Introduction to Chinese painting

I think we can take some time out to practice our lines first, and practice our lines alone first; Then "Mustard Garden"; Then I came to the water margin leaves in Chen Hongshou, then I copied them first, and then I came to the Yongle Palace mural. Through practice, the drawn line is relaxed and elastic.

At the beginning, the lines will become "empty", which is actually a problem with the pen. When you start practicing your lines, the average person can be divided into two categories:

For the first type, you can only press it, but you can't hold it. The number is thick before and thick after, and the second half is dry and becomes a drag pen.

In the second category, you can only lift the pen, but you can't press it down. You can draw on the paper with the pen tip. The more you draw, the less strength you have, and finally you float.

In both cases, a problem in the process of drawing lines is ignored, that is, the combination of lifting and pressing when drawing lines through. A good line, like a phrase, must have ups and downs, strong and orderly, and will not always be tuned to the end.

After a period of practice, try to draw relaxed and elastic lines.

The easy line is that when writing, the pressure is just right. Easy lines will be more agile and lively. On the contrary, the tense lines will be stiff, although they look very powerful, but they are too hard and solid. Just like a person, when he is relaxed, his expression will be particularly natural and pleasing to the eye. On the contrary, a nervous person will have unnatural facial expressions and movements. Looseness and tightness are mutual concepts, and tightness is combined. If you relax too much, the lines will lose their spirit.

I must be very nervous when I first hold the pen, because I don't know the performance of the brush, and the meridian muscles of my hands and wrists have not been trained to some extent. It is natural to be nervous and stiff. But at a certain stage, after we have a certain proficiency, we should relax our arms and wrists and make them less formal, so that using pens and threads will be more natural and rich.

For lines with large radians, we should pursue its elasticity. A very long curve can only be flexible if it is round, round and connected.

Round, that is, lines need to be round from beginning to end; Turn, that is, when there is a radian, the wrist should turn with it, but the line is still written from the center, so that the whole line passes; Communication is smooth, without stagnation, just like blood vessels are not blocked, which is circular. You can imagine bending a copper wire into a circular arc and putting a cotton wire into an arc. In contrast, copper wire is round and elastic, and cotton thread is tangible and dull.

After the line quality is stable and the modeling ability has a certain foundation. You can choose the works of famous artists such as Jin Nong, Chen Hongshou, Shen Zhou and Yun. Later, according to my interest, I chose the sketches of Song people, and the works of Yuan Sijia and Qing Dynasty were copied.