What is eighteen strokes?

Name of Chinese painting technique. Ancient character clothing folds of various strokes. Ming dynasty Zou Dezhong "painting refers to Meng" contains "depiction of ancient and modern 18, etc.". Also seen in the Ming dynasty wang hei yu "coral net", which nail head and rat tail for nail head and rat tail description, pout head ding for pout head description, the rest of the same. Qing Wang Ying put it into drawings, and indicate the main points of each description. Now, we see the 18 strokes that summarize the techniques of the drawings is from his hand.

The eighteen strokes can be divided into:

One, the ancient silk strokes: one of the oldest line strokes, commonly seen in Gu Kaizhi's paintings. The lines do not change much, are fine and even, and are mostly rounded curves. The staccato strokes are in the form of small rounded heads.

Second, the string depiction: slightly thicker than the Gao Gu Yusi depiction, mostly straight lines. There is the flavor of writing, the line with a trembling brush stroke, there are stops and starts in the line of change, mostly for the feeling of straight lines.

Three, iron line depiction: compared to the string depiction and thicker, but the pen square hard, is one of the most common depiction. Turning prescription hard and powerful, straight line hard fold, like iron wire to bend the form. The brush is centered, and the staccato strokes are also rounded.

Four, mixed depiction: basically is a kind of painting method. First with thick ink chapped clothes, ink is not dry, between the thick ink, "thick break light" ink changes.

Fifth, Cao Yi depicted: that is, Cao Yi out of the water depicted in short. From the western region of the painter Cao Zhongda, its paintings of the Buddha's clothing patterns sagging, dense, close to the body like water, so it is called "Cao clothes out of the water". Influenced by the Indian art of Kendra, the brush is thin and sagging, into a circular arc, and emphasizes the changes in the sparse and dense arrangement between the lines.

Sixth, nail head and rat tail description: Ren Bonian's most commonly used method of line drawing. The head of the leaf is big, and when it is big due to the turn of the pen, the line of the pen square folds more, turn the pen when the line is thickened as the orchid leaf description, close the pen pointed and fine.

Seven, peg-head nail depiction: bald pen line drawing, is a kind of writing brushwork, Ma Yuan, Xia Gui more used. The head of the big and square, side stroke into the pen, there is "axe chapping" of the pen. The lines are thick and powerful.

Eight, horse locust description: horse and the use of it. Similar to the orchid leaf description, the head of the big, the line is soft, but very powerful.

Nine, folding reeds description: thick brush, and the turns are mostly right angles, folding the pen when the head of the square and large, the line is mostly straight, is a kind of line drawing method of the painting. Liang Kai "six ancestors split bamboo figure" with.

Ten, olive depiction: the head of the big as an olive, the Yuan Dynasty Yan Hui and others used, the line is a little thin, but the thickness of the change is also big.

Xi. Zaojiao depicts: the head of the dengtong is like the shape of a Zaojiao, and there are also Zaojiao changes in the line of strokes.

Twelve, willow leaf strokes: the strokes are thin at both ends and thick in the middle. There is no orchid leaf stroke in the eighteen strokes. Willow leaf depiction and bamboo leaf depiction is similar, are virtual into the virtual out of the pen. Wu Daozi used it.

Thirteen, bamboo leaf strokes: similar to the willow leaf strokes, also thick in the middle and thin at both ends.

Fourteenth, the war brush waterline stroke: such as landscape painting waterline painting method. It shows the thin and pleated clothing pattern. Tang Yin in the Ming Dynasty used it for his paintings of ladies.

Fifteen, reduced strokes: refers to the Ma Yuan, Liang Kai, etc. for the capitalization of the brush. The brush is thick, one stroke, and there is a change in ink color in one stroke. Most of them only draw an outer outline, the brush is concise to the extreme.

Sixteen, withered firewood stroke: ink painting brushwork. Thick brush, less water, similar to chapping. Often use the brush against the front lying horizontally.

Seventeen, earthworm stroke: uniform thickness, curved and soft. With seal script brushwork, rounded and powerful.

Eighteen: the clouds and flowing water strokes: showing the soft and curved patterns of the clothes.

The above strokes are all named according to the shape of their strokes, based on the program of expressing the folds of the clothes in the figure paintings of various schools through the ages. The Mustard Seed Garden Record of Paintings has a model draft version.

Others summarize the eighteen strokes into three main categories:

One is the wandering stroke category. It is a slow brush stroke, mostly with a medium stroke, with even pressure, consistent linearity, and fewer variations. Iron line strokes, Cao Yi strokes, string strokes all belong to this category. Its representative author is Gu Kaizhi.

The second is the class of willow-leaf strokes, which is fast and varied, and the pressure is more in the interruption of the line. Zaojiao depictions, olive depictions, traveling clouds and flowing water depictions all belong to it. Its representative author is Wu Daozi.

Third, it is a class of reduced strokes, which is characterized by fast strokes, more side strokes, and the paper surface friction, pressure is concentrated in a section of the line, but also from the line to the surface, linear changes. Bamboo leaves depicted, withered firewood depicted all belong to it. Liang Kai most like to use this method.