The common appearance of Tangka is the style of scroll and at the bottom, much blankness is left. This kind of Tangka is usually 75 centimeters long and 50 centimers wide; except the scroll style of Tangka, there is banner style and this kind of Tangka is 1.1 meters long and about 3.5 meters wide.
According to the material , Tangka can be divided into two classes. One is made of silk and this kind is also called  gos-thang;  The other is made of pigment which is also called bris-thang.
1. gos¡ªthang
According to the different kinds of silk, gos-thang can be divided into five class
(1). tshem-drub-ma is made of different kinds of silk weavon by hand.
(2). lhan¡ªdr¡ªub¡ªma or dras¡ªdrub¡ªma: In making this kind of Tangka, different kinds of silk first are cut into different shapes and then are connected with needle.
(3).  lhan¡ªthabs¡ªma: This kind is a little similar to the second , but in making this kind of Tangka, different shapes of silk are agglutinated by the gluewater.
(4). thag¡ªdrub¡ªma: This is a Tangka weavon by hand.
(5).dpar¡ªma. In making this kind of Tangka, moulding board is necessary and using moulding board to print the pictures into the silk.
The largest Tangka of gos¡ªthang kind is called gos-sku and because it is too big , it can not be put on . In fact, it is only used on some special religious rituals. In the potala Palace, there is a gos-sku with a length of 55.8 meters and a width of about 46.81 and this Tangka was made during the 5th Dalai Lama and the picture depicts lod-dpag-med.
2.bris¡ªthang
According to the color of the background, bris-thang can be divided into five classes.
(1). tsho-thang: The background is multicolorful.
(2). gser-thang: The background is yellow.
(3).  mtshal-thang: The background is vermilion.
(4).  dpar-thang :  The background is black.
(5).  dpar-thang:   The method making this kind of Tangka is the same as that of water printed

gos¡ªthang. The only difference is in that gos-thang is printed on the canvas while the bris-thang is painted  on the canvas.
the largest bris-thang is three meters long and two meters wide while the smallest one is about 30 centimers long and 20 centimeters wide.