Particular attention is paid to the colours used in painting a Thangka. There are principal colours, which are white, yellow, red, blue and green, and secondary colours, which are mixtures of the five principal colours. The mineral colours, such as mineral yellow and realgar, come from the Kangba area, and mineral blue and azurite, from Nyemo Country and Gyarong area. After separation and processing, they yield different colours, such as pale blue, marine blue, deep blue, azure, pale green, powder green, dark green and kingfisher green. Different colours convey different meanings in Thangka.

特别注重唐卡绘画中使用的颜色。有主要颜色，包括白色、黄色、红色、蓝色和绿色，以及次要颜色，即五种主要颜色的混合物。矿物颜料，如矿物黄和雄黄，来自康巴地区；矿物蓝和石青，来自聂莫县和嘉绒地区。经过分离和加工后，这些矿物颜料可以产生不同的颜色，如浅蓝色、海蓝色、深蓝色、天蓝色、浅绿色、粉绿色、深绿色和翠绿色。在唐卡中，不同的颜色传达不同的意义。

For example, white stands for tranquility, kindness and goodness; red and dark blue for ferocity and belligerency; golden colour for holiness. As these colours are scientifically prepared, the Thangka pictures painted in such colours several hundred years ago are still brilliant today. Since such colours are not readily available today, some of the colours for painting Thangka at present are replaced with colours used in traditional Chinese paintings.

例如，白色代表宁静、善良和美好；红色和深蓝色代表凶猛和好战；金色代表神圣。由于这些颜色是科学配制的，几百年前用这些颜色绘制的唐卡至今仍然鲜艳。由于如今这些颜色不易获得，现在绘制唐卡时，一些颜色被传统中国画的颜色所替代。