Tibetannet

Thangka is a scroll painting created in Tibetan script on bright satin and hung as an offering on a religious scroll. Thangka is a unique type of art in Tibetan culture, the subject matter of which includes Tibetan history, politics, culture, and societal life. It can be said that it is a sort of encyclopedia of the Tibetan culture, as well as a precious intangible cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

The production of Thangka is a complicated process that necessitates a great attention to detail. It must be done in accordance with the teachings of the sutras, including the ritual that starts before the painting even begins—the manufacturing of the canvas, the drafts, and application of color, the finalization of the designs, the addition of gold and silver, the opening, the stitching, hanging, and the blessing of the work. Every step must be performed with the utmost care. If even one stroke is incorrect, all one's efforts will be wasted.

When drafting the brightly colored Thangka, two kinds of coloring are used. The first is conventional Chinese art paint, which fades over long periods of time. The second is mineral paint, which does not fade.

Commonly used paint colors are black, red, white, blue, and rouge.

The paint used is all natural ore derived from gold, pearl, coral, colored glaze, lapis lazuli, and so on.

In Tibetan culture, gold and silver jewelry is an extremely important adornment.

Carbon brushes are used to design the Thangka, with big, medium-sized, and especially small writing brushes accompanied by paint cases and an easel.

Thangka brush pots

The first thing that must be done in order to create a Thangka is to select a piece of flat, smooth, and thick white cotton cloth. The canvas must not be dirty, and must not be holed or perforated. The canvas should also be long and wide, with proportions suitable to the size of the cloth. Either side of the canvas can be used, but there must not be a crease or fold on the surface, or else this will potentially affect the design. When sewn together, the thread lines need to be even and pleasing to the eye.

Making the first draft

Step two of Thangka production, coloring, is also very particular. Generally the sky and the earth are painted first, followed by clothes, skin, mist, flora, ripples, pavilions, promenades, and other things. When painting, one must be very careful not to make a mistake or to mix the colors together. The brush should move from left to right.

When producing a Thangka, there are many small details one must mind. Many of the elements of the painting process require very careful attention, and some require the use of a very fine brush. Thus, many brushes used are made of very fine weasel bristle.

Once the background has been completed, the remaining features must again be depicted in the correct order, including water, rocks, hills, clouds, and other scenery features must be painted in corresponding colors. A color can only be used once, starting with the lightest and then moving to the darker ones.

After the coloring is completed, the last step is creating threading outlines. There are five main types, all unique to Tibetan painting styles. Once final touch-ups have been made to the colors, the thread tracing is done with soft and flowing movements. Once this process is completed, a perfect Thangka is created.