There were some styles influence Tibet painting, the strongest came from India. Paintings usually followed stereotyped forms with a central Buddhist deity surrounded by smaller, lesser deities. Poised above the central figure was often a supreme buddha figure of which the one below it was an emanation. Later came depictions of revered tibetan lamas or Indian spirituals teachers, often surrounded by incidents from the lamsa's life or lineage lines.

Around the 15th century, Chinese influence began to manifest itsefl more frequently in Tibetan painting. The freer approach of Chinese landscape painting allowed some Tibetan artistes to break free from some of the more formalised aspects of Tibetan religious art and employ landscape as a decorative motif in the context of a painting that celebrated a particular religious figure. this is not to say that Chinese art initiated a new movement in tibetan art.