How can I write well? Can I write well just by following the copybook?

There are a lot of materials, friends, please be patient and read. One thing is that you don’t have to practice the calligraphy of ancient people. Deng Tuo said that primary school students should start from the basic strokes of regular script. However, most of them never practiced calligraphy seriously when they were children, so this opinion is still worthy of reference.

If you are practicing calligraphy, you can start with a brush. If you are short on time and have little energy and just want to write beautifully, you can also use a hard pen. There are some hard-pen calligraphy books on the market, but the quality is mostly not high, so choose carefully. Please Knowledgeable friends and advisors are fine, but the key is to look at what you like. Once you've made your choice, practice hard, like a primary school student, copying first and then copying, and combining copying and copying. At most a dozen words at a time, break them apart and analyze the structure and strokes. Don’t be greedy for too much and don’t be greedy for speed. What should be especially noted is that as long as the quality of the copybook is good, don’t think about writing in your own style for the time being, and focus on writing “likely”. This is called “entering the copybook”. When you have mastered the copybook, you can then practice other copybooks. Slowly, you can figure out your own style, which is "posting". You should be as careful with your posts as you are with your wife, and don't slip in your writing. Chairman Mao's handwriting was also written honestly and carefully.

The second is what post to choose.

If you have never practiced calligraphy when you were a child, it is best to start with regular script. For copybooks, regular script on the computer will do. Use a pen to trace and write, and when you feel that your hand feels smooth when writing (that is, it is handy, your hand can write whatever you want in your heart, and it will not be disobedient), then add calligraphy-like posts. When I was a child, my teacher forced me to practice Kai Ti. At first I thought it was very rigid, but now I have benefited a lot from it.

I don’t have much experience in choosing hard-tipped copybooks, and you have to choose what you like. The brush can be talked about. You have to consider your own needs. If you work in an agency or something and write a lot of official documents, choose a well-organized and beautiful copybook, such as Zhao Mengfu's regular script (recommended "Poetry for Feelings"); if writing is not your main job, But it needs to be written beautifully. For example, if you are a teacher, you can practice Wang Xizhi's regular script, such as "The Preface to the Holy Religion"; if you are engaged in art-related things, or want to write "handsome", practicality is not the first priority. If you think about it, then practice cursive writing. Sun Guoting's "Book Book" is a good choice; if you like to write articles and pursue a literati style, Mi Xiangyang is the best. His "Shu Su Tie" and "Tiaoxi Poetry Tie" are all excellent works of literati's cursive calligraphy. When I practice them, I feel like I am almost becoming an immortal. Dong Qichang is also good, but his writing skills are not strong, and he may be stingy in learning for beginners. It is best to practice other people's skills before practicing his.

In addition, if you are interested, you can also practice seal script, official script, and regular script. If you just practice calligraphy, it is not necessary. Yan Liu’s regular script can be written, but I think the hard pen is not as effective as running script. If practicing calligraphy requires order, it is best to practice all of these to lay a solid foundation. That would take a lot of work.

You have to practice these slowly, and the most important thing is to be focused, don’t change posts, at least practice until you can memorize them. It may take more than ten years or even decades to practice to perfection. Years, but as long as you write seriously, you will benefit from it, don't be fooled by it.

The third is to talk about methods. I can only read my own handwriting and am not a calligrapher, so what I talk about is Yehu Zen. If there are good people who can follow it, it is very good.

First of all, read the copybook often, carry it with you, and try to figure it out when you have nothing to do. If you only look at it when you are writing, and the ink will dry if you leave the pen or brush in your hand for a long time, you will feel cramped and unable to observe carefully.

Then you have to be confident when writing. It is a big taboo to always look at each stroke and write one after another. It is a big taboo to write blindly at a glance and call it "copying". Neither of these will work. Huang Tingjian said that he could only write if he could see the word reappearing in front of his eyes when he closed his eyes. If you don't have that much time, you can first read one stroke and then write one word. The second time, read each word and write one word. Gradually practice until you can read each line and write each line, and the stroke structure of the words has been kept in mind.

When I was practicing calligraphy, I found it really difficult to do this. I was always dishonest and impatient, and I wasted a lot of time on this. You must not imitate me, take your time, learn one character a day, which is three hundred and sixty-six dollars a year. Ten characters. Although there are many Chinese characters, there are many similarities in structure and radicals. Gradually, you can draw inferences about other cases.

Then, if you practice calligraphy with calligraphy, it is best not to choose a monument at the beginning. It is best to choose one with ink color and the original handwriting is best. Learn how the master uses ink and pen. Some rules of writing cannot be seen in the stele.

