First, the technical essentials of seal cutting:
First, fairness and unity.
This is the most basic point, that is, to make the sealing arrangement symmetrical and suitable. However, it is worth noting that strokes cannot fill the space in zigzag, nor can they be as rigid as type. Generally speaking, people with too many strokes don't realize its complexity, and people with too few strokes don't realize its scarcity. China, Indian and famous artists have many excellent works, which can be studied carefully.
Second, the density is unified.
The ancients sometimes used the method of "wide strokes and dense needles" to deal with seals with large differences in the number of characters on the surface of seals. Instead of letting more strokes occupy more land, they give more status to fewer strokes, thus making the contrast between density and density stronger and giving people a deep impression. Sometimes we can adjust variant characters and traditional characters, and artificially arrange the density (such as ten thousand, none, first class) to make them unified.
Third, skillful and clumsy, thick and thin.
The styles of seals should be diversified, and "Qiao" and "Zhuo" are two different styles. But the pursuit of "cleverness" cannot be lost: the pursuit of "clumsiness" cannot be lost. Many clever words in printing are clumsy, and many clumsy words are clever. In traditional art, "beauty" is not a good word and is often used as a derogatory term. The author doesn't want his work to be rated as "too beautiful". The thickness of the seal is related to the author's calligraphy and epigraphy. More attention and analysis should be paid to the natural treatment of line thickness in antique seals and famous seals.
Four, increase or decrease, repetition
In order to print properly, some words sometimes need to be added or subtracted, but it should be noted that a printed matter cannot be added or subtracted word by word, nor can there be too many strokes added or subtracted; Increase or decrease does not hinder the meaning of the word, without losing the seal style. If you change it to another word after adding or subtracting, or it is unnecessary to add or subtract, it will be self-defeating.
There are repeated words in the seal, which are generally replaced by two dots. If they don't appear one after another, seal cutting should be changed to avoid similarity and monotony.
V. Action and response
Transfer printing refers to the method of expanding and contracting the position of words and moving the position of strokes when the words can't be filled or the strokes can't be straight, so as to broaden the momentum of the whole printing. Echo here mainly refers to two identical parts in composition, including space, which are artificially emphasized to play different roles. Generally, there are "diagonal echo", "opposite echo", "winding echo" and "leaving red echo".
Six, winding, replacement
Some fonts are square, some are round, some are curved, and some are straight. In order to match the composition, a single character can be regarded as Fiona Fang, but everything depends on the printed text. For the same content, if you need to print continuously, you need to change the font, or increase or decrease, adjust its font structure and position, or increase the printing border, or change the genre style, change the vermilion and so on. , so it's different. Even a few parallel lines should be changed in thickness, length, twists and turns, setbacks and slopes in order to break through the dull and stagnant situation.
Seven, interspersed, pen
Sometimes, in order to break the rules of the tablet and make the words look at each other, the strokes inside often expand and contract with the potential, and the upper part is connected with the lower part to achieve potential connection. However, this method should be used with caution to avoid self-defeating. Sometimes there are too many trivial strokes or too many parallel lines in white printing, so we can treat the words as "pens" and make the whole printing muddy. The combination of painting and calligraphy is equivalent to the "ink infiltration" in painting and calligraphy, but it often ends to a certain extent. It is necessary to prevent the external bulge, but also to keep the inner narrow, rather than being able to achieve it at will. Pay attention to learning the brushwork in famous seals when printing.
Eight, leave red, leave white.
The blank space of the seal is called red on white background and blank in Zhu's place. Especially the white text, leaving a large area of red, can give readers a strong impression. Seal cutting pays attention to square space, which is the most important thing. For example, before building a house, the location of doors and windows must be determined, and when designing Yin Gao, we should also plan where to leave blank space. This kind of example is not uncommon among ancient seals and famous artists.
Nine, clutch deformation
Separation is to separate those glyphs that are too cramped and spread messengers; Combination is to connect those glyphs too loosely, so as not to cause the feeling of few words. But it would be nice to have a coherent clutch, no separation, no constraint. Some words have different strokes and lines, so it is necessary to change some positions of their fonts to make them grow into squares or squares, so as to achieve unity and harmony and give people a sense of freshness.
X. articles, articles.
Generally, seal script is arranged from top to bottom and from right to left, but sometimes for the need of layout, characters with different complexity and simplicity are arranged diagonally and symmetrically, and the arrangement order of characters is treated counterclockwise, which is called "characters". Sometimes, arranging a single number as balanced as a double number, or processing a simple and complicated text or two simpler words from only one word, is called "combined text".
Xi. cursive script, official script and variant characters
Other characters except seal script have been printed since ancient times, so it is interesting to refer to Yuan Ya, Twenty Chapters of Longmen, Han Bamboo Slips and other materials. Even if foreign characters are printed, the structure of Chinese characters should be reformed to integrate them with others. It is important to read more traditional materials and famous books.
Twelve, add edges and draw edges.
In creation, in order to change the form of the whole set of printed music, we can make various boundaries and borders in the seal style according to the form of ancient seal. It should be noted that it is neither fish nor fowl to fill in Chinese characters or Song and Yuan characters in Zhou and Qin formats, which is consistent with the traditional seal script system.
Thirteen, ten appropriate and ten taboos
Ten: 1. Prints with many strokes and many words should be arranged in parallel: 2. Prints with fewer strokes and fewer words should be laid out calmly; 3. The characters in Fang Bi Square should be complete; 4. The round pen or round pen should be straight; 5.？ Those who are helpless are quite astringent; 6. Words with the same strokes should be compact and arranged irregularly; 7. The word multi-turn should be flexible; 8.？ The horizontal or straight strokes of words should be carved vigorously; 9. Zhu Wen should generally be beautifully carved; 10. Generally, the vernacular should be carved simply.
Ten bogeys: 1. The strokes are square and taboo; 2. Avoid slipping when the strokes turn; 3. If the number of words is small, don't be sloppy; 4. The number of words is too messy; 5. avoid being delicate and charming; 6. jealousy and madness; 7. Fine strokes; 8. The strokes are obese and bloated; 9.？ Avoid exposing corners when rowing; 10. When a word starts, it suddenly ends.
Second, copy famous masterpieces:
Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, seal cutting by famous artists of various schools is another peak in China's splendid seal cutting heritage. The different characteristics of different factions show different styles between the square inches of seals. According to the principle of "taking the law as the top priority", you can choose a seal close to your own character from Huizhou School, Zhejiang School, the four famous masters in the late Qing Dynasty (,Zhao, Wu Changshuo) and other famous seals such as Zhao Shuru and Zhao. Novices should generally choose a more neat one. If Zhu wants to be present, he should also memorize the characteristics, compare them carefully and apply what he has learned.
Three. Necessary inspection:
It is impossible for a novice to carve a good seal at once. Although he is careful when carving, there may be some shortcomings. At this time, it can be used to refer to the pat on the printed surface dipped in thin ink, and then compare the original print with a small mirror to find out the differences and modify it to make the original print cool. You can imitate the sealing effect of the original seal by tapping and grinding. The process of contrast printing is an improved process, and it takes one third of the time to study contrast.
The predecessors said, "Be careful with the ink and play with the knife boldly", and the revision is secondary. If it is creative, it should be more focused on the idea of composition. If the composition is poor, the whole printing will fail, and no matter how hard you try, you can't change it.
When you write "Yin Gao" in the future, you should do the following: If the seal is not satisfied, you would rather wear it off and rewrite it than use a knife casually. If the seal is really bad, you might as well save it for next time. Don't choose seals to practice this time.