Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering [Paperback]

Rebecca Yue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

Rebecca Yue's unique approach to calligraphy comes from years of teaching this ancient art. Most teachers prefer to demonstrate all of the basic brushstrokes before teaching you how to form words. In Rebecca's experience, however, students soon become bored with this method and fail to progress. Whilst teaching new brushstrokes, Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy allows the reader to practise them, and brushstrokes learnt previously, by writing Chinese words. From this, the reader feels a sense of achievement and satisfaction at the end of every lesson - which, in turn, stimulates them to look forward to the next exercise. As the lessons progress, the words introduced become more complicated. When there are enough words to form phrases, projects are introduced. These include painting Chinese characters onto a bonsai pot, a t-shirt, a vase and making personalised greeting cards.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rebecca Yue began to learn Chinese brush painting at the age of ten. She followed strict disciplines under three masters; one specialized in landscape painting and the other two in bird and flower painting. Rebecca's systematic approach to learning has brought her a large number of devoted followers. Rebecca lives in Bath. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823005569
• ISBN-13: 978-0823005567
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.4 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, March 28, 2005

By 

Roger Burns (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering (Paperback)

This is a fabulous introductory how-to book on Chinese calligraphy. The text and examples are large, the overall presentation of the material is clear and artful. Using this book is really easy.

The publisher's description says:

- Unique, systematic teaching method builds
from basic to advanced brushstrokes,
enabling you to create new words with each
brushstroke you learn

- Two fold-out cover flaps carry key
information to remind you of the anatomy
of each character as you progress

- Organized into a series of lessons and
projects which, as they are worked
through, build the reader's knowledge

- Includes beginner-level projects for
greeting cards, decorative ceramics, and
calligraphic artwork

Some 100 characters are covered. There are chapters on preparing the brushes, holding and loading the brush, wrist and elbow movements, pressing and lifting the brush, various brushstrokes, making a traditional writing book, a greeting card, the five golden rules of Chinese calligraphy, mounting a xuan paper artwork, and more. An appendix shows where Chinese calligraphy supplies can be obtained in the U.S and U.K., each listing has a website.

I happily give this book a full five stars.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've found on this subject, October 8, 2007

By 

Roger Mastrude "Roger Mastrude" (Capitola, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering (Paperback)

If you'd like to learn to write the "ABCs" of written Chinese, this is the book for you! (That's a joke, by the way, since Chinese has no ABCs.) The book gives very complete and detailed instructions for making the strokes of the Chinese characters, and building them into beautiful characters. I particularly liked the way little arrows show the movement of the tip of the brush, while up and down symbols told you when to lift the brush to its tip, or press it down.

The book is interspersed with attractive little projects you can do with Chinese characters, but the heart of the book is definitely how to write the characters themselves.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Start, August 9, 2008

By 

Diana L. Winsor "Peake" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering (Paperback)

This is a good book to start working with Chinese Calligraphy. The instructions are clear and helpful, and many examples of characters are given to practice, in such a way that you can see and work with the different variations of the basic brushstrokes. While this book won't lead to mastery, it has certainly helped me in achieving more consistency in writing the characters.

The art projects were fun to do, and I have ended up doing some of them several times as friends and family wanted one of their own.