How to write pen calligraphy well
1. The writing font has been formed. Can it be changed and how to change it?
Answer: It can be changed, and it won’t take long. Many comrades believe that writing has already taken shape and cannot be changed as we get older... This view is wrong. You know, writing well is not difficult, nor is it unattainable, but it is extremely easy to learn, as long as you use the right method and correct your old writing habits. Specifically, when you practice writing, you must correct your writing posture and method of holding the pen. This is the first condition.
Now I will list two examples of calligraphy practice by our ancestors and discuss this issue based on my own experience.
As we all know, Wang Xizhi, the sage of Chinese calligraphy, first learned calligraphy from Wei Shuo. Later, he read more famous works such as Zhong Yao, a famous writer from the previous generation, and changed his learning. It was he who carried on the past and opened up the future, turning the ancient calligraphy style into the beautiful and smooth modern style, and making creative contributions to regular script, running script and cursive script. This is Wang Xizhi's historical contribution in the history of Chinese calligraphy.
Let’s talk about Yan Zhenqing. He first learned from Chu Suiliang and later learned from Zhang Xu. He adapted the style of seal script and wrote dignified and majestic regular script. It was he who created a new style other than Erwang.
I first copied the regular script of Zhong Shaojing, and then from the regular script of Ouyang Xun and Huang Ziyuan. I followed Huang Ruozhou's calligraphy in running script. I felt that there was still a long way to go and I still had to work hard. But no matter how many years it takes for your handwriting to take shape, it can be changed.
Some comrades asked: Is it okay to write pen calligraphy and imitate calligraphy calligraphy? Practice has proven that yes, the effect is the same.
Write pen and brush calligraphy well, no matter your age, no matter whether your writing is in shape or not, as long as you write diligently, make up your mind, realize the importance of work and future, after some hard work, It can be written well.
Even if you start late, you can still catch up. Throughout the ages, there have been many famous teachers who became successful after studying in their thirties. Liang Hao of the Song Dynasty was admitted to Jinshi at the age of eighty-two. He chanted: "We also know that it is better for young people to pass the exams, but it is the mature people who compete for the leading position." Li Zhi of the Ming Dynasty abandoned his official position to study and was already fifty-four years old when he determined to write a book. His famous works "Book Burning" and "Collection of Books" were completed when he was sixty-four and seventy-three years old respectively.
Achievement does not depend on age, the key lies in ambition and perseverance.
2. Where should I start learning to write?
Answer: You must first choose your ideal copybook, and also consider whether it is similar to the glyphs you write. After you have selected it, read it several times and analyze the key points and structure of the glyphs. This is called "the intention is the word first", and then use transparent white paper to trace first, then copy, and memorize the key parts of each word. The specific steps are described below:
Writing posture and writing
(1) Sit upright, shoulders flat, back straight, body and head not tilted, let alone lowered ; The distance between the eyes is about one foot from the table, and the distance between the chest and the edge of the table is about three inches.
(2) Hold the pen upright, and the pen tip should be straight forward and avoid inward tilt (as long as the palm is flat, the pen tip will naturally move forward); the tip of the index finger should be about an inch away from the pen tip. If you hold the pen incorrectly or the tip of the pen is tilted inward, you will not be able to write well, cannot write horizontally, cannot write well, and will not be able to write smoothly. You may even have to move your right hand every time you write a stroke. At the same time, the written lines have no spine and no rhythm, and the glyphs cannot be said to be relaxed and generous.
(3) The inclination of the pen barrel. When writing large characters, hold the pen upwards and the inclination of the pen barrel should be slightly larger. When writing small characters, hold the pen downwards and the inclination of the pen barrel should be slightly smaller. The general slope should be at the index finger joint. If it exceeds this position, the strokes written will be either rigid or dull. If the inclination of the pen barrel is inappropriate, the pen speed will be limited, and it will be impossible to write elegant and charming glyphs, so the "tiger's mouth" should not be tilted.
(4) Hold the pen lightly so that you can move the pen freely; if you hold the pen too tightly, your writing will not be broad and generous. According to what I saw during lectures in middle schools, in a class of fifty students, forty-five people held their pens incorrectly or their pen tip was tilted inward. This is also the case in universities. It is for this reason that the characters written by these students are not hooked properly. It looks like a hook, but the 捺 does not look like a 捺. The strokes are all flat and piled up.
As mentioned before, the quality of writing is absolutely related to posture and writing. Just like a carpenter sawing wood, if your posture and holding the saw are not correct, no matter how straight the "line" is, you will saw it crookedly. This is the same as writing good calligraphy.
