Gourd painting techniques:

Gourd pyrography was called fire painting gourd in ancient times, also known as fire painting gourd, fire pen gourd and fire needle embroidered gourd. Lacquer gourd, it is advisable to take a gourd with light skin color, so that the shade change of brand marks can be fully exposed. If the skin color is dark brown, then the brand is difficult to show. Lacquer gourd should not be played, otherwise it will wear off the brand mark and the picture will lose its charm. Therefore, fire colored gourds are mostly used as ornaments. According to historical records, pyrography originated in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, due to years of famine and war, it was once lost. It was not until the third year of Guangxu that it was rediscovered and reorganized by a folk artist named Zhao, and it has been passed down to this day. Gourd pyrography is mostly made by Beijing and Tianjin folk artists.

1. pyrography tool,

Gourd pyrography works are generally dark and light brown, simple and elegant, clear and beautiful, and its unique uneven texture changes have a certain relief effect and are unique. After rendering and coloring, it can produce stronger artistic appeal.

Early gourd pyrography artists used iron needles as tools to insert steel needles into incense for pyrography, mainly for pyrography of the decoration on the gourd. Later, with the continuous reform of production technology and tools, a special brand brush appeared, which can adjust the temperature at will and is equipped with a variety of special pens, thus making this ancient creative way have unprecedented performance ability. The technique of gourd branding has developed from single branding to branding, polishing, branding, fine painting, baking and rendering.

2. Gourd pyrography skills

The temperature and speed of multifunctional branding brush have great influence on color tone. Branding the gourd with a brush can solve the depth of tone by adding layers repeatedly like charcoal painting, and can also express different shades of tone by adjusting the speed of writing and the temperature of the brush, which is also a unique technique of gourd branding. The branding brush works at constant temperature, and the pen moves quickly, which makes the branding tone light; The slower the speed, the darker the tone. The higher the temperature, the slower the speed and the darker the color. The combination of temperature and speed can be used flexibly according to specific conditions. The freehand brushwork of branding larger paintings or landscape flowers, birds and black paintings has a long brush stroke, and there is room for manoeuvre when the gourd brands the pen. Light colors can be burned faster, and the temperature of gourd brush is rarely adjusted. Rely mainly on

The speed of writing, the magnitude of wrist force and the way of increasing or decreasing levels can all realize the change of tone color depth. There are few pictures, or the subtle parts of the characters are portrayed, and the strokes are very short, so there is not much room for writing, such as the highlights of the eyes or nose, and the high temperature cannot be solved quickly. Be sure to lower the temperature of the gourd brush to a suitable level, and carefully burn it at the highlight of the eyeball with slow speed, leaving a high point. When branding the highlights of the nose, try to reduce the temperature of the gourd branding brush, brand a faint focal color, and leave highlights around the highlights. There is a qualitative difference between the light color baked by high-temperature rapid method and the light color baked by low-temperature slow method. The former has a rough texture, while the latter has a fine texture. Therefore, according to the needs of the picture, such as the distant mountains and clouds baked slowly at low temperature, the tone is softer, while the bright parts of the nearby rocks baked quickly at high temperature are lighter in tone, but the texture is rough, reflecting the texture of the rocks. The biggest advantage of gourd branding brush is that frequent temperature adjustment will not waste time, and you can brand various patterns at will.

3. Use pens and conditions to avoid diseases

Conditions for using a pen:

(1) Power is the pen power, that is, there is power with a pen.

(2) Always refers to old age. Like strength, old age is the opposite of tenderness.

(3) Living means that the spirit is not stagnant, which means that the pen must be light and heavy, slow and fast, ups and downs according to the requirements of the image, dynamics and texture of the branded object, and even ignore the light and heavy, fast and slow, ups and downs. Life is closely related to the use of wrist strength. In Qing Dynasty, Shi Tao said, "The spirit of wrist Xu Ruo can be bent and painted, but if the pen is broken, it is not stupid ..." It means to live with wrist strength.

