There's a book called
Learn to Write Chinese Characters by Johan Björkstén that can be helpful; for example, you can start following these tips given in the
PDF sample:
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Having looked at the history and aesthetics of characters, it is high time to start writing. Let's begin by discussing how to practice and then talk about how to form characters that are pleasing to the eye.
The Tools of Writing
The Pen
Use a fountain pen with a round tip. The special pens for calligraphy that are available in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere usually have flat tips and are therefore not suitable for writing Chinese characters. The best pens are the ones whose shaft covers nearly the entire tip, giving it firm support (fig. 17). This is the kind of fountain pen most common in China, and you should be able to find one in a good stationery store in your neighborhood as well.
The Ink
Chinese carbon ink (
tànsù mòshuǐ) is the ideal choice if you can find it. Shanghai brand is the best. The ink is a deeper black than most inks used outside China, in keeping with the Chinese calligraphic tradition of "black characters on white paper." The high contrast makes it easy to spot errors. Also, it is almost waterproof after it dries. If you cannot find carbon ink, use any black ink.
The Paper
The paper should be crosshatched or marked off in squares, with each square big enough to contain a whole character. Squares makes it easier for the beginner to produce characters of uniform size. The paper should be glossy enough that the ink dries with sharp edges and does not run. Never put the paper directly on a hard table when writing-satisfactory strokes are extremely difficult to produce. Instead, put fifteen to twenty layers of soft paper (ideally the tissuelike paper used for wiping camera lenses) under the sheet you are writing on.
How to Practice
The first thing to do with any new character is to carefully memorize the stroke order. Simple rules govern the order in which the strokes that make up a character must be written. We will wait a little before learning these rules, for they require that we know the basic strokes. Still, it is very important to write with the correct stroke order, so pay careful attention to the order in what follows.
The tried and true method for practicing writing is to copy the characters of an accomplished calligrapher. While you are unsure of your technique, you may want to put a thin, transparent sheet of paper over the characters you are copying and trace them with your pen. Once you understand the rudiments, you should copy by first examining the model and then writing your character in exactly the same way. You should
not look at one stroke at a time, write it, consider the next stroke, write it, and so on. Instead, you should look at the
whole character, analyze its structure, turn your head away, and not look at the model character again until you have written all the strokes. When you have completed your character, you should compare it with the model, find out what mistakes you made, and try again. This is the only way to fix the picture of the character firmly in your mind and make rapid progress.
The principle behind this method of practicing has its roots deep in the Chinese aesthetic tradition. Chinese artists are expected to see the whole painting with their inner eye before beginning to work; then they simply paint what they see. This approach is called
having a bamboo completed in your chest. Chinese watercolors and calligraphic works are often executed in a very short time-the creative work is done before the artist touches the brush.
It is taboo to go back and alter a character while writing. If a stroke fails, begin the whole character over again.
Practice only three or four different characters a day, at least to begin with. Otherwise, you do not have time to learn them thoroughly enough, and you grow too tired to analyze what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. You learn the characters in a sloppy way and do not really improve your writing.
Write each character at least a hundred times.
Save everything you write and date the papers. Just as with all learning, there will be times when you do not feel as though you are making any progress. It can be heartening to look at the characters that you wrote a month or two earlier. You will be surprised at the difference.
Sit correctly at a desk or table that is not too high. You should be able to rest your arms comfortably on the tabletop. Put the paper straight in front of you and do not slant it too much. Many learners slant the paper and bend over when writing. Don't do either when you write in Chinese. Hold the pen between thumb and forefinger, letting it rest gently on your curved middle finger (fig. 17). The tip of the pen should point forward on the paper and should form a forty-five-degree angle with it. Sit back in the chair so the chairback supports your lower back as much as possible. Be as upright as possible without tensing your back and shoulders. (You should sit this way when writing in English as well.)
Try to practice on a daily basis. It is much better to practice for fifteen minutes every day than not to practice for a while and then suddenly sit for hours on end at the writing table.
At the end of this book there are models for a hundred or so of the most common characters. Later you may choose models that you think look good. Copying characters written with a brush is fine, but you must catch the spirit of the characters rather than copying them directly, for a fountain pen can never reproduce the thick strokes of a writing brush.
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Then the book continues with many examples and exercises and so on.
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