Finally, you can read the theory of calligraphy, which does not necessarily mean you will gain anything. It is also good to cultivate your sentiments. It would be best if it can arouse your interest in calligraphy practice, then you will definitely make rapid progress. You don’t have to read the ancients. The ancients’ writings and theories may not be easy to understand (for non-professionals, of course). Secondly, they are not very systematic and rational. Some people also pretend to talk nonsense (of course, modern people Yes, but it’s a good judgment). I recommend the book "Instructions for Studying Books". The description is relatively detailed and there is basically no nonsense. Mr. Qi Gong liked it very much and even specially wrote the title of the book. Of course you can also read the theories of the great calligraphers mentioned earlier, if you have time.

1. Which font should I start with when practicing calligraphy?

The traditional way to learn calligraphy is to start with Tang Kai script, go against the times, and further practice Nanxing, Beibei, Han Li, and Qin Zhuan on the basis of writing regular script well. Another idea is that starting from the immature development of hand muscles in teenagers, one can start with Qin Zhuan, which has fewer changes, and proceed with the times, from running cursive to regular script. There is truth to both concepts. But I think the hard-pen calligraphy we learn is fundamentally different from the brush calligraphy mentioned above, so we cannot follow its practice methods, let alone be fooled by the traditional concept of learning brush calligraphy first and then learning hard-pen calligraphy. We now widely use hard pens. If you can't write calligraphy with calligraphy, you can still write hard pen calligraphy well. There is no need to make detours.

Which font should I start with when practicing hard-pen calligraphy? I think: starting from the development characteristics of teenagers' hand muscles and the characteristics of uniform thickness and less changes in hard-pen calligraphy strokes, we should start practicing fonts that do not require changes in the speed and weight of the strokes. It is best to use boldface characters in print. The beauty of this font is mainly reflected in its structure. We can grasp the structure of the characters by analyzing the boldface characters. On this basis, we can choose our favorite font and practice hard according to our own personality and hobbies.

2. What should you practice when practicing calligraphy?

First of all, you need to train your eyes, that is, read the posts carefully. Huang Tingjian, a calligrapher in the Song Dynasty, said: "The ancients did not always rely on copying to learn to write. They often hung the ancient calligraphy works on the walls, watched them with concentration, and then started writing when they saw it correctly." Ouyang Xun of the Tang Dynasty discovered Jin Dynasty's calligraphy works. I couldn't bear to leave the monument written by Dai Suojing, so I simply sat down and read the monument for three days. The more posts you read, the sharper your eyesight will be, and you will know how to write well and what is good about it. There is an idiom called "high eyes but low hands". I think: high eyes are the prerequisite for high hands. If you can't discover beauty and don't know what beauty is, you can't even talk about creating beauty. Many students think that sloppy writing is the so-called running script. The reason why they regard ugliness as beauty is that they have "low eyesight and low hands".

The second step is to train the brain or the heart. On the basis of careful observation, you should also firmly remember the well-written fan characters in your heart and engrav the shape of them deeply in your brain. Whenever you mention this character, you can immediately think of it. shape on copybook. Make sure that you have a clear mind and a clear mind.

The third thing is to practice. The purpose of eye training and brain training is to figure out how to write characters. The mind can think of the best effect of writing, but the hand may not be able to produce this best effect, because the brain may not be able to direct the hand, and the hand may not be able to direct the pen. Practicing hands is to achieve the state where mind and hand are consistent, and hand and writing are consistent, so practicing hands is also crucial. Hand training mainly involves practicing finger strength, wrist strength and hand feel. If you write for a long time, your fingers will hurt, your wrists will become sore, and your hands will not obey the command. This phenomenon will disappear if you exercise more. Students who often help teachers copy questions on the blackboard and students who write blackboard newspapers often write quickly and well. Their finger and wrist strength are developed in this way.

You should also pay attention to practicing the feel of the hand, so that the brain can direct the hand, and feel that the pen has become a part of the hand, an extension of the hand. The hand can easily direct the pen, as fast as you want, as slow as you want, as slow as you want, as light as you want. , think about it as seriously as possible, and write whatever effect you want to achieve.