(4) Looseness means lightness, that is, don't be timid when writing, don't hold the pen too tightly or too hard.

(5) Circle is the antonym of plane.

(6) Thick means not thin, thick and tasteful. Thickness is related to layout and pen use. Branding an object with a pen should not only brand the texture, but also brand the sense of quantity. In other words, the feeling that pyrography has a certain weight is intriguing.

(7) the hair is not smooth. This is easy for landscape painting, but the long lines in figure pyrography are not easy to do. I think we can use the calligraphy of seal script and Tibetan to brand thin lines, and we can also achieve the effect of being hairy but not rigid.

(8) Moisturizing is moistening. Use a pen to talk about filial piety and moisture, and oppose poverty and godlessness.

(9) Skillful use of pens requires skillful use. Cleverness is spirit, clumsiness is agility. In short, cleverness is the rate, and stupidity is stupidity. Too much makes people feel frivolous, and too stupid makes them get stuck. We must combine the two to make the picture both vivid and dignified.

Avoid disease with a pen:

The (1) board indicates that the pen is inactive. This problem is due to insufficient observation of the baked goods, and it is impossible to "intentionally write first".

(2) Seal cutting is a kind of rigid meaning, which is caused by the rigidity of the pen, the lack of weight and the change of speed.

(3) The finger pen won't untie, and it seems to stick to a gourd. The main reason for this kind of problems is that they dare not write, or hesitate and delay in writing, which is usually characterized by stagnation and rigidity.

(4) Dry is the antonym of moist, and there is no layering in the baking process.

(5) Weakness means that you can't write. In the Ming Dynasty, Li Kaixian said that "a weak pen has no bone strength, thin and crisp, like a wicker bamboo shoot, and the water is covered with autumn flowers". This kind of trouble is different from my tender and weak rhyme when I first learned pyrography.

4. Flower and bird brand

Branded flower-and-bird paintings have certain limitations, which are not as rich and diverse as branded figures, nor as ups and downs and endless changes as landscapes and clouds. Although flowers have all kinds of flowers, birds also have all kinds of birds. After all, they are just flowers and birds. Flipping flowers and birds can easily lead to the same situation, so in order to make flipping flowers and birds more varied and vital, we must consider properly handling its formal rules in composition. The beauty and ugliness of branded flower-and-bird composition are particularly exposed. Sometimes just a leaf is not handled properly, or a bird is not in the right position, which will affect the whole picture and bring unpleasant feelings to the viewer. Therefore, when writing a composition, we must carefully consider and make a choice. If we want to give up what we love, we must give up what we love. Exaggerate if you want.

Flipping the lines of flowers and birds tends to be dull and dull, and some gourd pyrography hooks the lines very sharply and exposes them, but they are too artificial. In gourd pyrography, flowers are outlined with slender and smooth thin lines, showing the characteristics of delicate petals. The flying of leaves and vein lines is flexible and powerful, which can not only brand the texture of leaves, but also show the swaying dynamics when the breeze blows; The branches were thin and hard, and they shivered with L9 thread, which branded the hardness of the branches and the rough texture of the skin.

Bird's head, eyes, mouth, feet, claws, wings, tail feathers, chest hair, etc. It is done by the rigidity of lines and the priority of writing. Studying its line drawing carefully, we can find that its change is not for change, but to show the characteristics of the scene, the artistic conception and charm of the picture. Line drawing is free and easy, vivid and not rigid, natural and unpretentious, changeable and unassuming, soft and delicate, rigid but not rigid, unified and coordinated from a distance, and changeable from a close look.