3. How should the steps of learning calligraphy be arranged?
Answer: Start by learning the basic strokes of regular script, namely dot, horizontal, vertical, left, back, lift, hook, and fold.
A character is like a machine. Practicing the basic strokes is like processing the "parts"; practicing the radicals is like starting the "assembly"; practicing the entire glyph is like entering the "final assembly" . That is to say, learn "decomposition" first, and then learn "coherence". Therefore, regular script is the foundation, and basic strokes are the foundation of the foundation.
When practicing basic strokes, practice them in categories. For example, when practicing writing "丶", you should practice 丶,丿,丶,丨, etc. separately, and then write "continuous" and combine them.
The general rules: when practicing regular script, you should first practice basic strokes; then practice the order of strokes; thirdly, practice radicals; fourthly, practice glyph structure; fifthly, practice branch layout.
The "dots" of Chinese characters should be emphasized when writing, like a stone falling to the ground. What kind of points are needed for what kind of parts, it is necessary to "concentrate on the writing first". For example, the writing method of Zhong Shaojing and Ouyang Xun above "倀" is more powerful when written in short vertical strokes.
4. Why is it said that to learn calligraphy, you must first practice regular script?
Answer: As we all know, when a child starts to walk, he must first learn to stand. After standing firm, he can learn to walk. When the steps are familiar, he can walk quickly and then run.
This is the same as the three steps of practicing calligraphy, first practice regular script; then practice Xing; third, practice cursive. Calligraphers of all ages have unanimously maintained that only by practicing regular script well and having a solid foundation will it be easier to write in regular script and cursive script. Only by practicing regular script well can the writing be smooth and the body not fragmented.
5. How long does it take to learn regular script first?
Answer: As long as you choose a good copybook and insist on writing two pages every day, you can achieve results in two months. As for the method of practicing writing, it is still best to trace first, then copy, and then compare to find differences. For difficult words, write them down separately and make special breakthroughs.
When your practice is effective, you will naturally become interested: the more you write, the more you will love to write, and the more you read, the happier you will be! This is the beginning of your success.
6. I’m used to writing running script, can I do it if I practice regular script again?
Answer: No problem, and it’s fast. Because you already have a certain impression of the structure of the glyphs, a certain foundation in writing, and a certain degree of literacy in your fingers and wrists, you only need to change the method, correct your original posture of holding and handling the pen, and follow the basic system of regular script If you keep practicing, you will get results within half a year.
7. In order to write every word well, what key points should be mastered?
Answer: The first thing is to master the pen strength. This means that you should use force when making strokes that should be used hard; when you should not use strong force, you should use light strokes to make transitions. For example, if you write the words "国", "红", "真" and "steel", you can clearly distinguish the importance, which will give people a sense of beauty.
Generally speaking, when writing "丶,一,丨,丶(捺)" and other strokes, the strokes should be applied lightly, and other strokes should be lighter. But each stroke in a word cannot be made with force. For example, when writing the words "人,大,天" and other characters, the strokes should be light and the strokes should be heavy. On the contrary, it can be written as "heavy" if the strokes are left, and "light" if the strokes are held back. In short, the force cannot be evenly distributed.
8. Some people say that basic strokes are easy to practice, but frame structures are difficult to write. Is this true?
Answer: It sounds difficult to say, but in fact it is very easy as long as you find the right method and follow the right path.
For example, after you first practice the basic strokes, you will have basic skills. The method to find the correct way and the right path refers to structurally distinguishing whether it is a single character or a combined character.
If it is a single character, it is necessary to grasp the center and center of gravity of the character. For example, the characters "Shang, Xia, Qian, Shi" and other characters are all single characters, so it is necessary to grasp its center of gravity: the horizontal strokes are slightly longer, the vertical strokes are slightly shorter, and the vertical strokes must be centered down (regular script).
If it is a combined character, it is necessary to distinguish whether it is a left-right structure;
Clarify these six differences, and then master them according to the definitions and organizational rules of the words. In this way, you can write a perfect and beautiful glyph.
For example: "Hao" and "Mom" belong to the left-right structure; "Xing" and "Su" belong to the upper-lower structure; "Chang" and "Zhang" belong to the upper-middle-lower structure; "Jiang" and "Yi" belong to the half-package structure. Structure; it is easy to distinguish between these different structure definitions.