The fourth thing is to practice structure, because the key to practicing calligraphy is to master the structure of characters. The structure of a character refers to the length ratio of the strokes of the character and the interpenetration and avoidance relationship between the strokes. Xie Xiaodong sang in the song "Chinese": "The characters I love to write the most are the square characters taught by my husband. I have to be like him when I am square and upright..." "Square and upright" summarizes the structural characteristics of Chinese characters. After mastering the structure of Chinese characters, he can write square and beautiful blackface characters. By slightly changing the strokes, he can write various fonts such as Song style, Wei style, regular script, imitation Song style, Pang style, Sima style, official script, etc. Chinese characters. If you cannot grasp the structure of Chinese characters, no matter how you modify or beautify the strokes of the characters, it will become an ugly superfluous thing, which will become more and more ugly. Therefore, mastering the structure of characters and writing bold characters well are the key and foundation for practicing all calligraphy well.

The fifth step is to practice your strokes. Many students have practiced calligraphy. They started practicing regular script and have forgotten many rules of how to use calligraphy. They only remember the strokes. As a result, the characters written out are cumbersome and look like ghostly symbols. I encourage everyone to start practicing with boldface characters, grasp the glyphs, and eliminate pauses. Below I will introduce to you several common stroke writing methods and the mistakes that most students tend to make when writing these strokes:

① Point, move the pen from the upper left to the lower right. There is a process of moving the pen. Note that "points" also have length and cannot be combined into dots.

②Horizontal, write equally from left to right. The key is to "horizontally be flat", not one end high and the other low, or the strokes should be wavy. Control the length according to the font shape of the square font, not too short or too long.

③Vertical, move the pen vertically from top to bottom. The key is that "the vertical line must be straight", not skewed to the left or right, let alone written as a vertical hook. Control the length according to the font shape of the square font, not too short or too long.

④ For strokes, move the pen from the upper right to the lower left. Do not write dot strokes or horizontal strokes.

⑤ When writing folded pens, the folded corners should be square rather than round. Don't make a big break at the corner, and write it as two obtuse angles off the shoulder, but write it as a right angle.

The words written in this way, if written with a ballpoint pen, are small round artistic calligraphy similar to matchsticks; if written with a fountain pen, they are standard boldface characters. Although the strokes are monotonous, they are still beautiful and beautiful as long as the structure is accurate. Just like the squatting horse stance is the basic skill of practicing martial arts, the horizontal, vertical and horizontal movements are the basic skills of writing Chinese characters. The reason why many people cannot write well is that the horizontal and vertical lines are not straight and the structure is not accurate. If the structure is not right, no matter how rich the strokes are, you will not be able to write good calligraphy.

3. General steps for practicing calligraphy

On the basis of practicing boldface characters, mastering the structure of characters, and practicing basic skills, you can choose your favorite font for practice. The process of selecting fonts is called calligraphy selection. On the basis of calligraphy selection, there are five steps of reading, tracing, copying, memorizing and creating.

The first step is to read the post. We all know the pronunciation of the Chinese characters on the post, so there is no need to read them again. What to read? Read the glyphs, structure, and strokes, analyze and figure out the characteristics of the strokes and the relationship between the strokes. For example: when we read the word "中" in boldface, we need to read that the vertical part of "中" passes through the middle of "口". The character "口" is slightly flat, and the horizontal length is twice the vertical length. The middle part The long vertical line is divided into two equal length segments by the lower horizontal line of the character "口", and its upper segment is divided into two equal length segments by the upper horizontal line of the Chinese character "口". This is reading glyphs and structures. Different fonts and strokes have different characteristics. The changes in hard-pen calligraphy strokes are not obvious and are not easy for middle school students to master, so I won’t go into details here.

The second step is tracing. "Tracing" refers to tracing red, that is, beginners use a blue pen to trace along the handwriting on the printed red copybook. "Copy" refers to copying, that is, covering the model characters with transparent paper, and writing stroke by stroke along the shadow of the characters on the paper, which is also called copying.

The third step is to post. It means putting the copybook aside and watching the copybook write word by word on the homework paper. This method is helpful for mastering the writing style and meaning of the calligraphy, but it is not easy to master the structure of the calligraphy.

The fourth step is to memorize the post.

It refers to the method of removing the copybook based on the original copy, recalling the glyphs on the copybook based on your own memory, and writing it on the homework paper. This is a key step in practicing calligraphy. Only by carefully scrutinizing the words you write and having a solid plan in mind can you write with spirit and accuracy. When writing, if you can see the exact shape of the Chinese characters you want to write on the white paper, and "write the characters on the paper, and the characters in your chest", and write like tracing red, writing good calligraphy will not be a problem.

The fifth step is creation. After mastering the writing method of the words on the copybook, I can understand the writing method of the words that are not on the copybook by analogy. Writing a piece of text that has a center, content, and a self-contained system based on your own needs to express your feelings is creation.