The coloring of brand flowers and birds is as important as the composition. As a flower-and-bird brand, people should not only strive for perfection in coloring techniques, but also master scientific color knowledge in order to use color collocation flexibly. The ancients said that ink is divided into five colors, but actually pyrography looks like one color. In fact, it is definitely not under the five colors, thus achieving the realm of "wonderful, fantastic". However, in the color matching of flower-and-bird paintings, many mistakes are often made, such as dryness, fire, vulgarity, separation of main and auxiliary, staggered disorder, vague depth and dull taste. What do you mean "withered"? Dry color is dry and absent, dull and lifeless, mainly with light color but no color, no natural flavor. Therefore, it is necessary to be light but not dry. If you are light, you will still see color, and there will be a soft aesthetic feeling. What is "fire"? Fire is the color contrast is too strong, resulting in strong stimulation and unpleasant feeling. What is "vulgar" Most of the reasons for vulgarity are also caused by improper comparison and handling. Without studying the purity of color itself, casual cooperation often produces vulgar colors, such as rich colors, which are more obvious if not handled properly. To be gorgeous but not vulgar, it is necessary to reduce the saturation of colors, especially when using heavy colors. What do you mean, "the main and auxiliary are not divided, and they are mixed and disorderly"? This is a matter of color priority. A painting must have its central color, with one color as the main color, so that all other colors tend to be the main color and achieve harmony, which will produce beauty. If you color at will regardless of primary or secondary, it will inevitably lead to color confusion on the screen. What do you mean by "plain"? The colors on the screen are too uniform and lack of change, especially the color matching with the same concentration has played an assimilation role, which will inevitably become dull and boring, and colored equals colorless.

Judging from the whole branding process of flowers and birds, rendering is the last process of painting and plays a key role in the success or failure of a painting. The ancients put forward some commandments about rendering, because the most common faults of gourd pyrography are dullness, lifelessness and charm. Gourd pyrography is most afraid of being limited to mechanical skills and can't see vitality. Not limited to the inherent technical procedures, judging by the artistic effect, sometimes it will be washed and dyed layer by layer. Sometimes, once lightly dyed, as long as excellent results are achieved, the brand will stop immediately.

5. Animal brand

Start with the outline. First, the manuscript is required to be rigorous and accurate, and then the low temperature is ticked. Brush, comb and render after checking the lines. Rendering must be meticulous, leaving no pen marks, gradually melting from deep to shallow and evenly smearing. Branding the stripes of animals requires meticulous rationality and no sense of disorder, which is the characteristic of branding animals. If you can't brand animal hair, you will show your lack of skills. The concave-convex structure of the animal body should also be moderately rendered. Finally, it is necessary to cover the whole skin color and draw a fine and powerful beard on the white bearded animal.

Whether it is freehand brushwork, meticulous brushwork or gourd pyrography, it is "taking shape with a pen and branding with color." The combination of shape and color enriches the expressive force of animal pyrography. Admittedly, some emphasize rendering, some slightly assist color, and some are meticulous line drawing or meticulous line drawing, just like music with different melodies. China's animal pyrography also draws lessons from the advantages of western paintings, emphasizing the strength of bones first, that is, winning the beauty of "rigidity" with a pen, and the beauty of "softness" complements each other, and the beauty of "masculine" and "feminine" complements each other. It can be seen that in order to prosper and develop animal pyrography, we must constantly explore and steadily learn various techniques in China and the West.

6. Role branding

Use a pen first, then have the intention to write, because only a mature intention is brewing can you write with God. More importantly, replace complexity with simplicity. For example, meticulous brushwork requires four strokes, while freehand brushwork requires only one or two strokes. This requires the author to have a high degree of generalization and extensive training ability for the mental state of the characters portrayed, otherwise it can only give people a dull and empty feeling. How can I make the pen concise and not empty? We must observe and ponder the object to be described for a long time, and constantly make more efforts on the refining line.

There are two kinds of figure pyrography: big freehand brushwork and small freehand brushwork. Small freehand brushwork is divided into meticulous brushwork. This combination of meticulous brushwork and freehand brushwork can not only meet the requirements of some details of the characters, but also give people a vivid feeling of pen and ink. In the use of pens, the thickness, intonation and intonation vary greatly, and it is required to write quickly and boldly.

