Why do you start learning calligraphy from regular script?
What is calligraphy? "Modern Chinese Dictionary" says: Calligraphy is "the art of writing characters. It specifically refers to the art of writing Chinese characters with a pen." And the changes in the writing form of our country. Generally speaking, it has gone through eight stages: Jiashewen, Jinwen, Bowen, small seal script, fine script, cursive script and regular script. So, when learning calligraphy, one should go back to its roots, start with seal script first, and then learn regular script. This is not the case. To learn calligraphy, one should start with regular script. This is because:
(1) The ancients said: "The regular script is like a tree, the line is like water, and the grass is like running." This just means that only by learning regular script well and laying a solid foundation, can we learn the regular script, cursive script, leather script, and seal script in sequence.
(2) The eight basic strokes of Chinese characters are horizontal, vertical, left, right, dot, hook, pick, and fold. Regular script has these eight basic strokes, and the shape is clear and distinct, the structure is neat, well-proportioned, and easy to master.
(3) Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, regular script has been used as a regular font and has the greatest practical value.
In the writing art of regular script in my country, the European style, Yan style, Liu style and Zhao style are the most representative works. Each of them has its own style.
Introduction to various calligraphy styles
Seal script: It is the collective name of two categories: large seal script and small seal script. All the scripts written before the Qin Dynasty unified the Six Kingdoms, such as Jia, Jin, and Bo, are collectively called Dazhuan.
Blood script: It sprouted in the Warring States Period and flourished in the Han Dynasty. Blood script evolved from seal script, and some glyphs still have traces of seal script. In the history of calligraphy, calligraphy is a treasure of the Han Dynasty. It has a strong artistic life and high aesthetic value.
Regular script: Originated in the Han Dynasty, completed in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and finalized in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it lasted more than 600 years. During this process, due to differences in era, system, region, purpose, and teacher inheritance, regular script forms varied. The styles are different, but the overall style can be divided into three major categories: "Jin Kai", "Wei Stele" and "Tang Kai". Tang Kaiscript: The Tang Dynasty is the regular script in the history of Chinese calligraphy
In its heyday, Tang Kai script also became the top regular script script because of its advocating legal standards.
Running script: Running script is a calligraphy style between regular script and cursive script. The pen of running script is more lively than regular script, but not as indulgent as cursive script. The heyday of running script was in the Jin Dynasty. Wang Xizhi and his son pushed the development of running script to maturity, which had a great influence on later generations and basically formed a complete system.
Cursive script: It is a kind of connected characters produced for the convenience of writing by "cutting out the complex and simplifying it, and connecting the strokes". It emphasizes "starting and closing" and "turning breaks into connections". It is free and varied. Cursive script was produced in the Han Dynasty and is a style of calligraphy that has been popular from the Han and Wei dynasties to the present. Cursive script can be divided into three types according to age and style: "Zhangcao", "Jincao" and "Kuaicao"; it can be divided into three types according to size.
There are two types: "big grass" and "small grass".
