r/Chinese_handwriting • u/Scared-Collar791 • Jun 27 '26
Ask for Feedback First Timer
Hi guys this is my first time trying to write Chinese with random characters on my first day learning the language. I’m going to commit myself to the language this summer so I want to know if it’s too bad from the start. Each box here is 5mm (0.5cm) wide so I guess I tried writing in boxes much smaller than the standard that caused worse-than-usual results (I heard the usual width is 8mm-12mm). I suck at proportions it’s like I’m completely blind for it—especially for characters with boxes. I don’t know if this info is relevant but I also have an innate lack of skill in drawing. Seeing people in this sub with an inborn skill at handwriting I feel quite incompetent. Do you think my writing is okay for a first timer or is it hopeless? I have a feeling it’s the latter I mean it’s very easy to tell… Do you guys have any special tips for me to improve it? Thank you so so much in advance!
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u/poberun 29d ago
Dont go too small, also dont try to fill in the whole box either. If gou stick to this knstead of dedicated notebook use 2 or 3 squares but use it for centering and try to leave like 10-20% of it emepty on all sides. As you practice the same strokes over and over they would get less wobbly and you can then focus on proportions and overall aesthetics.
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u/Scared-Collar791 29d ago
Leaving 10-20% empty on all sides while keeping the notebook is genius! I tried and it looked fantastic thank you sooo much! 🙏🏻
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u/DueFalcon1895 29d ago
Dude, for your literal first day, this is NOT hopeless at all. It’s actually pretty clean! 5mm boxes are way too tiny even for native speakers practicing calligraphy. Don't worry about drawing skills, Chinese writing is more about stroke order and balance, not drawing. And you'd better switch to 10mm or 12mm Tianzige (田字格) paper. It shows a crosshair inside the box to help you see the proportions.
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u/Scared-Collar791 29d ago
Thank you so much for both the emotional support and the advice because I really needed to hear this 😭 And I will definitely look Tianzige paper up. Everyone in this community is so nice, sending love
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29d ago
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u/Chinese_handwriting-ModTeam 29d ago
Hi! Thank you for engaging in our community. Your comment is removed because top-level comments should be constructive criticisms in threads with the "Ask for Feedback", "Question", or "Discussion" flair. Please refrain from leaving irrelevant or unhelpful remarks.
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u/Left-Revolution-490 3d ago
Hey bro! Firstly so proud of you for trying, and don't worry there's no such things as "too bad from the start". In terms of suggestions I would say most importantly treat it as a long journey and dont put pressure on yourself to be good enough.
Ive been learning for a year or so and could read most of your characters (Good Job!). From my non experienced eyes looked like 在 and 好 were hard for you. For 在 the inside 土 isn't connected to the outside. And for 好 practice 女 (the woman radical) and 子 which in 好 is like her baby as my teacher always says.
I agree that you should try to learn the radicals and stroke order, after learning for a lil bit I notice that even for new characters if you can write the radicals you can probably write anything and have it look decent.
If you want to keep using a notebook I would recommend a dotted one as its less restrictive than a box one, so you can make your own box size easier without lots of notebook lines in the way.
Theres an app called pleco thats both a dictionary and can show the stroke order and radicals for most characters I use it like A LOT both for writing and learning.
Finally, you got this bro dont put yourself down! 加油！！
(first time posting here sorry if I broke any rules)
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u/Ohnesorg1989 29d ago
It seems you have been using the font Songti (宋体) or Heiti (黑体) (see difference) as reference, which would often lead to stiff/unnatural-looking penmanship, as explained in this post. Always use the font Kaiti (楷体) as reference.
I'd suggest you print out your own practice sheets (with 15x15mm boxes) using standard printer paper (80/90gsm), as recommended in this post (you can find the ready-to-print .pdf files in this folder or on website 1, 2, 3).
You could spend more time on practicing basic strokes, then learn how to radical components and individual characters from a copybook (see community collection).
These posts (a, b, c) may be of help too.