The beginner’s journey to calligraphy

That’s right, the calligraphy novice I’m talking about is me.

The calligraphy I study is hard-pen calligraphy. First, let me show you the comparison of my calligraphy before and after I started.

I believe you can tell at a glance which one is before and which one without me explaining. After entry. I remember that the opening ceremony of Teacher Shu Wen’s training camp had a section where I posted words. This was the article I posted about Night Rain Sends to the North. The teacher’s comment was that there is a lot of room for improvement... Well, since there is a lot of room for improvement, Then I will work hard to make progress. During these 30 days, I practiced calligraphy whenever I had free time, and I wanted to write all day long. Fortunately, God rewarded my hard work, and I finally stepped into the door of calligraphy.

Next, I will talk about the difficulties I encountered during calligraphy practice and my solutions.

1. Feel

The first few days of writing are actually a process of finding the feel, because some people’s pen holding posture was incorrect before, and they need to correct it. A period of adaptation and running-in.

I divide the feel of the hand into three types: 1. Pen stroke, 2. Pointing, 3. Changes in the weight and weight of the stroke.

The pause is particularly important. Almost every stroke begins with a pause. A stroke is actually just a light tap, but even this simple-sounding point can stump many people, because it needs to show a shape similar to a tilted triangle within just one millimeter. When I practice pen-writing, I just keep dotting on a blank paper, and I first stipulate that no matter whether I can show a thin head or a thick tail, I can only dot one millimeter. As you click more and more, you will gradually be able to click one, two, three... until each one is a triangle.

To make a sharp stroke, you actually need to slowly lift the pen up at the end of the stroke to make the end of the stroke sharp. It is mainly reflected in the strokes of hanging needle vertically, skimming and pressing.

Take the vertical one as an example. The one without a sharp point is a hanging pin vertical, and the one without a sharp point is a hanging pin vertical. The difference is just one millimeter between the sharp one at the end and the non-pointed one. But please don't underestimate that millimeter. If the hanging needle vertical and the hanging dew vertical are used reversely, the difference in the written words will be very big. Isn't there a saying that goes, "If the needle is hanging when it is exposed, it will be invisible; if it is exposed when it is hanging, the needle will be powerless." The way I practice drawing out the tip is to write the strokes down to the last millimeter and then slowly reduce the intensity and gently lift the pen. Don't rush to sharpen the strokes and start sharpening them halfway through the strokes. The strokes written in this way will end at the end and not look good.

There are two types of changes in the weight of the strokes: from light to heavy (point, curved hook, lying hook, nip) and from heavy to light (short stroke, lift). The way to write from light to heavy is to just put the pen lightly on the paper when starting to write, and then increase the pressure while writing to write from light to heavy. The opposite is true for the strokes from heavy to light.

Of course, no matter which stroke it is, if you want to find the feel, there are only two words in the final analysis: practice more. Only by practicing more can you know how to write is wrong and how to write right; only by practicing more can you turn the occasional right stroke into every stroke you write is correct; only by practicing more can you know how to write correctly. , Only by consolidating the written strokes can you write better.

2. Observe carefully

Teacher Shu Wen said that learning calligraphy requires hands, eyes and heart. This observation refers to observation and aesthetics

As for observation, I will use some examples written by Teacher Shu Wen.

If you encounter a lot of horizontal or vertical characters, generally the horizontal and vertical characters are required to be equidistant. However, in fact, some characters that do not have many horizontal characters also have an equidistant relationship, such as the word "you". In addition, the horizontal and transverse spacing of the three places of the horizontal stroke, the intersection of the stroke and the stroke, and the pointed toes of the stroke are equal. Moreover, it is said in Teacher Shu Wen’s teaching video that the horizontal strokes should be written as flat as possible to make them look better. So the question is, have you noticed that the horizontal strokes written by the teacher almost always end up with the end of the strokes? The horizontal stroke starts at the same horizontal position as the vertical line and the vertical stroke starts flat? This is also a place that needs to be observed.

There are also vertical fold hooks. Teacher Shu Wen mentioned in the short video that the two vertical lines do not necessarily need to be parallel, but did not mention that the two vertical lines are actually almost the same length, but it is reflected when writing "Yu". Since three requirements are required The two horizontal ones are equidistant, so the two vertical ones must be about the same length. This can be said to be a very good assignment given to us by Teacher Shu Wen to test our observation skills. There is also the character for female. I remember the day I wrote the character for female, I also suffered the loss of not paying close attention, and my handwriting that day was not good. Later, after watching the video posted by Teacher Ono, I was shocked to realize that the intersection of the initial point and the long point of the female character is also on the same horizontal and vertical line as the starting point of the initial point. If the intersection point is written skewed, then the center of gravity of the entire word will be skewed.

3. Stroke changes

Every stroke will change. Every stroke will change. Every stroke will change. Three important things. Benha. The strokes taught by the teacher are only the basic shapes of strokes. When this stroke is written into a character, the strokes will be slightly changed in order to echo the strokes of the character. For example, the short vertical position is straight up when it is normal. It is also vertical when writing the character "山", but when it comes to writing the character "天", it must be tilted. The length of the horizontal fold hook, the short horizontal length, the long fold, the slope of the hook is sometimes higher and sometimes flatter, etc. These are all changes in the strokes written into the words, which are similar to the various martial arts in ancient costume martial arts dramas. It's the same. There are only eighteen palms in the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, but the moves are endlessly varied.

