釋
Symbols Emotions
release
ㄕˋ shì
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.
Letting go — of a grip, a burden, or a person.
Before you commit
Choose with care釋 also stands for the Buddha in 釋迦 and for to explain in 解釋. Alone it can read as a religious surname rather than release.
Pairs well with放 + 下 is the phrase people actually use for letting go, and 捨得 names the willingness to give something up.
At small sizes20 strokes, tightly packed on the right. It fills in quickly, so it needs size.
Meaning
To release, to let go, to dispel.
The formal character, used of both prisoners and feelings.
Other characters for “release”
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