Customer Reviews

Traditional and Contemporary Chinese Brush Painting: Using Ink and Water-Soluble Media

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have half a dozen books on Sumi painting and this is my favorite. Mr. Yan is an extremely talented artist and the examples he uses to teach his techniques are just beautiful. He is very thorough in his explaning how to achieve various effects. I found his explanation of the role and significance of the traditional implements and supplies used in Chinese brush painting facinating. In summary, I learned many new things from this book even though I've been taking lessons for a year and read many other books.

This book is probably one of the best for beginners who want to get a full grasp of how to load brushes with multiple colors, do sequential washes (both wet and dry), as well as lists a full set of materials required for the lesson. Some would argue that it doesn't show the full range of Chinese calligraphy styles available, but I'm saying this book was just what I was looking for. It has several very nice projects to choose from, and all of them are beautiful when finished. It focuses mostly on animals and plants, but is thorough none the less. I did have the privlidge of looking at this book in a bookstore first, before buying it online.

Cheng Yan is a talented Chinese brush painter, offering a text which presents a cross-section of traditional Chinese brush painting techniques.

Please note that traditional Chinese brush painting, the ancestor of Japanese Sumi-e/Sumi painting, is different from Sumi painting, and may present imagery and technique which practitioners of strictly Zen painting may not find as useful as books relating strictly to Japanese styles.

Cheng Yan is a brilliant painter, but I find that his text is more suited to artists who are already very familiar with Chinese painting techniques. This book walks you through several styles of composition, but there is much that is assumed by the author. He expects you to already know many techniques and styles of brush work.

He does show several types of brush strokes in one of the introductory chapters, but if you're looking for a book that will teach you to do Chinese brush painting from the ground up, I would recommend Jane Evans or one of many published in China.

I do use this book frequently as a personal reference book while painting. I am also inspired by his beautiful, xieyi style (freestyle) painting.

I would not recommend this book to absolute beginners, but if you've already mastered the Four Gentlemen, or if you've been doing Chinese brush painting for a while, this is a great book to keep on your shelf. I am giving this book three stars because I feel it has been marketed as a beginner's book, when I would really recommend it as an intermediate book.

This is a wonderful book. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn Chinese Brush painting. Very beautiful work and easy instruction. One of my favorite art books.

This books offers full color step by step instructions on how to brush paint. This book also lists all the items that are needed and a history of the art and culture. This book is great for beginners and offers many great tips for brush stroking. The pictures that are drawn (for demonstration) are beautiful and illustrated well where new comers to the art can pick up a brush and paint them for themselves! This book also has a section about calligraphy and Chinese characters!! I highly recommend this book for anyone trying to start Brush painting.

I must be missing something here, but I didn't think much of this book at all. I bought this book hoping to improve in contempory techniques but was most disappointed. I have no doubt the artist is very talented but I much prefer Lian Quan Zhen's books and teaching style - beautiful, easy to follow, informative and very inspiring. Guess it's all comes down to personal taste and style.