Chinese brush painting is an ancient technique that has been around for thousands of years. This technique it typically used to draw out Chinese symbols. It is important to focus on pressure and how you handle the brush, because even an slightly increased amount of pressure can build up ink and change the meaning of a word.
Proper Holding Techniques
When you are painting with your Chinese brush, you need to hold the brush slightly differently than you would your typical pencil or pen. The brush needs to be completely perpendicular with the paper, which means it touches the paper at a 90-degree angle. To do so, start off with your writing hand acting as if it was holding the handle on a cup of coffee. Now slide the brush through your hand. Your index finger and thumb should gently pinch the brush, with your middle and ring finger resting on it as well.
Where you hold the brush is important as well. When you are painting in small areas, you will want to rest your wrist on the table, so the tip of the brush should be about the same level as the bottom of your wrist. On the other hand, if you are creating a large painting, you will have your wrist and elbow off the paper and table. For this the hand holding the brush will need to be in the middle of the brush, leaving several inches between the edge of your hand and the tip of the brush.
Vertical Stroke
For drawing a straight line vertically along the side of the paper, you will need to keep the brush perfectly straight up in the air. This is the most important aspect of the vertical stroke. You will generally use this brush technique to outline objects in your painting or to stipple the area with your ink. (Stipple is the process in which you create small dots in a given area to add depth and volume to the piece.)
Slanted Stroke
When you want to create a wash on the paper (large areas of color), you will use the slanted stroke technique. As the name suggests, you will be holding your brush at an angle. To properly hold your brush, start off as you would, with it being perfectly perpendicular to the paper. Now, rotate your wrist so the brush comes to a 45-degree angle with the paper. This can be in any direction. If you want a slanted stroke going vertically, tilt your wrist and the brush-end away from you. Or you can tilt your brush and wrist to the right or left of you to create a horizontal slanted stroke.