For example: the two characters "Xing" and "Su" are vertically aligned up and down, pay attention to the center alignment; the character Changzhang has a long shape, don't write it too long, just tighten it slightly; the character "Hao Ma" has a left-right structure, with the left side Slightly smaller, slightly larger on the right. As long as the density is properly controlled and the unevenness is orderly, wouldn't it look good? On the contrary, if the font shape is not distinguished, the density is improper, one is wide and the other is narrow, and the weight of the lines is not distinguished, it will be ugly.
9. Some people say that if you want to write pen calligraphy well, you must first practice brush calligraphy. Is this true?
Answer: No. Practice has proved that this requires many detours. Why? The reason is very clear: because the structural rules of Chinese characters are exactly the same, but the size of the fonts, writing tools and techniques are different, it doesn’t matter which one you learn first.
When inheriting and copying ancient works, we should strive to be similar in form and spirit, but we should not lose sight of our personal style.
Some people are too mysterious about how to write well, and some people say that good handwriting is innate... In fact, it does not take ten or twenty years to write calligraphy with a brush or a pen. To put it bluntly, I have only practiced calligraphy for two years. When I showed the calligraphy couplet I wrote two years later to a calligraphy editor, the first comment I got was: "Your handwriting must have taken at least ten years of work." The editor asked me: "Who have you learned from?" I said: "No one has learned from". Three months later, the couplet I wrote was published in a magazine.
This incident reminds me of how many people and calligraphy materials have repeatedly claimed that if you want to write well, you can't practice it for more than ten years and more... He also said that good handwriting is a genius and so on. These assertions are unrealistic. In fact, as long as you choose the copybook well, use the right method and are determined, you can achieve results in less than a year. Please give it a try.
Some people advocate that to write well with pen calligraphy, you must first practice calligraphy with brush. This is not actually necessary because you cannot master both calligraphy skills at the same time in a short period of time.
10. How to arrange the font size?
Answer: Chinese characters are large or small, with different shapes. Regardless of whether they are written with a brush or a pen, the size cannot be exactly the same. We call it "uneven and orderly".
Specific requirements: If there are many strokes, write them thinly and slightly shrink them; if there are few strokes, write them thickly and slightly spread them out. It should be written in even sizes, not like chess pieces arranged uniformly regardless of size. For example: the character "Teng" is the same as the character "小"; the character "口" is the same as the character "国"; the character "Gong" is the same as the character "Qian".
11. Writing pays attention to echo. What does this mean?
Answer: If you want to write vividly, you have to pay attention to the movement of lines and the response of strokes. There are echoes between strokes, and the beginning and end of sentences also pay attention to echoes. This writing method is to avoid mechanical and stacking phenomena. The "broken pens and connected ideas" we often mention make the movement between the stipples and paintings coherent. This movement is like the movement of a child reaching out to call his mother, and the mother reaching out to pick up the child.
"Shu Raf" says: Starting the pen is to call, and closing the pen is to accept. On the contrary, if you finish one stroke and then think about the next one, interrupting the potential energy between the pens, that is what the "Sequel Book of Books" criticizes: "The shape is written in pictures, but it cannot contain it. It is all fragmented and incoherent, and the result is mostly beads. , of course the glyph cannot survive."
Therefore, in order to make the writing lively, interesting and attractive, the word echo cannot be ignored.
12. It is said that there is a principled way of writing, is this true?
Answer: Yes, this is what the contemporary calligrapher Deng Sanmu said. Mr. Deng makes sense. When writing "horizontal", it should be slightly slanted, with the left side lower and the right side higher. The slope is about 5-7 degrees. Do not go below 5 degrees. No higher than 7 degrees. This is because human eyesight is not balanced. If the "horizontal" drawing is written as straight, then due to the illusion of the two eyes, it will seem that the end of the right end has fallen down, which is very unnatural.
The "vertical" painting of Chinese characters is more important and plays a pillar role in a character. Yu Shinan said in "Bi Sui Lun Commentary" (quoting Wang Xizhi's words): "A crossbow is necessary for vertical painting, and fighting is important for heroism." Therefore, writing vertical paintings must be vigorous and powerful. Such as Zhong, Niu, Qian, Shan, etc.
13. What kind of paper is good for practicing calligraphy? What should we pay attention to?
Answer: It is better to use a grid notebook because it has a certain grid and has certain constraints on the glyphs you practice writing. When practicing writing, you should do it line by line. After every page you write, you should analyze it to see where the gap is. Every time you finish writing a book, you should keep it for identification and comparison, and to measure the degree of progress.