(1) Handmade Brand

It is the experience of ancient painters that "painting people is difficult to draw hands". A good figure pyrography mainly lies in the correct proportion and vivid image of the whole figure, but the hand also plays an important role in the expression and posture of the whole figure. Brand shaping characters' hands should be familiar with and master the following three principles:

The shape and posture of the hand. The shape of a character's hand refers to the image of the hand, such as length, thickness and size, which belongs to the physiological characteristics of the character. Gestures refer to the movements and postures of hands, reflecting the thoughts and personalities of characters. These two aspects are interrelated and inseparable.

Structure of the hand. Including wrists, palms and fingers. The carpal bone forms the base of the palm. It is composed of eight small bones, which are oval and located between the palm and forearm, connecting the palm and forearm. The five metacarpals are fan-shaped, and the third finger is the longest phalanx, which consists of three sections except the thumb. On the thumb side and the little finger side of the palm, there are two fleshy bulges called "thumb ball" and "little finger ball". When looking at the whole hand from the side, the forearm, wrist, palm and fingers descend step by step. On the back of the hand, the muscle cup of the forearm muscle extends to each finger through the wrist, so that the tendon is exposed when the hand flexes and stretches. When branding characters' hands, we should also pay attention to the same rule of * * * hand structure. In modern times, due to the emergence of medical human anatomy and artistic human anatomy, many gourd pyrographers and sculptors mostly have correct and healthy hand structures when creating characters, but some works have incorrect hand structures and proportions. This is because the author has not mastered this art science well. These problems are manifested in the following aspects:

Most people's hands are small, their hands are not as big as usual, the little finger is thicker than the thumb, the five fingers are parallel, the palm is too long or too short, the wrist is too thin or too thick, and the wrist and hand are not in the right position or can't be connected. In order to overcome these shortcomings, we must attach importance to human anatomy, learn and master human anatomy, and apply it to figure pyrography.

Hook line. Hand hook lines, like face hook lines, require symmetry and thinness to make soft lines elastic. The pen can be slightly heavier and undulating, but avoid turning and undulating brushwork to make your hands look stiff. Because the hand is a part of the human body and has a direct relationship with the arm, the arm of the character must also be branded accurately in order to coordinate with other parts.

(2) Branding of each part of the characters

Tick off: all parts of a person's face should be scratched off with a gourd brush. For example, the color of hair and eyebrows can be a little thicker, while the parts of face, nose, mouth, neck and hands that belong to muscles and skin should be drawn out at low temperature. Low temperature hooks should also be used for the upper and lower lips, and the seam at the corners of the mouth should be slightly deeper to prepare for the next coloring. The headdress part must be hooked out at high temperature. The pen should be strong when hooking the line. According to the relationship between bones and muscles, the weight, tightness, thickness and reality should be marked. At the same time, pay attention to symmetry. If the thickness is too wide, it will appear uncoordinated or even ugly.

Eyebrow branding method: first, the first low-temperature branding of the bun. Pay attention to the strict boundary between forehead and hairline when branding, so as not to damage the image. Do not burn too much, but burn enough. This pen must be strictly controlled. After the bun is branded, the eyebrows and eyes of the characters are branded at low temperature. When branding eyebrows, you should brand the brush path, when branding eyes, you should brand the depth of eyelids, and then brand your eyes.

Burn cheeks, eye sockets, helix and fingertips: these parts should be burned by rendering, especially the cheeks should be dyed at a moderate temperature. There are two expressions here, one is to show the healthy color of the character's skin, and the other is to show the specific makeup effect of the character. The faces of men, women, children and babies should be rendered, even the cheeks of modern characters are the same.

Rendering is the key step of figure pyrography. If the rendering is not good, the pyrography will have no three-dimensional effect. So rendering needs moderate shading first. If it is too light, it will be ugly if it is too thick. It must be dyed with a pen and gradually spread out until there is no trace. Otherwise, they will get together and look ugly. In addition, after dyeing the cheeks, we should also render the eye sockets of the face, the outline of the ears, the fingertips, phalanges and wrists, and the folds of clothes.

