The Charm Of Line-drawing

The illustrations in the Ming-Qing Drama Editions with extensive contentand rich information, embodies a high artistic level and value. As vehicle ofcultures and arts, the illustrations enriches not only the cultural connotation ofthe Ming-Qing Editions, moreover the artistic content of drama studies. Theillustrations display in the form of line drawing in the text, whose aestheticcharacteristics---“the lightest generates the most bright-colored flowers”makes it indispensable in the drama texts studies. These drama illustrationartworks, by the means of line sculpting, are vivid and lively, still exude adazzling art light up to now.This paper starts with the line drawing art in the illustrations in theMing-Qing Drama Editions, those illustrations in Ming and Qing dynasty inthe areas as Jianyang, Jinling, Huizhou, Wulin are taken as subjects toexplore the styles and influences of the illustrations, to tease apart theinheritance and development of the line drawing techniques in theillustrations, to discuss and explain the aspects such as the manifestations andbasic characteristics of the line drawing art, the functions and value researchesin the illustrations. On this basis, the arts of the illustrations are summarizedand interpreted theoretically. The diversity, moreover, the deep connotation ofthe line drawing features are explored to reveal the importance of line drawing arts in the illustrations. In short, the artistic features of theillustrations lie in its line drawing techniques, which achieve the illustrationsto an artistic realm with colorless beauty.