Learning calligraphy can cultivate one's moral character and bring peace and tranquility; it can also make people live longer, be refreshed and become more knowledgeable. It is inevitable to encounter obstacles on the road of learning. How to avoid taking too many detours or even taking the wrong path?
Avoid not copying ancient posts, but only copying without having a clear plan in mind. Who should I learn first, and who should I learn next? Should I copy the works of today's people or the ancients? If you don’t know how to copy, you can only copy but not copy. Many beginners of calligraphy look down upon "copy", which means covering the calligraphy with relatively transparent paper and tracing. But many people feel that "fake" is a bit too low-end, so they just post it as a temporary post. In fact, if you combine "copy" and "practice" learning and practice, you will get twice the result with half the effort.
If you choose a copybook that suits you, you must practice it conscientiously. Don't practice for a while, think you are good, and immediately want to change to another copybook. This will not work. You must practice with one copybook for a long time. , until you reach the point of perfection, because it is not so easy for you to master a type of calligraphy completely. To draw inferences from one example, each word must be practiced countless times to achieve the effect. Don't practice calligraphy if you like Huang Tingjian today and practice Liu Gongquan's calligraphy if you like Liu Gongquan tomorrow. That way you will never be able to practice calligraphy well. Avoid blind theories. In the final analysis, calligraphy is writing, and writing is muscle memory, which requires continuous practice. Persistent practice is very important. Don't stop practicing when you encounter a bottleneck period. If you have started practicing calligraphy and have a fixed time every day and week, then you must not read too many books and reviews. Avoid overthinking. If you need to stop and think about how to write this stroke when writing running script or cursive script, you will definitely not be able to write well! Wang Xizhi wrote the "Preface to the Lanting Collection" in a slightly tipsy state. Everyone knows that the calligraphy is good, and the article "Preface to the Lanting Collection" is also an eternally beautiful article. When Wang Xizhi was writing, he would only think about how to write this article.
Don’t follow the wrong teacher. If you follow a calligraphy teacher who is a little famous but has no real talent, it will not only waste your time but also lead you astray. For example, he will teach you how to be opportunistic, teach you how to package yourself, and how to hype. Avoid being professional. Some people set up a calligraphy studio and lock themselves up in a calligraphy studio after they achieve a little success in writing. From then on, they only write, do not work, and do not care about worldly affairs. Under normal circumstances, those who take this route will basically reach a dead end. Things in the world are always too extreme, and calligraphy is no exception. Calligraphy cannot exist independently from real life. If Wang Xizhi didn't attend friends' gatherings, where would he have gotten the "Preface to the Lanting Anthology"?
Avoid planning without goals. What is the main direction of our calligraphy study? Just specialize in this calligraphy. If we focus on running cursive, then we should focus our main time and energy on studying this calligraphy, but we still need to study other calligraphy at the same time. style, because cursive script includes regular script, official script, seal script, and cursive script. Five-year plans, ten-year plans, and twenty-year plans must be arranged.
Art is a high-level spiritual experience and a high-level pursuit of happiness in life. When you truly enter the palace of calligraphy art, what you experience is not the joy of glory and wealth, but a spiritual satisfaction from the inside out, from body to heart. Practicing calligraphy cannot be learned overnight, it requires perseverance and perseverance! Only by being able to endure loneliness and learn more from the ancients can we inherit the tradition and pioneer and innovate!
