What are the five fonts of official script?

The distribution of official script is opposite to the normal vertical direction of seal script, but changed to horizontal direction, which leads to flat font and contraction of vertical strokes, thus strengthening the horizontal distribution.

2, pen silkworm head pen swallow tail

This is a typical feature of the pen used in official script, especially in official script, which almost always uses horizontal painting. The so-called "silkworm head" refers to hiding the (reverse) front in the process of using the pen, and at the same time writing the stroke shape formed in the process of starting the pen into a shape similar to that of the silkworm head. "Dovetail", that is, press the pen at the pen-receiving place, and then pick the pen obliquely to the upper right.

3. Turn a circle into a square and an arc into a straight one

These are two basic methods to simplify seal script in official script. But if you don't know the circle of seal script, it is not easy to master the side of official script. Because the straight painting or square folding in official script contains the arc potential of seal script, the straight of official script often has obvious ups and downs and is full of vitality. In fact, the brushwork of official script is based on the way of stroke movement.

4. Change the picture to a point and the connection to a break.

There is no dot in seal script, but a dot is used. However, the points in the official script are independent, no longer attached to the painting, and the point methods are increasingly rich, including flat points, vertical points, left and right points, three points (by water) and four points (by fire). In addition, Lishu also broke many strokes written in seal script, which opened the door to writing. Later, regular script played like this, allowing traces of cohesion between pens, and even breaking the meaning of pens.

5. Strengthen the thickness change of lifting.

In seal script, there is no trace of the vertical lifting of the pen, while the official script deliberately emphasizes the lifting, which forms a significant change in the thickness and inheritance of the stroke trajectory, and the three processes of starting, walking and collecting the pen are clearly reflected. This is very similar to later regular script.