7. Branding of calligraphy

Branding calligraphy is easier than gourd pyrography. If you have a certain knowledge of calligraphy, you can write directly with a branded brush. If you don't have certain skills or for beginners, you can take two methods: the first one can be a calligraphy template, first engrave the calligraphy you want to brand on thick paper, and then bake it with a shading machine; The second method is often used because it is simpler and more practical than the first method. Extend the printed calligraphy with carbon paper to the gourd you want to bake, and bake the gourd with a brush, which can be baked into a yin-yang effect and have a different taste.

The decoration of gourd pyrography can be matched with decorations such as Chinese knots.

8. Gourd pyrography appreciation

Looking at gourd pyrography, we should not only appreciate the simplicity and complexity of the picture, but also appreciate whether the following items are exquisite.

A painter's work can show the author's achievements. The image of the picture is the concreteness of the brand. We often judge whether a painting is branded or not subjectively, which is the biggest influence of branding.

Calligraphy and gourd pyrography are often accompanied by poetry, which is the soul of gourd pyrography. Sometimes a poem is the finishing touch, which makes the painting vivid, and the calligraphy in the painting also affects the picture to the greatest extent. Most painters who are not proficient in calligraphy dare not sign. Although there is only a signature, you can also get a glimpse of its basic skills.

Seal, the common seal on the screen is used in all aspects: painter's seal, signer's private seal, leisure seal, collection seal, appreciation seal, authentication seal and so on. The branding or engraving of various seals, the contents of seals and the location of seals are all under review. Ancient paintings, in particular, often have the seals of emperors, famous artists, collectors and connoisseurs, which can help identify the authenticity.

Decoration, the decoration of gourd pyrography is very unique, and the material technology is very particular. Color, connection, etc. Are very particular.

China people appreciate gourd pyrography not only for superficial efforts, but also for the relationship between the work and the author.

Skills, the longer you engage in gourd pyrography, the more skills you show, which beginners can't master. Calligraphy, in particular, is powerful and vigorous for an old hand. In gourd pyrography, its lines, patterns and artistic conception also show the author's skill. Therefore, artists with rich life experience often have different performances from young painters. This is skill.

Layout seems to be the design of the picture, but the world in the author's mind is expressed from the layout of the picture. There are many differences between gourd pyrography and western painting, the most obvious one is "leaving blank". Traditionally, gourd pyrography has no background color, so there is a lot of blank space, which is called blank space layout. In the blank, some people use calligraphy, poetry, seals and so on. Fill in the blanks and leave them blank, so that the uniqueness of the author can be seen from the layout.

Knowledge, skills and layout can be seen from the picture. As for the author's knowledge, it has a great influence on his works. Therefore, China is known as "literati painting". Famous literati, whose works are different, are a kind of "bookish". Knowledge is one of the conditions that distinguish a painter from a painter.

Personality, western painters are often romantic and uninhibited, and the games are fun. And the appreciator only looks at his paintings, ignoring the painter's personal virtue. People in China are different. No one cares whether a painter or calligrapher is disorderly, morally corrupt, notorious and utterly immoral, no matter how exquisite his calligraphy art is. I don't know who hung up the works of treacherous court officials such as Qin Gui, but it is for this reason that Yue Fei's Return My Rivers and Mountains and Sun Yat-sen's The World Is Public have become household names.

Poetry, the poem in gourd pyrography, often represents the master's voice. A good poem can express the author's connotation and knowledge, and a good poem can also play the role of making the finishing point.

In the seal, whether it is gourd or gourd branding, there is often a "corner pressing" chapter. The so-called leisure chapter is a blank corner of the picture or calligraphy. Branded words sometimes have a great influence on calligraphy and painting. We can also see the author's mentality or the environment at that time from the burning words. A good brand, coupled with a good carving method, covers the calligraphy and painting and adds luster to the work.