The creation of Buddhist tradition illustration by studying the thai mural painting

Abstract

Thai traditional painting constitutes a highly distinctive visual tradition that is clearly differentiated from the artistic practices of other cultures. While it has historically absorbed influences from external cultural sources, Thai painting has evolved through sustained processes of transformation, adaptation, reduction, and synthesis, resulting in a coherent visual language that articulates the cultural identity of Thai society. The thematic content of Thai painting embodies ethical values, social practices, and cultural worldviews, with Buddhist traditions serving as a central intellectual and spiritual framework that has profoundly shaped Thai visual culture over centuries. In the context of contemporary visual communication, however, the transmission of Buddhist traditions through traditional artistic forms faces challenges in engaging modern audiences whose modes of perception are increasingly shaped by illustration, digital media, and popular visual culture. This research therefore seeks to develop approaches and methodologies for the creation of contemporary illustrations of Buddhist traditions grounded in the formal principles and conceptual foundations of Thai painting. The objective is to generate illustrative works that maintain cultural authenticity while employing visual strategies that resonate with contemporary modes of representation and reception. This study adopts a qualitative and creative research framework, integrating analytical inquiry with practice-based experimentation. The research process comprises three principal stages. The first stage involves documentary research and critical analysis of the formal structures, visual elements, and distinctive characteristics of Thai painting, alongside an examination of contemporary artists whose practices demonstrate a reinterpretation of Thai pictorial traditions. The second stage employs visual analysis to synthesize key compositional components, including line, color, form, spatial organization, narrative structure, and Buddhist symbolic systems. The third stage consists of practice-based research, in which the synthesized analytical insights are translated into conceptual design frameworks and subsequently realized through experimental illustration production. The research employs multiple instruments, including structured analytical frameworks for examining visual elements in Thai painting, case study analysis of contemporary artists who adapt Thai painting within modern visual contexts, the development of conceptual design sketches, and iterative creative experimentation. Digital illustration tools are utilized in conjunction with traditional artistic processes, enabling a hybrid methodology that reflects contemporary illustration practices while retaining the expressive qualities of traditional art-making. The findings reveal that the distinctive visual characteristics of Thai painting particularly its use of line, color, form, compositional hierarchy, and Buddhist symbolism can be systematically analyzed, recontextualized, and effectively applied to the development of contemporary illustration. The resulting creative works demonstrate the capacity to convey Thai cultural identity through a visual language that aligns with contemporary illustration media and aesthetic sensibilities. This research underscores the potential of Thai painting as a generative epistemological foundation for contemporary illustration practice and contributes a methodological framework applicable to design practice, art and design education, and the sustainable reinterpretation of Thai cultural heritage within contemporary visual culture.