When practicing calligraphy, you must not write one word in the east and two words in the west irregularly. Such practice will affect your ability to master the composition and layout.
Practicing writing in order will help you practice the composition and arrange the layout of the entire article. It will also help you develop a good habit of writing line order. If you write randomly, then when you write formally, although the font itself is pretty good, the layout of the whole article will definitely be irregular, which is a big deal.
14. Does writing speed matter?
Answer: It has a lot to do with it. The speed of writing has a great relationship with the writing speed. The beauty of the glyphs and the charm of the lines are mostly reflected in the fast writing. The echoing and coherent gestures are also reflected in the rapid movement of the brush. Words written with a slow pen have no charm.
As we all know, the glyphs and chapters written by some people who write quickly are not rigid, not rigid, and have high momentum! This is the good effect of their use of "all in one go".
If you want to write quickly and achieve satisfactory results, in addition to having a good understanding of the structure of the glyphs themselves, it is more important to hold the pen correctly and as high as possible.
When writing each word, you should conceive it according to the basic definition of the word, write it with faith, and act with faith. Don't be artificial or modify it. "The pen is powerful and penetrating, with beauty and rhyme; the book is expensive, thin and hard, so it has spirit." This is what the speed of writing should reflect.
15. What should you pay attention to when writing basic strokes?
Answer: (1) When writing "point", it is as heavy as a stone, broken in shape but connected in meaning;
(2) When writing "horizontal", it should be slightly slanted. There are two "horizontal" characters in a word. The upper "horizontal" should be written in an upward posture, and the lower "horizontal" should be written in a downward posture;
(3) "Vertical" should be drawn thick and strong, and should not be written crookedly;
(4) The writing stroke of "Bi" is sharp, and the writing stroke of "捺" is vigorous;
(5) The writing stroke of "Zhe" is slow, while the writing stroke of "Hook" is sharp.
Practice slowly at first and gradually. You must know that to achieve success in calligraphy, you must first practice the basic strokes of regular script well, which is the starting point for writing all calligraphy well.
16. Do I have to imitate the ancient fonts to learn calligraphy?
Answer: Yes, this is a question of inheriting tradition. However, times are advancing, things are developing, and various arts always need to be constantly innovated. Therefore, we cannot blindly copy the ancients, but should take their essence.
Chen Hongshou of the Ming Dynasty said: "We call him a scholar, but he actually said King Zhong, who did he learn from the ancients? He captured the teachings of various schools and created one by himself." Su Shi also mentioned in "Painting Theory": "Create new ideas in the law, and send wonderful principles out of boldness." Wang Xizhi changed the official script to Xingkai and was later called "Sheng Shu"; Zhang Xu changed Er Wang's Cao Fa to today's Cao. "Grass Saint". If we follow the ancients and repeat over and over again, thousands of people are one and a thousand words are the same, then we cannot talk about the development of calligraphy art. To break away from the stereotype and create a new look without individual innovation is equivalent to losing its vitality. This is an inevitable trend in the development of both calligraphy styles.
17. How to choose copybooks?
Answer: It depends on which font you are interested in and what kind of characters your characters are similar to. Then you can decide. If you cannot choose the ideal fountain pen copybook, you can also choose a calligraphy brush copybook. Such as "Ling Fei Jing Small Regular Calligraphy", Ouyang Xun's "Thirty-six Methods", Huang Ziyuan's "Ninety-two Methods", these beautiful, dignified, charming and vigorous regular scripts are brush calligraphy, but their font shape and size, They can all be used as models for learning pen calligraphy.
18. From what aspects should a word or an article be evaluated?
Answer: The first thing is to look at the "writing power" of the characters; the second thing is to look at the grasp of the glyphs and the structure of the frames; the third thing is to look at the technique and layout of the whole text.
What is the distribution of "writing power", whether the density of structural alternation is appropriate, whether the lines between words, between lines, the beginning, the end, etc. are clear.
You must know that true calligraphy skills also focus on the straight and vigorous regular script.
19. How can we master the rules and layout?
Answer: When writing an article, you should not read one word and write one word after another. You should focus on one sentence and write it down one after another. This way of writing can make the word order neat and full of charm. If you read one by one and write one by one, there will be irregularities between words, between lines, and even the entire length of the text. Although this is a small thing, it is very important to measure the overall style of the work.
Font pen writing is mostly written horizontally, and it should be aligned to the left while writing. When writing vertically, it should be aligned with the top.
The size of the characters is generally 5×8mm in width and height. The distance between characters should account for half of a character, and the distance between lines should account for the width of a character.
