Many Akita Ranga paintings used traditional Eastern styles of painting by using silk fabric colors and Kakehaba (Japanese pigments) while adopting Western painting techniques, which included Western-style themes, such as landscapes and still-lifes, and used such techniques as shadowing and aerial perspective.
秋田蘭画の多くは、絹本着色で掛幅という東洋画の伝統的な形態をとりながらも、画題のうえでは洋風の風景画や静物画を、技法のうえでは陰影法や大気遠近法など西洋絵画の手法を多く採り入れている。