How to Choose the Right Chinese Calligraphy Brush Size for Your Writing
Chinese calligraphy brushes come in many different sizes, which can be confusing for beginners. You might wonder: How do I know what size characters this brush is best for? Or, if I want to write characters of a specific size, what brush should I choose?
Today, Qi Ming will explain how to distinguish brush sizes and how to select the right brush based on your character size needs.
Learning from Experience
Qi Ming once made the mistake of not matching brush size to character size, which resulted in poor artwork. I used a medium-sized brush to write a four-character piece on four-foot Xuan paper. (For information about Xuan paper sizes, you can refer to this article: How to Fold Xuan Paper for Chinese Calligraphy: Complete Size Guide and Folding Methods, which covers various Xuan paper dimensions.) The result was quite unsatisfactory.
Over time, I learned that you should choose your brush size based on your artwork’s requirements. Here’s what I’ve discovered about matching brush sizes to character sizes.
Understanding Brush Size Categories
Using regular script (kaishu) as an example, brushes can be categorized by size and purpose into several types:
- Small regular script brushes
- Medium regular script brushes
- Large regular script brushes
- Couplet and plaque inscription brushes
The key measurements for brush size are the tip length (feng chang) and tip diameter (feng jing).
Tip length and tip diameter are the key indicators for measuring brush size
1. Small Chinese Calligraphy Brushes
Small regular script brushes typically have a tip length of about 1.8cm and a tip diameter of about 0.5cm. These are perfect for writing small characters about the size of a coin (typically 1-2cm characters work best).
You could use these brushes for larger characters (4-5cm), but this can damage the brush and make it difficult to restore its original shape, affecting future use.
Remember this important principle about brush care: “Large brushes can write small characters, but small brushes shouldn’t be used for large characters.”
Qi Ming Wen Fang’s Qingsu small regular script brush
Characters written with small regular script brushes are shown in the image above
2. Medium Chinese Calligraphy Brushes
The three brushes shown in the image below (Qi Ming Wen Fang Qingyue series) have tip lengths under 5cm and tip diameters under 1cm. These brushes are typically used for medium-sized characters.
They work perfectly with the commonly seen grid paper (usually 9cm-12cm squares). This size is ideal for beginners.
The large Qingyue brush is what Master Huang Jian calls a “screen brush” in his online teaching videos. (Master Huang Jian is a member of the Chinese Calligraphers Association and Chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese Calligraphers Association. Qi Ming agrees with Master Huang’s terminology.)
For practicing the regular script styles of Yan, Liu, Ou, and Zhao masters, we recommend using medium-sized brushes like these. These famous calligraphers likely used brushes of similar size, or perhaps slightly smaller ones.
The brushes above can write characters approximately the size shown in the image below
The grid squares in this image are approximately 9cm × 9cm
3. Large Chinese Calligraphy Brushes
Brushes like Qi Ming Wen Fang’s Qingren series have tip lengths around 5cm and tip diameters of 1cm or larger. These qualify as large brushes and are suitable for writing couplets. (The medium Qingren brush is what Master Huang Jian refers to as a “couplet brush.”)
Large calligraphy brushes
For writing couplets, we recommend using brushes with approximately 5cm tip length
4. Plaque and Banner Writing Brushes
These brushes are designed for writing plaques and are often called “dou bi” (battle brushes) because of their large brush holders. They’re also excellent for writing large couplets or New Year “Fu” characters.
With a tip length of 6.7cm and tip diameter of 1.8cm, these brushes can handle both couplet writing and plaque inscription with ease.
Qi Ming Wen Fang’s Qingyin battle brush
Plaques require large battle brushes for writing
Forbidden City plaque
Conclusion
These guidelines should help you choose the right brush size for your Chinese calligraphy projects. All brush images shown are from my Taobao store: Qi Ming Wen Fang. We also have an Amazon store – you can search for “Qi Ming Wen Fang” if you’re interested.
For more detailed information about brush sizes, you can also refer to “How Are Large, Medium, and Small Regular Scripts Divided? What Size Brushes Do They Correspond To?”
If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share it with other calligraphy enthusiasts.