Although the fonts are well written, but the composition and layout are improper, the price will be reduced by three points. Therefore, we must pay attention to the arrangement of the composition and layout, and develop good habits in daily writing.
20. How to embody the beauty of calligraphy art? Where does this beauty come from?
Answer: The art of calligraphy uses association to arouse the germination of people's inner emotions, including both "form and spirit".
The beauty of the "form" of calligraphy mainly uses dots and lines, structure, density, weight, and the urgency of strokes to form the "shaped" of the image. The beauty of the form, the beauty of the strength, and the beauty of the structure evoke People’s taste and beauty!
The "divine" beauty of calligraphy refers to the overall appearance after the combination of lines. It is not a mechanical coordination like in geometry, but the calligrapher's materialistic, dynamic momentum and instinct, stemming from the aesthetic ideal of loving life. "Strong means vigorous and powerful, and beautiful means elegant and clear." This is the proper embodiment of the "divine" beauty of calligraphy.
The ancients said that joy, anger, sorrow and joy each have their own scores, which are reflected in the broad mind of the writer. If you are happy, your Qi will be harmonious and your words will be relaxed; if you are angry, your Qi will be angry and your words will be dangerous; if you are sad, your Qi will be depressed and your words will be restrained; if you are happy, your Qi will be calm and your words will be beautiful. The writer's heart contains ideas inspired by life, which overflows between the lines and shocks the readers' hearts, thus arousing excitement.
my country’s calligraphy art has both “form and spirit” and is vivid in momentum! It is this beauty that the artistic value of Chinese calligraphy has been valued by the world. In April 1977, at the first International Symposium on the History of Calligraphy held at Yale University in the United States, there was a paper titled "The Influence of Chinese Calligraphy on Modern Painters."
Chinese calligraphy has typical oriental beauty and has become a unique art in the world. Its great influence can be seen.
21. What should we pay attention to in writing in the future?
Answer: We should pay attention to the four aspects of "knowledge, simplicity, continuity, and beauty". This is advocated by Comrade Zhu Chuan, the former deputy governor and honorary president of the Liaoning Calligraphers Association. These four words will play a vital role in the future. The standardization of hard-tipped calligraphy has important guiding significance.
"Knowledge" means that the written words must be accurate, clear and legible. Since words are symbols that represent silent language and express a person's thoughts and actions, then this symbol must be written so that people can recognize it. If it is written in a messy way, no one will recognize it, and as time goes by, even you will not recognize it. What is the use of such words?
"Jian" refers to writing in simplified characters prescribed by the state. You must know that the development of Chinese characters from complex to simple and continuous evolution is no longer a thing now. After Qin Shihuang unified writing and standardized it, Xiaozhuan became official script, cursive script became regular script, and cursive script in the late Han Dynasty turned into cursive script of regular script. The continuous simplification of fonts is the law of the development of Chinese characters.
Today, we are building material civilization and spiritual civilization, and people have higher requirements for the efficiency of writing Chinese characters. Therefore, the abbreviation of Chinese characters is very necessary. But advocating for writing simplified Chinese characters is not random.
"Lian" refers to characters written in a continuous style. Simply put, it is a fast-writing connected character.
Regardless of running script or cursive script, there must be normative constraints, and it should not be random. I repeat that the words you write must be understandable and understandable, without causing embarrassment to others.
"Beauty" refers to the highest requirement after a word is written. The beauty of calligraphy is expressed through the beauty of lines, not the beauty of pictograms.
For example, if you write the word "fish" and the appreciator judges whether it is beautiful or not based on whether the word "fish" resembles the "fish" in nature, this will confuse the meaning of beauty.
To evaluate the beauty of glyphs, we should abandon the ancient prototypes of Chinese characters and instead rely on the "shape and spirit" embodied in their line shapes.
In the long historical development, the ancient writing method of Chinese character iconography has been ignored by people. If some people think that oracle bone inscriptions with strong pictograms are beautiful, then regular script without pictograms is not beautiful. This is obviously not in line with the actual situation of the history of Chinese calligraphy.
The beauty of the lines themselves comes from the shape. Brush calligraphy is expressed in "tendons, bones, blood, flesh, spirit, energy, rhyme and taste" (Zhu Chuan language), and the same is true for fountain pens.
This kind of beauty is not sloppy or far-fetched, but the overall natural beauty of the lines, which is expressed through the concretization of "form and spirit".
Selected from "How to Write Good Pen Calligraphy"