Writing a single stroke well is the key, but even if a single stroke is written well, if you just combine two or several strokes together when writing, you will not be able to write a good-looking word. characters, so when writing, the strokes usually need to change. How it changes is uncertain, so when writing, you need to write, compare, and reflect until you write a beautiful word.

4. Encounter with calligraphy

Regarding calligraphy, I have finished talking about the serious things. Next, I will talk about some less serious things.

My path to entry into calligraphy was also full of twists and turns. At first I was hesitant about whether I wanted to learn or not, because my time was too fragmented. I often played with my phone when I had time, but I couldn’t do the same thing for half an hour. That kind of fragment of a thing. Moreover, I have to pay tuition. Housewives like me care about money the most and care about everything, so my lack of learning accounts for most of it. Fortunately, Teacher Shu Wen did not give up on me and invited me again and again. Finally I got in.

This is a path that I never want to look back on. I spend all the time I spend playing with my phone writing. Even though I might only be able to write a few words every time I sit down and pick up a pen before being interrupted, I still want to pick up the pen as soon as I have some free time. It's such a fun cycle.

However, within a few days of joining, I came across something that made me regret and chagrin. It was my name in the group, Bajiao, which was randomly chosen from my WeChat name, Zhufengjiaoyu. Not my real name. If I knew that all the review teachers had such nice voices and spoke so softly, I would definitely choose to use their real names. Just think about it, there is someone who sends me a voice message every night. The nice voice gently calls my name and points out where I am not good at writing. Then he praises me for my good writing, encourages me, and cheers me up. I probably have sweet dreams every night~~ Well, I am a standard voice control.

During the thirty-day training camp, the day that left the most profound impression on me was the day when I was writing about folding and twisting silk. I felt dizzy when I was writing about the twist. I felt like I could see the shadow beside the twist twinkling in front of my eyes when I closed my eyes. In the past, when I encountered bad handwriting, I would replay the teacher's teaching video, but replaying the video that day was of no use. Helpless, I had no choice but to find another way, so I quit and came to the group to see who had completed the task. After reading what they wrote, I suddenly felt refreshed and felt that I could continue writing.

What is very interesting is the day when I write the character for female. I also didn’t write well that day. In view of my experience writing beside the skein the day before, I also went back to the group to look at the handwriting of my friends. Obviously I can't write well, but when I look at my friends' handwriting, I also comment in my mind that this friend's handwriting is also crooked, and that handwriting doesn't look good either.

I don’t know where I got the courage to criticize my partner’s words. Fortunately I didn't say it out loud, otherwise I would have been attacked and criticized.

The most difficult day was the Mid-Autumn Festival, because I spent the whole day making dumplings and steaming buns at night, so I never had time to practice calligraphy. After finally steaming the buns, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening. I was so tired that I could hardly open my eyes, but I didn’t want to stop clocking in, so I insisted on sitting at the table and writing. Fortunately, I clocked in one minute before midnight. Before joining, Teacher Shu Wen lied to me when he told me that he would have about one hour of calligraphy practice time every day. It was obvious that two hours was not enough for me.

Of course, the more difficult thing is when I have to practice writing a few days before the end of the camp. I chose a Qijue poem with a total of twenty-eight words. I insisted on writing one line for each word every day, which is twenty-eight lines. The amount of homework in those days was twice as much as usual just writing. I also wrote until after one o'clock in the morning every day before finishing the writing. It’s all because of the heavy workload in those days, which made me feel a little overwhelmed after I reduced the workload after the camp ended. You know, I am a very lazy person. But in the days after my training camp ended, I had just finished practicing calligraphy, but when I was sitting in a chair watching TV, I actually had the feeling that I was either writing or wasting time. It's really puzzling.

After finishing my homework every day, when I have free time, I will think, am I crazy? Why is writing so attractive to me? After persisting for this month, I have the answer, because when I write, I am the ideal me in my heart. On weekdays, I live my life in a mess. I'm a person who doesn't know how to live my life. It seems that it started from getting married, right? I lose my temper more and more easily and irritably, and it seems that all the tempers I lost before marriage combined were less than after marriage. But after writing, I gradually calmed down and returned to my previous quiet self, back to my favorite self. So I am addicted to writing and can’t help myself.

Every night when I listen to teachers commenting on their homework, I sometimes get distracted. Among the many students, many students make the same mistakes, but the teacher will always take the trouble to repeat the explanation over and over again, for fear that The problem is that students are too busy to listen to the teacher’s comments about themselves and have no time to listen to the teacher’s comments about other students. Why are all the teachers reviewed so warm, gentle and considerate? I'm afraid it's just a matter of meditating on writing, right? I am willing to follow the steps of all teachers, immerse myself in the calligraphy environment for a long time, and give myself a calm and energetic heart.

In the past thirty days, what often moved me were the friends who studied with me. When I write difficult words and can't continue, I will quit and look at the words they wrote, or the few words written in the small punch card. There is always a feeling of blessing to my soul, and I will have the courage to continue writing.

The feeling of having someone moving forward with you is really warm. The vastness of calligraphy was my destination, and from then on I devoted my body and mind to pen and ink.

That’s all I have to say. In fact, the so-called introduction to calligraphy, the most important thing is to be willing to get started. Don't think about whether I can do it, or whether it is difficult. If you can practice every day, you will be a winner in life. I heard that the road to success is not crowded because few people can persist. I just hope I can persevere. In addition, I need to constantly improve my observation skills and aesthetics, so that I can join a group with my friends to keep warm, or walk alone.