If you can write handwriting that is close to the copybook in your daily study life, the purpose of middle school students practicing calligraphy will be achieved.

4. Things to note when practicing calligraphy

Now let me talk about several issues that should be paid attention to when practicing calligraphy:

The first issue is about writing tools. choose. "If you want to do your job well, you must first get the tools." Whether it is a fountain pen or a ballpoint pen, you must choose a good pen that writes smoothly and has even line thickness. The ink is too light and difficult to identify; the ink is too dark and gives people a sense of depression. This often affects the mood of the marking teacher during the exam, causing unnecessary loss of points. Therefore, blue-black is the best ink color for handwriting.

The second question: When practicing calligraphy, you should pay attention to the writing posture and the way to hold the pen. Since most middle school students now use ballpoint pens, I will use ballpoint pens as an example to talk about the writing posture and the method of holding the pen. When writing with a ballpoint pen, you must sit in a sitting position with your head upright, your body straight, your arms open, and your feet secure. Since ballpoint pens write small words, the movement of the pen tip should be in the area with the best visual effect. Generally, the right hand holds the pen, and the pen position should be slightly to the right. The eyes are about 30 cm from the paper, and the chest is about 10 cm from the edge of the table. Extend your arms naturally, with your forearms flat on the table. Press the left and right sides of the penholder with the pads of your thumb and index finger respectively. The left side of the first joint of the middle finger is against the bottom of the penholder. The ring finger and little finger are in turn close to the middle finger and naturally bent into a half-clenched fist shape, which plays a role of municipal control. The distance from the point of contact between the thumb and the pen barrel to the tip of the pen is about 4 cm. The penholder leans against the tiger's mouth, forming an angle of 45-60 degrees with the paper. The smaller the characters, the larger the angle. If you use a pen to write, you should also pay attention to the pen tip on the outside and the pen tongue on the inside, so that the middle seam of the pen tip touches the paper to ensure even water flow and smooth lines.

The third question: When practicing calligraphy, you must be calm, start well and finish well, and do not be impatient and perfunctory. When writing, you must be meticulous and every stroke must be written realistically. When some people practice calligraphy, they like to doodle before finishing. This kind of doodle is a taboo in calligraphy practice. It not only damages the life of the pen tip, but also makes the progress just made after practicing for a long time disappear.

The fourth question: Don’t change fonts easily. Practicing calligraphy requires perseverance, perseverance, and solid basic skills. You should practice calligraphy regularly, and you should not be exposed to the cold for three days, fishing for three days, and drying the net for two days. Note: One day of practice will make you feel good, and one day of not practicing will make you empty. After mastering the font structure, you can choose the font you like and practice it persistently, and do not change fonts easily. Because once you change the font, you have to start from scratch.

The fifth question: We must learn to combine writing and practice. Some students write very well when practicing calligraphy, but they just mess up when doing homework. This will never be possible. Good calligraphy. The calligraphy you have practiced should be used in daily life, and you should write as well as you did when you practiced it. Use each one you practice, learn by using it, use it while learning. Only by combining learning and application can you practice calligraphy well.

The sixth question: Teachers of all subjects must work together to coordinate closely. First of all, teachers should write standardized calligraphy, and secondly, they should encourage students to practice calligraphy. Students whose homework is sloppy should be criticized and educated so that they can correct it. Supervising students to practice calligraphy is not only the responsibility of Chinese teachers, but also every teacher.

5. There are three realms of calligraphy practice.

Everyone has read Jin Yong's novel "The Swordsman", which contains an incisive discussion of sword training: When you first learn to practice, you use your hands to use the sword. Sometimes the sword does not obey the command, and even Hurt yourself. After practicing for a period of time, the hand and sword become one, the sword is wielded with the heart, and the sword moves according to the heart, and the swordsmanship will reach a higher level.

The highest level of swordsmanship is the unity of mind and sword, and there is no self without sword. Every move he makes is a sword, flying flowers and picking leaves are all sharp swords. A thin embroidery needle can withstand three swordsman masters. This kind of swordsmanship can be said to have reached a superb state.

The same is true when practicing calligraphy. In the initial stage of practicing calligraphy, we also use our hands to use the pen. There is a process from the pen not listening to the hand to becoming more and more proficient, and it can further develop to the state where the pen and hand become one. At this time, when writing, I feel that the pen is part of my hand. I am not writing with a pen, but writing with my hand. As long as we practice seriously, we can achieve this state.

