Anyone around read Chinese? Want an opinion

LOAD Cherry

Doing a drawing for the Lunar New Year and would like to know if this Hanzi looks ok. I'd rather write it by hand than copy/paste it if possible.

glennmagusharvey

That seems like cursive Chinese writing.  I'm not sure if that is normal-looking cursive, as I haven't seen enough to say, but do keep in mind that this is this character (made larger so you can see it better):

福

You can see some more typical/traditional as well as some more artistic representations of it in an image search, such as here: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=福&t=ffsb&iax=1&ia=images

If you want it to look like more formal (non-cursive) brush strokes, try using this as a model: http://shufa.supfree.net/k/118661.gif ; Note that lines that seem like they "should" be horizontal/vertical and straight are frequently stylized in normal handwriting, into what you see.  (Contrast Korean, where they stay straight.)

Here is an archaic version of it: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/福-seal.svg/300px-福-seal.svg.png .  Not commonly used.

Upside-down versions of it, such as this: http://www.templatebank.com/images/creators/preview/002_0057_L.jpg , are based on a pun.  The character means "good luck", and the word for "arrive" is a homophone of the word for "invert", so inverting this character is like saying "good luck arrives" or "may good luck arrive here".

What are you trying to use this for?

LOAD Cherry

It's definitely intended to be cursive:

I used this as a model. As for what it's for: it's for a new years pinup

Section42L

I think Lin is currently away from HH, but messaging him on Tumblr would probably be a good idea.

Sredni Vashtar

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

Crystal

Lin isn't visiting HH, yes, but he is on Tumblr frequently.

LOAD Cherry

Then I'll get in touch with him!