The basic elements of ink painting include simplicity, symbolism, and naturalness. Taking the brushwork as the dominant technique, fully utilizing the functions of ink painting. "Ink is color" refers to the change in intensity of ink, which is the hierarchical change of color. "Ink is divided into five colors" refers to the use of multi-level ink chromaticity to replace the colorful colors.
The "ink wash painting" composed of Chinese specially made smoke and ink has become a unique type of Chinese painting. Ink can be divided into five levels: ink, light ink, thick ink, extremely light ink, and burnt ink, namely burnt ink (original ink), thick ink, heavy ink, light ink, and clear ink.
Ink is a cold color, and a painting composed of five inks should have a cold feeling, and its tone should be gray and dark. However, good painting is good at using white ground (blank space) to contrast and harmonize with the cold colors of black, thus giving people a warm feeling between cold and hot. Moreover, good smoke ink is not dark ink. Those who are smooth and reflect strong light are called bright objects, and the black luster of good ink is like paint, which is called bright black, so it does not give people a dull feeling.