For people who like art, if it is purely for appreciation, then there is only one thing to understand, and that is to know what kind of work is good.

It's not complicated.

As long as you like it, it's good.

With the exception of competitive sports, there is hardly a uniform standard for hobbies.

South Sweet, North Salty, East Spicy, West Sour, Wu Nong, Soft Language, Jiangnan Minor, Yang Chun, White Snow, Riba People, Bold and Graceful, Red Orange, Yellow Green, Blue Purple, Black, White Gray, etc., no one stipulates that only something is good.

It's true, even if I don't like the things that many people say, how can it be called a good work?

At least it's not a good work for me who doesn't like it.

So as an appreciation, it's okay to feel good and like it.

When your horizons are high, you will naturally want to understand more deeply.

If you go one step further, you will be able to work in the direction of experts (experts in the positive term), and then you will be able to theoretically prove why what you like is good.

But for those who want to do it, it can't just be as simple as gut feeling.

No matter which one we choose, the original goal is to reach the highest level we can in the one we like.

If we don't have that idea, we don't like it enough.

Then there is nothing else to talk about.

From high school to now, I have always believed in the four words of wanting to do a better hobby, and it has never changed.

These four words are "macro", "about", "deep" and "beautiful".

Hongyue Shenmei, originally known as Hongyue Shenmei, originally came from Zhang Huiyan's "Selected Words Preface" in the Qing Dynasty: "Tang Zhizhiren, Wen Tingyun is the highest, and his words are deep and beautiful."

When it comes to Wen Tingyun, the first thing that comes to mind is "Huajian School", and the famous sentence "Thousands of sails are not" comes from his "Wangjiangnan" (word brand name, also known as remembering Jiangnan). But I first knew that these four words did not come from the "Selected Words", but from the first issue of the "Art Guide".

"Art Guide" is a journal of Chaohua Art Publishing House, founded in 1986, it was a bimonthly magazine at the time, and it still exists, it is one of the few art materials I had that year, and the things in it are very practical, and the theory is also easy to understand, and the most important thing is that now I have understood, and these people who only knew the names of people are now all at the ceiling level.

Even though some were still very young!

For me, who is a blank sheet of paper, the importance and luck of being exposed to such a high-level correct thing at the beginning of learning to paint are self-evident.

Really lucky.

The inaugural issue of this issue is published by everyone.

There are Mr. Wang Xuezhong who talks about the perspective of Chinese painting, Mr. Li Hua who teaches printmaking, Mr. Ouyang Zhongshi who teaches regular calligraphy, Mr. Lu Shen who talks about Chinese painting, Mr. Liu Kemin who talks about color, Mr. Chen Mou who talks about the white drawing technique of figure painting, Mr. Bo Songnian who talks about the history of Chinese art, and so on.

Lu Yanguang, who painted the comic strip "The Palace of Eternal Life", wrote "Afternoon Tea", and at that time he emphasized that the world of art is colorful, and all roads can lead to BJ, and in this exploration and struggle, what matters is your own characteristics and personality...... It is useless to always follow others and imitate them.

There is also Qian Shaowu, a master of sketching, who wrote "Sketch Talk", and a lot of my sketching knowledge was obtained from this article. Although I read a lot of sketch books later, my understanding of sketching is still what he said, sketching is a modeling training system, including observation methods, depiction methods and a set of regular knowledge (such as perspective and anatomy) that adapt to it.

That's how I've always understood sketching. From him I learned to look at the whole thing. First the whole and then the part, first hit the overall outline, and then determine the local proportion, to understand an object from front to back, left and right. In addition, I learned how to draw straight lines from him, which made me accustomed to starting with a straight line when drawing anything, and emphasizing the use of straight lines to outline even if it was a round object.

One can imagine how important these habits were back then.

Some time ago, I took an online class at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, in which Professor Ye Nan also specifically mentioned Mr. Qian's sketch understanding. He further refined the sketch observation method into from large to small, from square to round, from curved, from flat to three-dimensional......

