Your First Chinese Calligraphy Lesson

In the last video, we talked about the evolution and different styles of Chinese calligraphy. In this one, we will dive into how to appreciate calligraphy on a deeper level. And if you are thinking about starting to practice calligraphy yourself, this video will give you some helpful tips to get started. There is a Chinese saying, a person's handwriting reflects their character. That's why we first introduced different styles, to give you a feel for their personality. After doing much research, I found that many calligraphy masters recommended learning in this order. Start with It's like learning to draw as a child. You start with simple steady lines, before gradually moving towards more expressive and fluid forms. Zhuan Shu has the simplest brush movements, while the others are progressively more complex. Since most of us today don't have a lot of spare time, if you want to focus on just one style, you first need to understand their personalities. And even within the same style, different people write with very different personal flair. Which brings us to one of the core ideas in calligraphy, brush and ink. Bi Mo refers to the visual language of calligraphy, including In Chinese calligraphy, each character is alive. Strokes are the smallest building blocks, and every script, or even every calligrapher, may write the same character's stroke differently. Some prefer delicate lines, while others might do thick, strong lines. Others like a more flowing style. Even a single dot can have a thousand variants. When you copy calligraphy from a model, zi tie, you start by imitating these strokes. If you ever learned calligraphy during childhood, you might have heard of the Eight Principles of Yong. where the character Yong contains all the basic strokes in Kai Shu. Master this character Yong, and you will have solid foundation. Learn more in this video we made. Zhuan Shu is mostly round. Kai Shu is mostly square. Fang Bi feel upright and strong, while Yuan Bi feels gentle and steady. With Yuan Bi, you have to learn hiding the brush tip, and always keep the tip in the center. This is called When I started practicing Li Shu, I didn't know this, so everything fell off. On the other hand, Fang Bi emphasize angularity. They use side tip movement, meaning the brush tip moves among the side, creating sharp and square edges. Now, let's talk about structure. How strokes come together to form a character. This is often the hardest part for non-native speakers. But the basic idea is simple. Where is the center of gravity in the character? Take the character Po as an example. If my three dots are big and spread out, then the rest of the character needs to be more compact to make space. But if the dots are small and leave extra room, I can stretch other parts downwards to balance it out. This is a dynamic process that you will get a feel over time. This is also why we use square writing grids, to help you find the center. Many people's writing, especially non-native speakers, may look off or awkward, simply because the center of gravity isn't balanced. One tip, try not to rely solely on computer fonts like Haiti, which can be overly uniform. Instead, use something like Kaithi, which is more structured and traditional. Our Scribd app uses Kaithi font and includes a square writing grid for practice. So when you're writing by hand in the app, take a second to notice the spacing and balance of each stroke. There are three options for writing canvas. One where your stroke snaps to the grid, so your characters always look pretty. And then one called raw squigs, which leaves your original strokes on the canvas. This mode will be less forgiving to mistakes, but better at improving your character's balance. Finally, we have this one for the most hardcore of you. Zhang Fa refers to overall composition of a piece, how characters relate to each other on a page. There are two major types, orderly, and scattered. Orderly layout shows beauty through structure and symmetry. You'll see this in printed text or when writing within grids. Everything is evenly spaced. Scattered layout is more emotional and alive. It allows characters to break into each other's space, varying in size and weight. One guiding rule, pay attention to the preceding characters as you write, and adjust your current character to create contrast, whether it's in height, size, weight, or tension. I love the analogy that it's like building a stone wall. Each stone is a different shape, but together they form a balanced surface. Finally, let's talk about ink. Even though it's all black, ink tone is a dynamic result of brush, water, and paper. Rich dark ink shows energy and warmth, while pale ink has traditionally been seen as a reflection of sadness. But ink tone variation is also a powerful way to express emotion. One striking technique is called kě bǐ, where the ink runs dry before the brush stops moving. The opposite is rùn bǐ, where the ink is thick and fluid. Imagine you're overwhelmed with grief. You don't have time to slowly dip your brush again. You just keep writing until the brush dies out. If you're ready to start writing, here's what you need. What we call bǐ mò zhǐ yàn. Brush, ink, paper, and ink stone. Brushes. There are three types. Hard, soft, and mixed. Láng hǎo is good for angular scripts. Yáng hǎo for rounded ones. Not sure which one to pick? Just start with the mixed brushes. Jiān hǎo. Ink and ink stone. Traditionally, ink came in solid sticks that you had to grind. But that takes ages. Just get a bottle ink and a small dish. Thick ink works better for slow scripts like zhuàn shū. Light ink is better for fast ones like cǎo shū. Also, soak the brush fully in ink. Not just the tip, please. That's a common beginner mistake, and it will mess up your strokes. Paper. I tested lots of types. Water writing paper and traceable calligraphy sheets didn't work well for me. I recommend buying calligraphy rolls and just practicing freely. If you're working on kǎi shū, grid line paper is also useful. Model sheets. Zhì tiě. These are a collection of famous calligraphers' work that you can copy from. If you're learning kǎi shū, Skritter's app is a great place to start. You can practice both correct stroke order and style at the same time. And it uses advanced algorithms to ensure you memorize at least 80% of everything you study. This video and the one before covers a lot of information. I'm still a beginner exploring the world of calligraphy. So if I get anything wrong, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. See you next time.