Chinese Typographic design the stroke problem ... and solution?

Chinese Typographic Design
the Stroke Problem ...
is also the solution.

I've been reading a few recent blogs on chinese typography and thinking about the problems of designing and using a font for such a large character set.

SVG filters may be a solution of short sections of text and titles but ... did I just type SVG?

Calligraphy texts claim most chinese characters can be reduced to variants of 6 - 8 basic strokes.

You may have seen a diagram based on the YUNG character used to illustrate that claim?

Now what if Chinese text entry used a SVG based method of moving and joining a limited set of basic strokes into simple and  complicated characters. 

a Point click and drag with the  mouse or a finger or stylus method that could work on tablets phones or other computers?

Could Scaleable Vector Graphics be the answer?

More about Yung and the Strokes that made up the character.

Here they are. The Dot. The Horizontal. The Vertical. The Hook.

      The Four Main Variants on the Slanting or Oblique Stroke.

      I'm not going to do an extended commentary as nearly every book on
      Chinese Calligraphy shows variations of this or similar diagrams.

      Use this or any other diagrams you come across in books or on the web
      as reminders and then copy practise and copy and practise some more!



Oh and if you live in a city large enuff to have a suburb that specializes in Asian stores you may be able to find calligraphy manuals that show the characters superimposed on a grid that you can study!

(No I didn't just mispell enuff ...I just see no point in spelling enuff as enough unless I'm writing VERY formal English and this is not a thesis!)

About the Amazon Associates Contextual Ads. I have tried to add books I can recommend because I either own them or have used them myself as library reference books or they have a very good reputation.

Remember Copy and Practise!

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An "Eternal" Introduction

Before I can discuss Hanzi in any form traditional or modern let's review the basics.

The character Yung / Yong / Ei and other names means "eternal" and more literally in seal script endless flowing waters. By happy accident its modern form incorporates most of the basic strokes used for writing zi!

There's the dot (1) and (2) is a shorter form of the essential horizontal stroke that also means ONE.

In forming this character a change of direction and a twist of the brush extends it into (3) the stick or vertical stroke and then (7) the hook . (4) and (5) along with (8) and (6) combine  variants of the diagonal .

There are also more variants of the dot and slash I'll share with you soon.

Meanwhile whether you're trying to write Characters with a felt tip pen a heavy biro or pen and ink or a brush and ink or brush tip marker look at those arrows in the diagram and follow them as you copy it!

Next time more on YUNG!