I am experimenting with an online seal generator, the text I have entered is 一千五百 and I have noticed that the characters go first from top right to bottom right, then from bottom left to top left. Is this correct?
The general principle is from top to bottom, from right to left, but the format can be very flexible. For a four-character seal, there are 6 ways to arrange the characters (see picture). Seal calligraphers normally pick the arrangement that is most aesthetically pleasing, depending on how the character is written & number of strokes per character, etc. The only exception I'm aware of is for 4-character seal, the 2nd format in the picture breaks the right-left rule but that particular one has a particular name called 回文布排 ie "anti-clockwise" that is for 4-character seal only.
picture taken from http://www.shufazidian.com/shuji/article.php?acid=21&arid=41
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Of course this is good, and @Stan has already linked to this page. I am still puzzled if the clockwise pattern used by the site in the description can be considered valid or not. – Drunken Master Aug 18 '15 at 10:21
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What about a 3 character seal? Some ten years ago I made myself a seal for my "chosen chinese name" Zhou Luyi: imgur.com/74lsQi6 Is it right? I made it most for fun and to stamp on some practice shufa sheets. – Luiz Borges Sep 25 '15 at 14:56
This is correct. It is called 竖排.
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1I know what 竖排 is, the proper question is if it is possible to write first from top to bottom, and then from bottom to top. – Drunken Master Jul 12 '15 at 7:35
章法
. You can go counterclockwise, but not clockwise, for rectangular stamps with 4 characters. – Stan Jul 10 '15 at 7:45