Practical Seal Carving Manual. Reverse Character Family Names

Author: Lu Shanqi (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Accepting the creative task of "Hundred Family Surnames Seal Spectrum," the first step is to select a version. The author has four reference books: "Chengqing Wang's Cursive Script Hundred Family Surnames," "Huang Baoyue's Seal Script Hundred Family Surnames," "Ning Fucheng's Seal and Clerical Script Hundred Family Surnames," and "The Hall Collection Version of Hundred Family Surnames." By comparing these four, three different situations are identified: The "Hall Collection Version" has eight more single surnames than the other three—"Jin, Chu, Shang, Yue, Gou, Tu, She, Qiao"—and 42 compound surnames; Ning Fucheng's version has mostly 78 compound surnames; Chengqing Wang's and Huang Baoyue's versions both have 30 compound surnames. Moreover, the order of compound surnames is different. Due to space limitations, the content-identical "Cheng" and "Huang" versions were adopted, but the eight additional single surnames from the Hall Collection Version were included because these eight are mostly common. In total, the book includes 416 single surnames and 30 compound surnames, amounting to 446 surnames.
This book recommends that beginners first practice practicing white-character seals, as their strokes are straight and easy to grasp. After gaining some proficiency, they can imitate the fine, elliptical red-character ancient seal impressions, while also practicing other styles. By achieving the goal of "white-character seals not being bulky" and "red-character seals not being weak," and mastering smooth, flowing lines, one can then proceed to practice multi-character school seals and appreciate their stylistic origins. "Hundred Family Surnames Seal Spectrum" aims to guide readers through the basics, which is its original intention.