Page 49 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Four
Sketching and the Theory of Iconometry

Returning now to the artist at work, let us see how he powder bag (thig rkyat). This bag was commonly made
actually imparted his design to the prepared thangka of leather but was sometimes sewn from cloth; the
ground. This job involved several steps, the first of marking powder it contained was usually ochre or a
which was to lay down the main lines of orientation. mixture of ochre and charcoal. Moving the bag up and
Most important was the central vertical axis, for this down the string loaded the string with the coloured
would be the exact center of the painting around which powder. By positioning and snapping the loaded string
the artist would plan the rest of the composition. As the artist could establish a line wherever he wished.
already mentioned, the vertical axis usually marked the Lines thus established with dry powder and string were
center of the main figure, and it was in relation to this called "dry lines" (skarn thig), as opposed to "wet lines"
line that all the other figures were also positioned. The (rLon thig) that were laid down with a wet marking
correct establishment of the vertical and horizontal axes string. Wet lines were used mainly in the painting of
was also important from a religious point of view. murals, and they had no application in thangka painting.
Thangkas being an expression of religious ideals through The marking line of Legdrup Gyatsho possessed not
art, their figures - the ideal bodily forms of enlightened only a powder bag but also a pencil-sized stick that was
beings - had to be perfectly oriented in relation to the tied to the end of the string. When using a chalk line
central axis. Indeed, correctness at this point was crucial with a stick an artist needed only two hands to hold the
since a mistake here would affect the accuracy, and string in place and snap it. (Otherwise he needed the
hence the religious value, of the subsequent work. 1 help of an assistant, or simply plucked the string with his
lips. Wangdrak and others did the latter when working
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alone. ) The string had to be fastened securely to the
very end of the stick, so the artist carved a notch in the
end of the stick and also a groove around the circum-
ference of the stick near its end. To fasten the string to
The Eight Major Lines of Orientation
the stick he pulled the string through the notched end,
and then wrapped and tied it around the shaft within
Thus before beginning the sketch the immediate task
the groove that had been carved to receive it.
was to determine a true vertical axis. This was followed
by the establishment of a horizontal line perpendicular
to it, and four outer lines for defining the edges of the
rectangular painting area. Hence at this stage the artist
drew a total of eight major lines: two diagonals, the
vertical, the horizontal and the four outer borders.
To preserve their clean, freshly prepared ground a
few artists established these lines on the back of the
canvas. Later, when they began to sketch figures on the
front, they could hold the canvas up to a source of light
and the main horizontal and vertical lines would show
through.

Diagonals

The first two of the eight "major lines" were the
diagonals - lines drawn from one corner of the canvas
to its diagonal opposite. These two lines enabled the
establishment of the vertical and horizontal, and thus
had to precede them. To lay down these lines the artist
only needed a chalk line or "marking string" (thig rkud).
A simple and serviceable chalk line could be devised by
rubbing a length of string with a little pigment powder
between the palms of the hands. The chalk line of most
artists, however, was a string that passed through a Chalk line and leather powder bag.

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