念
Symbols Memory
remembrance
ㄋㄧㄢˋ niàn
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.
Holding someone in mind after they have gone. Chinese leans on one warm, wide character for this.
Before you commit
Choose with care念 covers a wide range: missing someone, a passing thought, and chanting scripture. It is warm, but not specifically about the dead.
Pairs well with懷念 for missing someone, 紀念 for formal commemoration. They are not interchangeable - the first is private, the second public.
At small sizesEight strokes, a heart under a lid. Simple and stable at small sizes and on curves.
Meaning
To think of, to miss, to hold in mind; a thought.
Present tense - the person is still being thought about.
Other characters for “remembrance”
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