Copybooks

	Penman	Price
Regular script
Huangfu Dan Preface to sacred sutra The Ministers Temple of Nun Ma Mystery Pagoda Wanan Bridge Cuan Longyan Stele Statue of Buddha by Yang Dayan Zhang Xuan stele	Ouyang Xun Chu Suiliang Zhang Xu Yan Zhenqing Liu Gongquan Cai Xiang	$ 54.05 $ 31.00 $ 34.50 $ 24.20 $ 22.00 $ 45.00 $ 44.70 $ 28.20 $ 23.50
Clerical script
Yi Ying Stele Ritual Implements Cao Quan Stele		$ 30.00 $ 26.25 $ 34.00
Cursive script
Seventeenth Thousand Characters	Wang Xizhi Zhi Yong	$ 24.00 $ 31.00
Semi-cursive script
Orchid Pavilion Two Poems Poems on Shao River	Wang Xizhi Huang Tingjian Mi Fu	$ 29.00 $ 26.00 $ 28.00
Seal script
Plate of San		$ 28.00

The training of brush writing, like any other form of art, starts from the discipline - the copybooks. Regular script used to be the first style to begin with; however, clerical script, from which regular script evolved, has been reasoned for the order since the 19th century. Cursive script is generally lined behind.

There are two methods to make copies - tracing the characters through a sized rice paper or comparing to the model while write by imitation. While the former helps in stroke placement, the latter emphasizes on brushwork. The key to success is finding stroke pattern in a particular model. It may take a beginner more than two year to have a good grip of a certain style. “A hundred days effort will not yield result,” as an ancient saying goes.