Welcome to Thangka.ws, site dedicated to Tibetan Thang Ka.

Tibetan Thank is generally 60 cm in width and 90 cm in length. The center of the frame contains a big Buddha, which is surrounded by stories depicted in a clockwise fashion around the Buddha, which serves as a focal point for each of the stories.

Because the Buddha is always situated in the center of the painting, the space surrounding it varies. The areas closest to the Buddha outline can be irregular and requires care when determining the composition of each story according to the nearby area. Tibetan artists are very skilled in dealing with this problem. Each story frame is arranged properly maximizing the surrounding space while not seeming forced or stiff. The transition from one frame to the next is natural and complementary.

Unlike modern-day comic books, Tibetan Thank lack detailed text descriptions. Each story frame contains only a simple title as a guide while the frame itself tells the story visually. Therefore, even though the frames may be arranged as a comic book, the lack of textual description distinguishes it as having more subtlety. This lack of clarity requires the reader to possess some background knowledge in order to be able enjoy and appreciate the stories to their fullest.

In differentiating various compositions, Thank cleverly utilizes the temple, the palace, buildings, rocks, clouds, trees, or else sharply contrasting colors to distinguish and connect the elements. Such clarity remains obvious even though the composition of each story frame varies. In many cases, these features are also used as the background environment for characters in the story, and so form their own pieces of a distinctive landscapes. Through such means, the painting seemingly expands and achieves a visual, multiplier effect through the rich and diverse compositions. This is a unique aspect of Tibetan Thank paintings.

Within each composition, the stages of a story are placed side by side as a continuous process not only to indicate the role of each character but also the plot development. This artistic style can often be encountered in Tibetan Thank paintings.

¡°Seeing the forest for the tree¡± is another distinguishing feature of the art of Tibetan Thank. At first glance, the Buddha appears the most prominent as it takes up more than half of the painting area and is situated in the center. However, if one shifts attention to the stories, then it isn¡¯t difficult to become enraptured by the magnificence of the scenes, vivid characters and harmonious colors and free-flowing forms, despite the relatively smaller sizes of the characters. At that time, the presence of the Buddha can be felt yet unseen.

The contents of the Thank paintings range widely. They include religious activities and characters from Tibetan Buddhism and story scenes while also depict the traditions and many sights of the high plateaus. To reflect such voluminous content in a scroll painting requires extraordinary skills and rich life experiences. In particular, the stories are portrayed according to history without conceptualization. The Thank artists paid the utmost attention to detail for every single aspect in the painting from the architecture of popular customs down to the weaponry and armor. Such careful composition demonstrates the artists¡¯ creative skills in realistically depicting life.

In addition to composition and the artistic treatment of these characteristics, methods such as in-shading, hook lines, paint smudging are also strengths. Generally iridescent greens are used for rocks, trees, sky and the ground. People, buildings and large areas of the Buddha are created with warm tones of yellow and red. This color contrast of warm and cool color tones not only splendidly demonstrates well coordination within the picture but also a structured yet decorative coloring effect. Artists mainly use opaque mineral pigments for coloring, such as cinnabar, stone yellow and malachite green. These pigments are enhanced for anti-corrosion ensuring the longevity of the colors. Therefore, despite the passing of time, the colors remain as fresh as ever a further testament to the artist¡¯s consideration.

The Tibetan artists not only pay attention to the overall effect of the picture but also focus on the detailed portrayal of each image. For instance within each frame, the natural objects such as rocks and plants and the characters are blended using the same coloring scheme with different shades creating a layering effect.

Line drawing is the basic means of traditional Tibetan painting and had once reached a high level of development. In most cases, Thank uses gold threading to outline the figures and scenery through varying the line thickness, thereby drawing focus to every part of the picture. The artists are very good at using gold, and often use pink gold as the bottom layer, and then use gold to outline patterns, so as to increase the layering effect of gold shine. They have very strict quality requirements for gold, using only the purest gold personally processed to powder. In order to increase the brightness of some outline in gold, they use what is called the "cat's eye stone¡±, repeatedly rubbing onto the surface where gold is applied. As a result, the entire picture appears rich in cultural style and can be used as an elegant decoration.