Tian You

Tian You, style name: Donglai, is from Tianjin. Influenced by his family's academic tradition, he learned calligraphy at an early age, drawing inspiration from the "Jin style". Later, he extensively studied the works of calligraphers from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and now specializes in seal script. He has a particular fondness for "tie xian xiao zhuan" (Iron Line Seal Script). As the name suggests, it requires strokes that are as strong as iron and as fine as threads. He has studied and inherited the spirit and bones of the "Si Zhuan" (the seal script of Qin Shi Huang's chancellor Li Si), and now has independently researched a unique style of "tie xian xiao zhuan". His work not only penetrates the paper with strength, but also maintains the beauty of curves. He balances the radicals of characters into forms close to modern characters. The combination of roundness and vigor makes the visual effect both elegant and refined, yet solemn. This transforms the art of writing into a form that modern people can understand, accept, recognize, and appreciate. When writing large-character seal script, I use a board brush style, but the brush I use is not a specially made brush or a board brush, but rather a common mixed-hair or pure lamb's hair brush.