省
Symbols Mind
reflection
ㄕㄥˇ shěng
Two versions of the same picture, and both are free with no account and no watermark. The first has no background at all, which is the one to send your artist — but a phone or computer photo viewer set to dark will show black strokes on dark grey and it can look like nothing downloaded. If that happens, use the second one: identical characters on a plain white background. Either way you get the characters on their own — the square and the faint guide lines you see above are not in the file. Each character is 1000px, so a two-character download is 2000×1000, and the script and layout are the ones you picked.
Script
Characters
Same in both
Layout
Rubbing mode: white on black, as a stone rubbing. The download is unaffected.
Looking back at your own conduct. Chinese has a precise character for it, and it means self-examination rather than idle musing.
Before you commit
Choose with care省 has two readings. As sheng it means a province or to economise; only as xing does it mean self-examination, and the glyph gives no clue which.
At small sizesNine strokes, few above eye. Compact and clear, and it handles small sizes better than most in this group.
Cultural note反省 in Taiwanese schools and workplaces means being made to account for a mistake. It is a corrective word, not a contemplative one.
Meaning
To examine oneself; to become aware of one's own faults.
From the Analects habit of checking your own conduct daily.
Other characters for “reflection”
What to do next
Pick the script and layout you want above, download the PNG, and send that file to your artist. Ask them to work from the file rather than redrawing the character freehand — that is where strokes go missing.
Related concepts