More Thangka images

[Fred vanderZee]

@Derek

I have posted two other pictures a few months ago. Guess you have to search my name... Keep in mind that I do not do this for a living. When I would (and I am working on that through various channels), each picture would take me about 2 months to finish. Looks like a long time but large thangka paintings with high detail done by hand can take up to 3 years to complete.

Edited in some extra note: Another reason I refer to my site is that it contains links to 96dpi-versions of my completed drawings - a higher resolution than available on talkgraphics that shows much more detail. Again, this is not an attempt to lure you to my website!

[edm3]

Wow Fred - really liking these. Thanks for the explanation. I'll have to using that interweb thingamajig to figure out the 'sor' - anyway, beautiful work!

[derek.d]

That's a long time to be doing a piece of artwork... But it's well worth it when you see the final outcome!.. Keep them coming.

[Fred vanderZee]

This are two detail images of the gold-on-red version of White Tara. Drawing with (real) gold on a red surface is a known technigue in Thangka painting. My version differs in the respect that I can draw transparent gold. And it is a lot cheaper to do

[handrawn]

Thanks for posting up the methodology Fred and the art is impressive

[gwpriester]

Thanks Fred. Maybe someday you will do this for a living.

The calligraphic quality of your line work is delicate and exquisite. Are you recreating existing images or creating images in this style based on historic renderings and paintings?

[Fred vanderZee]

@Gary
I am being trained in thangka drawing by Andy Weber, who has been drawing and teaching this stuff for over 30 years. He teaches a certain lineage: a set of historically defined proportions, colour schemes, and the drawing process I mentioned earlier in this thread. There are several official lineages and one should not mix them together. The basic grids and images he teaches were handed down to him from his teacher; he copied them from 200 years old originals.
There are some - Buddhist - requirements in a Thangka drawing: proportions of the figure, some colouring (like the body colour or the colour sequence in the crown jewels), prescribed jewelry and garments. All of what you see in a drawing has a relation to Buddhistic teachings.

The goal in this form of drawing is to match the proportions and prescribed colours as perfect as possible. Some elements are free for interpretation. E.g. there is a requirement for 6 types of jewelry, but there is no requirement on how they should look. Same goes for landscape elements.

So back to your question: the first two images were digital - handdrawn - copies of my teacher's work, when you look at the overall setup of the image. However, because I use Xara, the level of perfection in line drawing and smoothness of shading is way beyond the possibilities of a traditional craftsman, which reflects in the amount of detail in the garments and jewelry.
My current images are more my own: the landscape, plants, the animals are all my very own creation.

My challenge was (and still is) to keep the atmosphere of the traditional ways and transform it into the digital age. That means that I look at the drawings of master painters a lot and try to figure out what and how to incorporate their techniques in my own drawings. Some of the stuff I do is totally different though: the way I drew the mountains in the White Tara picture is very much 'western'. So I am still in a transforming process from old to new - going digital without losing the traditional way.

Thing is that - as far as I know - I am the only one who draws digital Thangkas the traditional way. There is an American artist who scans old images and traces and paints them, but I have never met anyone who draws from scratch. So I have to figure out a lot of stuff myself. Luckely, Xara gives m the freedom to experiment, so cudos to them.

And I haven't started yet on the spiritual, Buddhist requirements for a Thangka artist...