For many beginners, brushwork and structure are the two most important problems to be solved, but brushwork and structure cannot be separated. Therefore, in the process of beginners, whether the brushwork is important or the structure is important needs everyone to think.
Zhao Mengfu, a calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty, once said that calligraphy is based on the use of a pen, and writing also requires hard work. Throughout the ages, it is not easy to write with a pen. In other words, the brushwork has remained unchanged since ancient times. The structure changes with the times. Therefore, the two should focus on using pens. In addition, the font structure is influenced by strokes, and the shape of strokes is completed by brushwork, so the change of brushwork directly affects the change of font structure.
We compare the Taoist figures in the Monument to Keelung and the Preface Monument to the Wild Goose Pagoda to see the influence of the brushwork structure on the aesthetic appreciation of characters.
The Taoist figures in Yan Long Bei have thick strokes and obvious edges and corners, which makes the whole figure simple, simple and vigorous.
The Taoist characters in the Preface of the Wild Goose Pagoda are vigorous, harmonious and delicate, which makes the whole word light and soft.
The different brushwork between them leads to different strokes, which affects the structure of the whole word, and then the aesthetic feeling of the font is different.
This shows the importance of brushwork in learning calligraphy. Mr. Shen Yimo, a modern calligrapher, once said that ordinary writers always like to work hard on the structure of Chinese characters rather than the strokes of Chinese characters. What people generally require is that the strokes are clean and the structure is symmetrical and tidy. But from the perspective of calligraphy art, learning strokes must learn brushwork. Calligraphy can't be introduced only by learning structure.
Let's take a look at the current calligraphy teaching. Many teachers teach in regular script and practice with paper from Mi Zige or Tian Zige. In fact, this teaching method only practices the structure of Chinese characters, but ignores the tempering of Chinese strokes. The written words only have the low-level beauty of Chinese character structure. If students want to write, I think they must first master the skills of brushwork, especially practicing seal script or official script, in order to better control the writing brush. If you can control the brush, you can write the strokes you want at will, and you can also write the Chinese character structure you want.
Therefore, in the process of calligraphy beginners, we should pay attention to the practice of brushwork, followed by the practice of structure.