Tutorial: Calligraphy With A Brush For Beginners

A helpful video for those wanting to try calligraphy with a brush.

Learn Chinese Calligraphy

You have seen it everyplace. The pleasurable strokes in jet black brushed on a canvas. Meaning something, but were unsure what. You see it in tattoos left on the skin to declare deep significance to the wearer, and often out of curiosity we ask what it signifies. It is a peaceful mystery, we are drawn to it naturally. The infamy of Chinese calligraphy has become an art to be understood and learned. Not only do we want it on our walls and skin, we want to become even more personal with it. You can discover Chinese calligraphy, and earn the same pleasurable words as do the masters.

Chinese calligraphy began in 213 B.C. by Prime Minister Li Szu who made over 3000 characters to be used by the Chinese scholars. The five different types, zhuan-shu, li-shu, kai-shu,xing-shu, and cao-shu, are all forms employed in calligraphy. One word can be written in various ways reckoning on the style and the execution of that style. The expression can be liquid, formal, precise, whimsical...it all is in the hand of the applying and unique individual deliverance of the strokes. Many masters from the beginning of origin to now have left their help us to savor as art right now. When you start to study calligraphy, you will adopt a style which is characteristic to you and perfect the strokes as your own form of self expression. The artistic value of Chinese calligraphy is in the skill and method is exclusive to the particular creative ability delivering it. When well done, the words interpretations are more leaning to abstract art, then anything else.

As you learn Chinese calligraphy, you will notice that traditionally certain materials are used in a specific way to produce the eloquent results. The Chinese use special brushes made of rabbit hair or sheep. One brush is for sharpness in line drawing, and the other for rhythm and depth all equaling to the subject's inner self. Also employed in calligraphy, is a thick ground ink mixed with water and applied to Chinese paper (also called rice paper) or silk. This form shows depth, contrast, density and texture and creates a rhythmic balance. When the Chinese apply color to this art form, it is to show the subject's characteristics or moods. Another unique quality to Chinese calligraphy is the poetry inscribed within it. It becomes the artist's signature or inscription exclusive to them.

Chinese Calligraphy minimizes the application of space, occasionally leaving a canvas almost blank, with just more than one brushstrokes leaving a word to contemplate on. The types of this writing don't embrace crowding compositions with overmuch and badly placed brushstrokes. The rules behind studying Chinese calligraphy are to invite simplicity, balance, beauty, and originality of style. You ought to possess graceful execution and represent the depth of meaning of each stroke, whether using a brush or ink. The concept behind Chinese calligraphy is to find understanding and beauty is simple delivery of your position as the artist and what you are projecting as meaning with the picked out style adopted.

When you learn Chinese calligraphy, it is easy to turn into infatuated with the art form and easy to be immersed entirely into cultural richness that has been alive for in excess of a 1000 years.

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An Insight On Some Modern Tools And Techniques Used In Calligraphy

While entering the world of visual arts, it is hard to forgo the art of fancy lettering. Truly, calligraphy is an art that gives expression to signs and symbols. This art has been in place since ages in different cultures but has not lost its appeal. That is the reason why modern calligraphy is quite vast which ranges from hand-lettered inscriptions and designs to fine art pieces. In older times, the tools used for calligraphy were quite simple and there was no concept of drafting tables or drafting chairs at that time. However, the times have changed now. The tools employed today are much too advanced.

As we all know, the basic tool of calligraphy is a pen. The calligrapher may require a pen that is either flat or round-nibbed along with a brush. There are several multi-nibbed pens and steel brushes available for decorative purposes. Although, people make use of felt-tip and ball point pens as well, the work from such pens do not have angled lines.

The ink that is employed for calligraphy is water based, and so it becomes less viscous than the oil based ones used for printing. The paper or sheet used for this art is the one having a good consistency of porosity. A paper or parchment with such a quality will enable fine lines to be made on it.

Plus, the light boxes and templates offer you to make straight line without the need of pencil markings that can detract you from the work. Another option is a ruled paper that can either be applied for a light box or a direct use. The spaces in the ruled paper are marked both a quarter and half an inch; however the inch spaces are more frequently used.

As for the pens, they are available from different stationary sources. Whether you wish to buy the traditional nib pens dipped in ink or the calligraphy pens that have built-in cartridges, all are accessible in the market. The latter, however, is more preferred as it removes the need to continually dip the pen in ink.

As for the techniques, the western calligraphy has some special features. You might have noticed the illumination of the first letter of each book or chapter in medieval times. When comparing with the Chinese and Arabic calligraphy, the western calligraphic script has strict rules and shapes. The writing followed a special type of rhythm and regularity, and the style displayed the geometrical order of lines on the page. Each character has a precise stroke order and the calligrapher cannot defy that style.

It is mainly the irregularity in characters, size, style and colors that make calligraphy appear so beautiful. At times, it may not seem fully legible to you, but will be certainly meaningful to a viewer who has an eye on such works of art.

Recently, calligraphy tends to flourish in the form of weddings and event invitations. Moreover, we find its usage in logo design, religious art, cut stone inscriptions and memorial documents. Calligraphy is also employed in props and moving images for film and television along with any other work that involves writing.

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