Chinese Calligraphy

Nowadays, many are rediscovering the beauty of traditional Chinese arts and the benefits attached to practising them, especially Chinese calligraphy which is now known to greatly benefit our mind and our body.

Chinese calligraphy Online Lessons are open to art lovers all over the world as there is no previous training required. New and longtime students share the exciting voyage in the realm of Chinese calligraphy, studying masters of the art under the guidance of the artist Ngan Siu-Mui.

Learning Traditional Chinese Calligraphy Techniques

• The soft hair Chinese brush
  Chinese brushes are very different from pencils and pens. So are the techniques that need to be learned in order to achieve interesting results. Controlling the tip of the brush, the ink flow on the paper and the energy of the stroke are all extremely important and, like dancing, cannot be learn in books or videos.
• Chinese characters composition
  Chinese characters are composed of strokes which must be drawn in a balanced sequence to form a comfortable composition.
• Art of composition in an artwork of Chinese calligraphy
  The placement and arrangement of visual elements such as strokes, characters and spaces are very importatnt in a piece of Chinese calligraphy. The harmony, energy and personality of the composition is what makes a masterpiece.

Studying the five scripts in Chinese Calligraphy

There are five scripts of Chinese calligraphy: Seal, Clerical, Regular, Running and Cursive.
In order to master the techniques needed in Running and Cursive scripts, the practice of Seal and Clerical scripts cannot be ignored.
There are many styles for each script. Also there are many Rubbings and Manuscripts from the ancient calligraphers. Each ancient calligrapher has his own significant style. We will discover the development, technique and style relationship of the five scripts of calligraphy through different ancient calligraphers.

Seal Script

• Seal script is a very important base for beginner and advanced level group to understand Hidden, Central and Return strokes in the brush movement. Centrol of the brush movements will allow us to manipulate the brush properly to acheive energetic "Bones" strokes.
• Seal Script is a very ancient Chinese writing style. It has a kind of mysterious simplicity and is close to the most ancient pictograms.

Clerical Script

• Clerical Script is recognized by its majestic form. The familiar "wild goose end" of a rightward stroke belongs to this style.
• Angular strokes are used extensively for this script.

Regular Script

• The creation of Regular script includes many dots, beaks, hooks and ticks. These strokes are based on Seal, Clerical and Cursive scripts.
• Regular script is the easiest calligraphy script to read. Consequently, it is used on a daily basis. The characters are even and uniform.

Running Script

• The simplification of the Regular script and the adoption of the linking strokes result in the speedy brush flow of Running script.
• Dynamic and elegant movement of the brush strokes are emphasized in this style.

Cursive Script

• Strokes are more simplified and linked. In consequence the characters are not easy to recognize.
• This style reaches a wild, frantic and liberal manner, thereby encroaching upon the stratum of pure art.