The first stroke you might learn would be the BAMBOO STROKE.
There are two parts to the bamboo stroke: the leaf and the stalk.
THE LEAF
The leaf is done by putting your brush lightly down, then run it along, pressing harder as you go. When you press harder it makes the line that is being made get thicker and when you press lighter it gets thinner. When you have it as big or as long as you want, you start lightening up and end with a small flick of the brush. To put a stem on the leaf you put your brush down and press, then lighten up and drag it along till it reaches your leaf's end.
THE BAMBOO STALK
To make the bamboo stalk, you put your brush on the paper and press , then lighten up and when you get it as tall as you want the section to be you make another press. When you paint a stalk you start at the bottom of your paper and work your way up.
You put more than one of these going up, until you get the stalk as tall as you want the bamboo to be.
What I thought about this type of art!!
When I watched Mr. Wu from the UofM Museum of Art, it looked very easy but when I tried to paint a bamboo leaf it was very hard and it took me a long time to get it how I liked it. When I tried to paint a stalk it took even longer.
These are some of the things that made it so hard!
When you paint this type of art you hold the brush in a different type of way (not like a pencil). You hold it so it is vertical with your body, this made it hard to get the motion that you want. Getting the correct shading of ink is also difficult.
IT'S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS!!!