The second state of practicing calligraphy is to use the heart to make the pen, the heart and the pen are unified, and the pen moves when the heart moves. What is written in the pen is what is in the heart. Once you reach this state, your calligraphy level can be said to be a small achievement. We all, including myself, must work hard towards this goal.

The third state of practicing calligraphy is to follow the teachings of nature, without self or pen. Many famous calligraphers in ancient times were like this. For example, Wang Xizhi saw the posture of the white goose swimming in the water, and realized the "floating goose hook" brushstrokes; Zhang Xu saw the bearers fighting for the way, and Gongsun Auntie dancing with the sword, and realized the interweaving relationship of the structure of point painting and the speed and rhythm of the brush. , which greatly enriched his cursive writing style; Huaisu watched Xia Yunhaitao and realized the majestic and overwhelming power of cursive script; Yan Zhenqing watched the leak marks in the house and painted sand with a cone, and understood the hesitation and strength of the brush. This is the ideal state for us to practice calligraphy. When we reach this state, we can write wonderful calligraphy works regardless of whether we have a pen or not, a soft pen or a hard pen, even a dead branch or a broken broom.

Let us write with our hearts, not just with our hands, and strive to move towards this ideal state!

Let’s talk about the fourth question: How do I practice calligraphy.

At first I used a brush to copy "Yan Qin Li Monument". Later I found a "99 Days Quick Copybook for Fountain Pen Calligraphy", which selected 99 representative Chinese characters and required practitioners to practice one every day. , remember one, learn one. After practicing for 99 days, you can write 99 Chinese characters. By analogy, you can also write other Chinese characters. I found these Chinese characters from the "Yan Qin Li Stele", one every day, and practiced hard. In less than a month, I made obvious progress.

Later, some classmates said that the facial expressions I wrote had a "face" flavor, but were soft and weak. The reason was that I couldn't do "center strokes" when I was using my pen. In many cases, it was Drag pen. This classmate is a person with high ambitions and low abilities. He discovered my faults but could not help me correct them. I asked for advice from many sources and carefully observed how other people wrote, and finally discovered this trick: It turns out that when others write, they often twist the pen barrel so that the pen tip rotates with the pen movement and is always in the middle of the strokes, thus achieving a "center-forward stroke." .

Later, another classmate of mine said to me: "Your calligraphy strokes are very standardized, but when combined together they don't look beautiful. The main reason is that the structure is wrong. If you want to master the structure of the characters, you might as well Follow me and learn to write boldface characters. The strokes are like matchsticks. They are beautiful only if the structure is correct." So I dipped a brush in water and practiced on the floor according to the boldface headlines of newspaper news. I soon mastered boldface writing and wrote large-letter slogans for some classes. I found that after learning boldface, many fonts I had never practiced before could be written with a little practice of their basic strokes. This is why I suggest students start practicing with boldface characters today. In 1993, I participated in the calligraphy and painting competition organized by the Shijiazhuang Municipal Education Commission and won the third prize. Now I often help my colleagues to publish posters and write big characters, which not only consolidates the effect of practicing calligraphy but also improves the level of writing. It not only helps others but also cultivates them. Own.

We have talked about the methods and precautions for practicing calligraphy above. If you do what I say, I think you will definitely make progress, because I have achieved good results by guiding students to practice calligraphy. Finally, I will talk about this issue.

As a Chinese teacher, you must not only write good calligraphy yourself, but also guide students to write good calligraphy. In order to help students write well, I once asked them to write "one word per day". After practice, Li Chao, a student from the class of 1998, learned Pang Zhonghua style pen calligraphy to a very high level. Niu Kunpeng's pen calligraphy is square, rigorous and self-contained. One body.

I have also given many calligraphy lectures to students and organized students to participate in calligraphy competitions many times. The hard-pen calligraphy works of students Hu Zhanxiong, Li Mo and others from the class of 2001 have won awards in the "Star of the Century" calligraphy competition. Nowadays, I carry out an activity to evaluate "star writing experts" among students, and students are very enthusiastic about practicing calligraphy. "Three-star writing expert" Sun Ruijing not only writes neatly and clearly, but also reaches a writing speed of more than 50 words per minute.

Finally, I want to tell you: It is not difficult to write beautiful Chinese characters. As long as you practice and write carefully, you will always succeed. When you see dignified and beautiful Chinese characters flowing out from your pen, when you see pages of neat and clear homework being born under your pen, when you see the red check mark on the homework book When talking about "you", don't you think writing Chinese characters well is also an artistic enjoyment? Let's step into the art world of Chinese calligraphy and splash ink to your heart's content!