Another Mr. Qian's body sketch is also something I have always admired, he can draw the beauty of the human body with a few lines in a very simple way, which is definitely real kung fu.

Xu Bing, who had painted David's sketches, which are still in the top three at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, was still very young at that time, and he serialized "Overview of Sketches", which clearly stated that the main task of sketching is to cultivate four abilities, fundamentally understand the scientific laws of sketch modeling, establish observation methods that meet the needs of painting, improve the sensitivity of the eyes, and exercise the specific ability to realize the picture. In addition, he mentioned at the end of the article that Mr. Xu Beihong believes that the role of drawing in the field of painting is equivalent to mathematics in science and engineering.

I remember a book that recorded that when he recalled this sketch, he said that it was advanced millimeter by millimeter, which shows that it is extremely fine.

In this magazine, I think the most influential article for me is the first article by Mr. Liu Haisu entitled "Macro Covenant and Profound Beauty-Talking about Scholarship with Young Friends", which has influenced me for almost 30 years.

From this point of view, this article can definitely be regarded as the important intersection of life that Mr. Liu Qing said.

The reason why this article can be regarded as an important intersection is that I benefited from it, not only the four words that Mr. Cai Yuanpei gave him when Mr. Liu Haisu went to Shanghai to run an art college, but also the first time that he mentioned it in the article: "An outstanding artist must be a scholar and a thinker at the same time." To engage in art, you also need to have profound knowledge, and you can't draw well with just a little skill, which is true both at home and abroad. ”

I understood the principles of kung fu outside painting at the beginning of my study of painting, although these principles may not be fully understood and mastered until now, but at least I have been able to ensure that my path over the years is almost correct.

In retrospect, that was extremely important.

It is indeed extremely important. This is more beneficial than the four words of Hongyue Shenmei.

Of course, these four words themselves are also extremely beneficial.

According to my understanding today, these four words are actually a process of giving up and taking!

The first word "macro (hong)" means that knowledge should be broad, that is, to take as much as possible and do addition.

It is often said to be well-informed.

Only by seeing more can we know widely.

In this regard, Professor Luo Xiang has a good saying: the poorer a person is in knowledge (cognition), the more he has an inexplicable strange courage and an inexplicable sense of pride. Because the poorer the knowledge (cognition), the more absolute what he believes, and he has not heard the opposite of this at all. So the opposite of good is not evil, but ignorance. To put it bluntly, it is a lack of knowledge.

So it's important to see more.

In this regard, Mr. Lu Yao has described it specifically in his book "Morning Begins at Noon".

After "Ordinary World" enters the specific preparations...... At the same time, he also reads other miscellaneous books, such as theoretical, political, philosophical, economic, historical, and religious works. In addition, there are specialized works on agriculture, commerce, industry, science and technology, as well as a large collection of knowledgeable pamphlets such as fish farming, beekeeping, fertilization, taxation, finance, meteorology, calendars, afforestation, soil modification, customs, folklore, UFOs (unidentified flying objects), etc. All aspects of life are interested. rural towns, industrial and mining enterprises, school institutions, bazaars; State-owned, collective, individual; from high-ranking provincial officials to ordinary people; As long as you can reach it, you will try to reach it. Some of the lives are familiar from the past, but for the sake of a more precise experience, once again go deep into it – I summarize this as "back in place". Some life is unfamiliar in the past, so redouble your efforts and strive to become familiar in a short period of time.

And don't dare to be sloppy about all common sense and technical things, you have to investigate every branch and leaf clearly, and if your brain is not sure to remember, you will write it down in detail.

For example, a detailed record of all crops and wild plants in the specific geographical environment involved in the work; The whole process from sowing and unearthing to seed setting and harvesting; When what plants bloom, what is the state of other plants; What is the appearance of another plant when this crop is sown; There are new domestic and wild birds and animals throughout the territory; folk customs, folk customs; weddings and funerals; Wait a minute. I am very greedy when it comes to appropriating concrete lives. I know that the more fully you have a life of possession, the more confident you will be in expressing your life, and the more freedom you will have. As the director of a big play, he must not only arrange a large number of actors on the stage, but also see every end and subsection of the overall situation, and even a grass and a small flower in the background should strive to be perfectly and accurately unified in the whole.

