勾描刻印畫吉祥

勾描刻印畫吉祥

An Art of Auspiciousness

There is a catchy formula for a New Year picture creation: “Drama within a painting is always intriguing, auspicious words are always enchanting, and aesthetic fi gures are always seductive.” Drawing is just the fi rst step to the woodblock New Year picture creation. The entire process also involves the primary steps of engraving and printing, and each step is considered a craft in and of itself.

Text by Zhang Meng Photos by Wang Yuanchang Translation by Sonia

Step 1DRAWING 畫

Draft drawing is the fi rst step when woodblock New Year picture creation. This step involves drawing creation, tracing, and color separation. After selecting a good theme and determining the content, the idea is then drafted on paper. After the draft is formulated, numerous revisions are required to establish the fi nal draft and start the tracing process. The outlines of the painting are then properly traced, and the color fi lling plates are drawn. One color fi lling plate must be drawn for each different color of the original painting. To facilitate the engraving work, the outlines of the draft must be clearly distinguishable. The lines must also be smooth, straightforward, clear detailed, concise, and straightforward.

畫稿分為創稿、勾稿、分版稿三步。首先選好題材、確定內容，然后在紙上構思起稿。完整的線條勾勒好后，就要根據原作品上不同的顏色分別繪制出不同的填色版稿，有多少種顏色就要分別繪制出多少張填色版稿。

創作年畫畫稿有一個朗朗上口的口訣 ：“畫中要有戲，百看才不膩；出口要吉利，才能合人意；人品要俊秀，能得人歡喜。”畫稿只是木版年畫制作的第一步，還須經刻版和印刷等主要工序，且每道工藝都有自己的講究。

Step 2ENGRAVING 刻

Engraving starts after the draft has been completed. The wooden frame is fi rst sawn into the appropriate specifi cation according to the size of the painting frame layout, and the thickness must be strong enough to withstand the work. No matter the type of wood, the frame must be shaved fl at, cleaned, and then polished using water sandpaper. The next step, draft positioning, is critical and can determine the life of the painting. The artist fi rst places the outline draft fi rmly and steadily onto the wooden frame to determine the position, uses a pencil to mark the four corners, remove the draft, apply a thin and even coat of glue onto the frame, and next comes the crucial step – quickly affi x the draft onto the frame based on the position marks. The artist then holds the draft with the left hand and uses a small brown brush to lightly and evenly brush from the center outwards in all directions until the draft is smoothly affi xed onto the frame without any bumps or folds.

The quality of the New Year picture is closely related to the engraving process. Good engraving can signifi cantly enhance the charm of the New Year picture, especially the line expressions for the faces and hands of the fi gures in the painting. So artists must stay very careful and focused once the engraving process has started.

年畫質量的好壞，與刻版工序有著很大的關系，好的刻工能使年畫增色不少，尤其是人物面部和手的線條，形態神情多由此出。故藝人們一旦開始進行雕刻就會非常慎重。

Step 3PRINTING 印

After the artist has prepared the picture outline and color process drafts, the next step is to affi x and press hundreds of sheets of white papers onto the printing project. The artist would place the drafts on the edges of the paper, used the hand to fl ip the paper, and glue each paper fi lled with color onto the New Year picture frame. Finally, the artist uses the left hand to hold the paper and the right hand to fl atten the paper onto the frame using a brown brush. After all of the papers for one color have been affi xed, change to another color and repeat this process until printing is completed for all of the colors.

年畫匠人將年畫的墨線和套色版準備齊后，開始將數百張白紙壓在刷印畫案的固定位置，再把畫版仰放在紙的邊緣處，然后用手翻紙，以此將一張張紙覆在涂勻顏料的畫版上。最后，用左手按住，右手用棕刷平刷畫版上的紙背，等到所有紙全部刷完后，再換另一塊顏色版重復以上步驟，直到刷完全部畫版。

PRINTING TOOLS版畫工具

Wooden frames:

板片：

Fine grain, uniform, smooth, degummed, dry, and non-cracking wooden panels made out of pearwood, ashtree wood, etc., are generally selected for New Year picture frames.

年畫的木版雕刻板片一般選用木紋細密，木質勻凈、板面光潔、脫膠、干透無裂的木材。經常采用的有梨木、水曲柳等。

Engraving tools:

刻具：

Engraving tools mainly comprise of chisel knives. Fist and oblique knives are the common tools used to engrave the main patterns. These knives must be thin and sharp, and sharpened on both edges. Auxiliary tools include round knife, triangle knife, flat knives of all sizes, curved chisel, flat chisel, chisel pin, and cutting chisel; and these knife tools are mostly made by the artists themselves.

刻版工具以刀鑿為主，拳刀、斜口刀是雕刻主紋樣常用的刀具，其刀要求兩面磨刀，薄而鋒利，輔助工具如圓刀、三角刀、大小平刀、彎鑿、扁鑿、鑿針、鑿扦等等，這些刀具大都由藝人自制。

Color pigments:

顏料：

The inks used for the outlines are made and mixed by the artists themselves, and deckleedge or rice papers are generally adopted for printing. There is a sequential order to color printing, and the ink outline generally starts first.

Water-based plant and mineral pigments were used during the early days, but the traditional Chinese painting color pigments are mostly used today.

印墨線使用的墨汁均為藝人自己調制。印刷用紙多選用毛邊紙和宣紙。刷印色彩有先有后，一般先印墨線。套色使用的顏料早期以水性植物顏料和石性礦物顏料為主，今日多用國畫顏料。