How to make the brush in your hand more handy?

Only the tip of the brush is elastic, and the upper waist supports its elasticity. No matter how the pen tip is opened, spread and twisted, no matter what direction and how thick the strokes are, it can still bounce up and restore to its original state. Like an umbrella, you can open it or put it away. You can imagine a ballet dancer's toes, which can stand up, put down, constantly change and keep balance, just like our pen tip will not deform, fork and lose its most basic shape in continuous writing.

Think about it, if you keep going back to dip in ink, or go to the ink tray to adjust your brushwork, your writing will be incoherent. In the past, so many official documents, classics and works were preserved and disseminated by words. If you can't write continuously and quickly, it is obviously not applicable.

A good brush is very easy to use, flexible and smooth. You can write a line by dipping in ink once, instead of dipping in ink constantly.

Whether the pen works well or not is always relative. The important thing is that every time you write (press), your hand can still be raised. Because of this lifting action, there won't be too much ink left on the paper, and the brush can also be "bounced" back to its original conical shape to continue writing.

The brush is conical, which means that it can have countless faces, and each face can be used for writing or restored to its original state. Therefore, the ancients said that "eight faces stand out", and eight is an approximate number, which means that every face is like this. People who can write will write from all angles according to the direction of strokes and the placement of the last stroke, so the efficiency of writing will be improved and there will be a reflection between the ups and downs of each stroke.

The correct spelling is called "positive front", which can also represent the quality state of a line, including two possible forms, one is called center and the other is called lateral front.

"Center" is the positive foundation, just as Cai Yong described "making the pen center always move in stippling", which means that when writing, making the pen tip as vertical as possible and the pen center always move in the middle of the line, the pressure will be concentrated in the center of the stroke, thus extending around. Therefore, the main feature of the center line is uniform and symmetrical, with a heavy sense of mass. We can see a typical center pen in the seal script of Qin Dynasty, such as Yishan Carving Stone, in which the lines are round and thick, which is a round pen line with the same thickness, so people also call it "the center of the round pen".

Yishan stone carving

When we look at the regular script in the Tang Dynasty, we can see that Yan Zhenqing's writing method has changed compared with that in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and its traces are heavy and solid. That's because he inherited his family's knowledge and emphasized the use of a pen in the center of the characters, which showed this feeling in the thickness of points and surfaces.

north

You can also understand the center in this way: no matter how the brush moves, it can balance the nib and control its center, just like hitting the bull's-eye, the so-called "middle" front. After the late Qing Dynasty, many calligraphers turned the center into an absolute rule, and put more emphasis on "pen heart". There may be problems with being too absolute, but the center is indeed an important foundation in using pens.

The second possible form of frontal attack is "side attack". The stroke style of the center is "front painting" and the stroke style of the side is "front painting side". The pen tip can deviate from the direction, not always in the stroke center, but in the qualitative movement. In the dynamic, the center of gravity is always balanced and stable, which is a subtle feeling. Therefore, the front of the side is not a state in which the nib is completely biased to one side, but a sick pen.

Comparatively speaking, it is more difficult to achieve than the center, which is a relatively constant process, while the side wing needs to keep balance under dynamic conditions. As you can imagine, just like a dancer, if the center is upright, then on this basis, the flank can do all kinds of movements left and right, back and forth, but the center of gravity is always in the center, so as not to tilt because of losing balance, and still maintain a stable and thick texture.

The side pen, because the angle of the pen tip has changed, presents a Fang Bi shape with asymmetric outline of pen and ink. Many such pens can be seen in the official script developed after seal script. Lishu is a typical writing style that shapes lines with flanks. Zhang Qianbei, The Book of Rites and some Han bamboo slips all present a large number of elegant and expressive flank transformation techniques.

Zhang Qianbei

Although there is no absolute order between the round pen and Fang Bi, it is very important to lay a good foundation for the round pen before learning from Fang Bi, because Fang Bi is a derivative of the round pen.

Some people will understand the center as "rough writing", but in fact this is not a matter of thickness, but a demand for texture. We will use "round, smooth and thick" to describe good lines. This state comes from the vertical force of the pen tip. If there is no effort, the thick line is flat. If you have kung fu in hand, even if the lines are as thin as hair, they are round and thick with bones and muscles in them. In addition, if the strokes lose their balance and quality and control during writing, it is a kind of sick pen.

When studying, you can lay a good foundation for the initial lines by practicing seal script and official script. Practice the round pen with seal script, and practice Fang Bi with official script. Their painting style is simple and lofty, and their aesthetic level is high, but they are relatively simple in finding skills. Zhuan Xu is like when Gong Zhuang and Ma bu "or horse stance just look are practicing martial arts. Basic skills are solid, and it will be relatively easy to learn the following calligraphy. However, the possibilities contained in different calligraphy styles, such as Kai, Xing and Cao, are all caused by the changes in brushwork.

Fang Bi is angular, tough at the sight of spirit, while the round pen looks thick and round, with a solid texture.

Although the center and winger have their own names, they are actually two sides of the unity of opposites, just like the palm and the back of the hand are one. Writing is a process of rich change and balance. After the practice stage of chopping, each stroke is square, and the lines always change in the middle wing, from the words of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi to the regular script and cursive script in the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the ancients said that the good word Fiona Fang has a kind of neutral beauty.