What I have to say about Chinese Calligraphy

Last update: 12.12.2011

Had I been born Chinese, I would have been a calligrapher, not a painter. - PABLO PICASSO

My Method to Practice with a Pencil instead of a Brush

我用鉛筆練習毛筆書法的方法

I couldn't have the time to train my calligraphy skills everyday because it takes time to set up the tool and clean up afterward. So, I looked for an alternative way to practice. In my secondary school days, we had to copy what our teachers wrote on the blackboard to our notebooks. I took this opportunity to practice calligraphy with a pencil.

因為用毛筆練習書法很費時，所以我中學時想到，用我抄筆記之用筆，來代替毛筆練習。

I figured that the 'press-and-lift' rhythm is essential for good calligraphy. However, most people take writing as a 2D process without paying attention to vertical movement. Treating writing as 2D, you can practice character structuring but hardly press-and-lift rhythmic movements, which give the varied stroke shapes. My proposed practice method is simple, just press and lift the pencil as if you are using a brush to do calligraphy!

用硬筆寫字，大部分人把運筆，看成平面的動作，沒有“提按”的概念。但在毛筆書法裡，“提按”乃筆劃粗幼多變的主要原因。我用鉛筆練習毛筆書法的方法很簡單：就是用頓的鉛筆，用力壓下去來實現筆劃變粗，把它當毛筆般練習提按！（當然縱使沒有提按，硬筆是可以練構字的）

I also noticed that I unconsciously shifted to a 'wrong' way of holding a pen or pencil. The 'right' way we were taught when I was a child is to use your thumb, index and middle fingers to hold the pen like this:

我也發現，我是不自覺地將筆拿‘錯’了。小學老師教我們拿筆是這樣拿的：

And the way I shifted to is like this, with the thumb shifted to higher up the shaft:

但我是拿成這樣的：

Why? I think it's because so that I can grip the pen more firmly and exert better downward push. If you use the traditional way of holding a pen, the force distribution are like this:

這樣拿筆，我可以更有力的運筆，理由如下。傳統拿筆方法，用力點分佈為：

So you see you are holding the pen firmly towards the pencil tip only, with the shaft just resting on the part of your hand between the thumb and the index finger. However, using the other holding method, the whole pen is held much more firmly because you exert force at three points forming good set of coupling forces:

可見其實只有筆尖部分是拿穩的，筆桿只是擱在虎口位而已。但用我的方法，筆就拿穩很多，因用力點分佈形成互相制衡的力矩：

So, this is the way I hold my pencil. I notice some other artists (e.g. Ohgushi) also use the same holding method.

其實也有其他這樣拿筆的人，如Ohgushi。

I should put up a sample pencil work here, but I couldn't produce one right now. Anyway, after practicing with the pencil for about 3 years, one day I was painting in watercolor. Without realizing my pencil practice had done to me, I tried wrote some characters with the watercolor brush I held in my hand. The result is the following.

練習好像三年後，一天我手中剛拿著水彩筆，試試寫字，寫出以下三字：

These three characters are the name of the secondary school I was attending at that time (1995). I was amazed by myself because these characters looked so professionally done - I could never write so well before. The brush I used was a watercolor brush so the movement of my hand/fingers was not translated to the tip of the brush as easily as with a typical Chinese brush (you can find an explanation of this in my PhD thesis). That explains why the strokes are kind of crumpled together - but I actually like this artistic effect!

我自己也嚇一跳呢：從前我是不可能寫得那麼好的！我用的水彩筆，跟一般中國毛筆有點區別：中國毛筆筆根比筆尖硬很多，水彩筆毛的硬度則相對比較平均。這導致我用水彩筆時，手指的動作不能直接傳達到筆尖。所以你看以上三字筆劃有點 “聚在一起分不清”，不過我倒也挺喜歡其藝術效果！

I'm not 100% sure if the pencil practice directly gave me this improvement. So, folks, I hope to see this idea of pencil practice to be spread widely so that people would try it themselves and see if it works for them. Please let me know whether it works for you if you would try it.

這樣的方法對我來說好像挺揍效，但我不肯定對其他人是不是也揍效。所以，如果你試了，發現有效與否，請告訴我！

The Development of Digital Calligraphy

I have been developing software tool for digital calligraphy since 2000. In my opinion, this is something we need to further develop and be brought to large-scale use. I think this is bound to happen. And I will be in full support of this! Email me if you have some ideas to share.

These are some of my digital calligraphy (done with MoXi) put to use by others:

(2007)

(2008)

(2010)