Though Chinese painting has much in common with western painting from an aesthetic point of view, it still possesses its unique character. Chinese painting has absorbed the best of many forms of art, like poetry, calligraphy, and seal engraving. Chinese artists employ writing brushes to work on Chinese paintings and calligraphy.. From that time to the present, there are five major styles of calligraphy:

Learn how to paint a range of popular subjects using Traditional & Contemporary Chinese Brush Painting techniques. Projects gradually increase in difficulty, and feature such subjects as swallows, bamboo, wild orchids, plum blossoms, pandas, horses, peonies and more.

Study paintings by Chinese artists before and during the course of your painting experience. Study the way they capture scenery, the way they make you feel and the particular brush strokes that make up the whole.

Learn to mix the ink stick and stone and how to incorporate color on your palette. Mix your black ink block with the ink stick by pouring a half teaspoon of clean water into the round depression in the ink block. Lightly grind the ink stick to create a smooth black liquid. Press small pea size dabs of your Chinese watercolors onto your palette and mix these with the black ink as necessary to make darker hues. Mix with more water for lighter colors.

Practice the brush strokes with a stiff-hair brush. Practice traditional line strokes, dot and long dot strokes, curve strokes, side strokes, blended strokes and press-and-lift strokes. All strokes should be simple and fluid. These are useful in any Chinese painting you will compose.

Arrange the objects on the page in a manner that uses space effectively. When you look at it, you should not get the impression that something is out of balance. First sketching in pencil what you will paint can help you to know where things should be placed.