In order to write "Ordinary World", he has taken macro to the extreme, and it took three years to prepare for it.

The reason why I spent a lot of time rewriting the above passage is because I have read it again and again, and it has had a great impact on me.

In terms of painting, Brother Dong often admonishes me to pay attention to details and not to be plausible. So I try to grasp as many materials as possible before painting (including writing), such as a pipe wrench for oil workers, a basket for eggs, a morning glory wall that can be used in the background of urban girls, and branches and leaves trimmed by community greeners...... I took pictures of these small details that I usually see everywhere, and when I came back, I drew a lot of drafts for later use. When I drew it, I also knew that for a final draft, most of the materials I had collected before should not be used in the end.

But the next time I see it, I still need to press "macro" to do it!

The materials that have been collected in large quantities do not automatically turn them into excellent works.

For any excellent work, it is not necessary to master a large amount of material to represent success.

It is important to refine the materials collected.

This process is the second word "covenant".

Covenant is constraint, that is, to make a careful choice on the basis of learning, that is, to do subtraction, is the process of giving.

Only by discarding a large amount of material obtained in the process of macros in the same way, will you finally understand which one should be left.

In the same way, when we finally decide to focus on one aspect of our stay, you also decide to let go of the others.

It's not okay to be reluctant, if you want to use it, it is useless, and if you want to learn, you don't have to learn anything.

This one is not difficult to understand.

In the word macro, not counting other hobbies, just drawing one, my preferences are extremely complex.

Even on the figures, I like oil painting, drawing, white drawing, sketching, colored pencil, watercolor, Chinese painting, printmaking and other techniques in all the more realistic painting style, I have always not liked abstract things, not that abstraction is bad, but I prefer to be more realistic.

I like this style of work.

If you don't want to learn if you don't restrain it, you will die of exhaustion.

I can only give up the pain.

Even if I really like it.

Therefore, if you want to make an appointment, you must do a good job of subtraction, and the saddest level is that you must overcome the absolute reluctance in your heart.

It's not okay to be reluctant.

Because there is a life and a life, there is really a life.

After giving up those projects that have to be abandoned, only the favorite is left, and I seriously follow Professor Dong to learn the characters!

Once you've made this important decision, it's easy to take the next step.

It is to enter the third word "deep".

To go deep is to work hard to further your education. It is to take it again with a spirit of more diligent study.

Different from the plane of the original macro, the orientation at this time is taken to the depth. In the direction of Gongbi figure painting, it can be summed up as deeply rooted in life, in-depth selection of materials, in-depth portrayal of expressions, in-depth emphasis on dynamics, in-depth knowledge of perspective, in-depth understanding of anatomy, in-depth attention to color, and in-depth highlighting of themes.

I have summarized these eight items by myself. It's hard to just learn a bunch of content to be learned after each major item, not to mention that I have added the word "in-depth" to each item?

Let's learn the same! There are absolutely no shortcuts.

Didn't the ancients say a long time ago, work hard.

A bitter word is hard.

In the text, Master Haisu also said that although talent is very important in artistic creation, but without diligent study and hard work, talent will not be able to be brought into play, in this sense, genius is diligence.

As for those arrogant people who don't need to be diligent by nature, I'll just envy them.

After sighing that reincarnation is a technical job, continue to work hard.

The last word, "beauty", is the perfect state achieved after this constant trade-off, which is the final result, that is, the final gain.

This perfect state is relative.

Not all hard work pays off in the end.

Maybe we've put all our energy, effort and passion into it and still haven't reached our goal, or even reach the starting point for a lot of people, that's fine, just like the high jump, not all the athletes who compete can reach the world record.

It is enough for everyone to jump out of himself and reach the highest goal in this life.

At least in retrospect, the small goals that have now been achieved at this stage were so unattainable.

I'm still working deep characters, having gone too far from my original starting point.

I studied hard and was always sure that I could jump higher.

Continue to work the "deep" road!