running in the middle of stipple painting" means often running in the middle of strokes. Since the brush is conical, the brush in the middle is thicker and has more ink than the ones on both sides, so the strokes written have a round and thick three-dimensional feel and appear full. This is called "center forward movement". But sometimes, although the tip of the brush is in the middle of the stroke, the brush is not in a conical state, but in a flat state like an oil brush. At this time, the texture of the strokes written will appear flat and timid, so Cai Yong wanted to put the word "round" on the front. The four words "pen belongs to paper". If "flat pen" occurs during writing, one method can be to rub the brush on the edge of the inkstone to return it to a conical state; another method is to use the finger holding the pen to rotate the pen barrel so that the flat pen becomes round when the pen is placed. ; Another method is to adjust the pen tip to make it round during the writing process. However, the method of explaining the center pen movement of "the center of the pen is often moved in pointillism" is still difficult to understand because of the specific writing time. , the brush tip has been distributed in the middle and both sides of the stroke, so it is difficult to find the so-called center of the brush. Therefore, another more precise and scientific method should be used to interpret it. When the brush is running on the paper, the pen belly is running. In front of the center, the tip of the pen follows closely, and the tip of the pen is always repeated on the ink mark formed by the belly of the pen. When the center moves the pen, the direction from the tip of the pen to the belly of the pen is consistent with the running direction of the brush.
The strokes written with the center pen will have different textures due to different writing strength and speed. They can be roughly divided into two categories: one type of strokes with smooth and smooth edges, like a knife, which was called "Guchaijiao" in ancient times; the other type of strokes. The edges are hairy and uneven, like ten thousand-year-old vines. In ancient times, they were called "house leak marks" or "gold and stone gas". The former writes slightly faster and uses even force, showing a strong, straight and energetic beauty. The latter's writing speed is slightly slower and harder, and his fingers are trembling. It shows a strong and sophisticated beauty. Beginners should practice the former type of clean lines first. After you become proficient, you can pursue "house leakage marks". In fact, "roof leakage marks" are formed naturally and are by no means artificial. It cannot be done deliberately by shaking or twisting.
The ancients often used "penetrating through the back of the paper" and "penetrating three-thirds of the wood" to describe strokes and lines. The so-called "power through the back of the paper" means that when writing, the pen is strong and the ink can penetrate through the back of the paper. Teachers test students' writing skills by turning over the Yuanshu paper to see if the ink in the middle of the strokes is thoroughly absorbed. If the two ends of the strokes are as black as the middle, it means the student is writing seriously and not carelessly. If it is found that the beginning and end of the stroke are black but the middle part is not black, it means that the student writes carelessly and passes by. "Three points into the wood" comes from Wang Xizhi. When he wrote the sacrificial blessing board (wooden board), he had to rewrite a new message, so he asked a carpenter to cut off the words. As a result, three thirds of the words were cut off so that the ink marks disappeared. It shows that Wang Xizhi's writing power is strong and powerful, and the ink can penetrate as deep as three-thirds of the wooden board. "Power through the back of the paper" and "penetrating into the wood for three points" both talk about the power of the center's brushstrokes and the ink color is real and not superficial.
Off-front brushstrokes
The side-forward brushstrokes are different from the center's strokes. The strokes are not in the center's strokes. In the middle of the stroke, the strokes on one side of the stroke are smooth and flat; that is, the stroke is on one side of the stroke, and the belly is on the other side of the stroke. The strokes on the front side of the stroke are smooth and flat. The sides of the pen are dull and uneven. Because of their imperfections, calligraphers have always regarded the strokes as defective when writing in cursive or cursive scripts. Or whether it is dry shading or even occasional slanting in order to enhance the rhythm of the work, the first thing that beginners must master is the technique of center forward brushstrokes
That is to say, when viewed from top to bottom, when the direction of the brush stroke (center line) and the direction of movement (center line of the stroke) form an angle of about 45 degrees, this method of brush movement is called side-forward brush movement.
The texture of the strokes written by the side forward stroke is also between the center forward stroke and the partial forward stroke. When the angle between the stroke direction and the running direction is less than 45 degrees, the texture of the strokes is close to the center effect; when the angle between the direction of the brush strokes and the running direction is greater than 45 degrees, the texture of the strokes is close to the slant effect. Side-front brushstrokes are widely used in running and cursive scripts, but this method is often used in Yan Zhenqing's horizontal paintings in regular scripts.
When the brush is running on paper, there are roughly the above three conditions. Different calligraphy styles have different requirements for brush operation. Seal script only uses the center; official script and regular script mainly use the center, supplemented by the side; running script and cursive script mainly use the center and the side, and occasionally use the side. Because the pen tip is soft, sometimes the pen stroke is in a slanted state. During the operation, the pen tip is gradually straightened out and adjusted to the center. The key to writing is to be able to use the center and adjust the tip of the pen to maintain the center. This is the writing technique.
Terminology of calligraphy
There are many terms of calligraphy. When learning calligraphy, you cannot be ignorant of the terminology of calligraphy. In addition to the above-mentioned center, slant forward, and side forward, we will also learn about the terminology of calligraphy. Let’s give a brief introduction to other terms of brushwork.
Starting to write is also called to write or to write. That is the moment when the tip of the brush touches the paper.
Line brush Line brush refers to the movement of the brush on the paper. There are three types of strokes: center forward, partial forward, and side forward.
To close the pen, to close the pen, refers to the moment when the tip of the brush leaves the paper.
There are two situations for starting and closing a pen, one is called hidden front and the other is called exposed front.
Hidden edge Hidden edge means that the edge of the pen when starting and closing the pen is not exposed, and the edge of the pen is hidden inside the strokes when writing. When starting a stroke with a hidden edge, the reverse method is usually used, that is, the stroke is started in the opposite direction so that the edge of the stroke is hidden within the stroke. To hide the edge and close the brush, the brush edge is usually hidden within the strokes by returning the edge. This method of starting and closing the pen of Zangfeng does not show any sharpness and is relatively subtle. It gives people a feeling of softness, smoothness, calmness and implication.
Exposed edge Exposed edge means that the tip of the pen when raising and closing the pen is exposed outside the strokes, and the pen is started straight down or directly forward. This method of starting and ending the pen shows the sharp edge and gives people a spiritual radiance. A refreshing and upright feeling.
Lifting the brush: Lifting the brush upward slightly to make the strokes thinner is called lifting the brush. But there is a limit to how far you can lift the pen, that is, the tip of the pen cannot leave the paper, because if it leaves the paper, the pen will be closed.
Pressing the brush: Gently pressing down on the brush to make the strokes thicker is called pressing the brush.
Fast pen and astringent pen Fast pen means running faster. Astringent pen refers to a slower running speed. Generally speaking, the strokes written by a fast pen are easy to be smooth and strong, while the strokes written by a hesitant pen are easy to be hairy and stagnant. Write at the right speed. If it is too fast, the strokes will be slippery and weak; if it is too slow, the strokes and shapes will be prone to dullness.
Turning and folding means that the brush suddenly changes direction at a certain point during its operation. The difference between turning and folding is that turning is arc-shaped and has no turning points; folding has edges and corners and turning points. For example, in the word "Li", the place where the strong horizontal hook turns on the right side is "Zhuan", because it is a slowly curved arc, which is called Yuan Zhuan. Another example is the word "口". The horizontal and vertical turns are square and angular, which is called "square fold".