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GALLERY SPOTLIGHT - I read an article not long ago about the best choices to use
in building a gallery: for example, plushie galleries are quite common. However,
the article didn't touch on how to fill your gallery with items in the category
you've chosen!
This article will teach you how to:
1. Find out what you're looking for
2. Purchasing your items
3. Maintenance
After you've chosen a theme for your gallery, you need to find out what items
are available on NeoPets that fit that theme. If you've got an Alien Aisha Vending
Machine gallery for example, you wouldn't place codestones in it, you'd find
things like Nerkmids and gross foods to place into your gallery. How would you
find out what they were all called then?
1. Find out what you're looking for
First, you can look in other people's galleries to see if there are any items
there in the category you've chosen. You shouldn't be copying someone else's
gallery, but if they have one similar in theme, for example: They're doing some
type of food gallery, and you're making one of gross foods, then there might
be some overlap and you can learn about items you need to purchase that way.
Another example is if they were making a plushie gallery and you were looking
for Aisha items. You might find some Aisha-related plushies in their gallery
you can add to your list of what you want to collect. Every time you shop, take
a look around at the person's other items to see if they have something that
might fit your category. If you haven't written that one down yet, do it!
Second, you can use the search box on the bottom left of your screen to look
up items or parts of items. If you're looking for gross foods, you might type
in words like "slimy", "dung", "worm", "snail", etc. The box doesn't always
seem to pull up every item with that word in it, so you still need to search
other places.
Third, browse trades. There are often rare or unusual items put up in the
trade section on Mystery Island, and there might just be something there that
fits your category.
Fourth, tell all of your Neofriends that you're starting a gallery and tell
them what the theme is. They might be able to suggest some items to you. Please
don't beg them to actually give you the items! Even begging from friends gets
very old, very fast!
2. Purchasing your items
Now that you've got a wish list together, it's time to actually go out and
get those items (or at least as many of them as you can afford). Creating a
gallery is expensive. The items themselves can cost thousands of NP each! You
also have to figure in the cost of expanding your shop, which, depending on
the size gallery you want to have, can make you go from rich to poor in a flash.
One more cost is associated with building a gallery: You have to be ready to
lose the occasional item to the Pant Devil or a similar beast. These creatures
are merciless! They don't care if you've just paid 45,000 NP for that perfect
item, so be ready for this to happen and try not to be too upset when it does.
Make certain you get the best price for the item you're looking for on the
shop wizard. If the lowest price on the wizard still seems a bit high, then
try again later on that day or even the next day. The Neopian economy is similar
to real economies in that prices change. Sometimes they go up, and sometimes
down. If you want a gallery you're going to have to become a bargain hunter.
Just beware of scams. If something seems too good to be true (like a Faerie
for 100 NP), it probably is.
Sometimes you can get a better price in one of the official Neopian shops.
Just make sure that you've researched what the current price for that item is
in user's shops first, so that you know you're not overpaying.
Most theme galleries have items in them that run the gamut from very cheap
to very expensive. Which items you purchase first depends on whether you want
quality or quantity of items. If you want a big gallery fast, buy lots of cheap
items and fill in the more expensive gaps in your inventory later. If you want
to show off your wealth, purchase the big-ticket items first and then go back
and pick up the cheap ones.
Remember, be patient. Building a great gallery takes both time and effort.
One of the best rewards of having a gallery is seeing your hard work pay off,
so don't worry if your gallery remains incomplete while you're saving for or
searching for new items.
3. Maintenance
Once you have your gallery, you will probably want to maintain it so it continues
to look great.
Keep looking for items that fit your theme that you don't have and that you
missed when you first started creating your wish list. Making a brand new wish
list full of items you found out you don't have gives you new motivation to
make your gallery even better.
Watch the news page, so you can be up to date on the newest items to come
out, so you can add the relevant ones to your wish list.
You'll need to expand your shop now and then, to allow for new items.
Finally, you should add some HTML to your shop. The background should be pleasing
to the eyes and relate to your theme in some way. Make sure that the names of
your items can be still be clearly read, and don't put in too many graphics.
If you have a lot of items, it's already going to load slowly, so try not to
overdo it. You should add a note in your shop description of what the gallery
is of. This is also a good place to write in a few of the items you are still
looking for that relate to your theme.
I hope this article has helped you and if you have any comments about it,
feel free to Neomail me!
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