Four Things to Consider When Cross-Painting Your Pet

Decide what you want your cross-paint to say: The truth of the matter is, cross-painting your Neopet will make a statement to the rest of Neopia! So it’s important to make sure that you know exactly what you want that statement to be. Do you want your Neopet to be high flying, adored? Well, maybe the aforementioned Faerie and Royal cross-paint is the best fit. Perhaps you want your Neopet to be both high stakes and primitive? Consider a Stealthy with Tyrannian-base. One thing you’ll want to do is really consider your pet’s personality and make sure that you’re cross-paint really tells the world what they need to know about your pet. This would be a good time to sit down and really think about who your pet is to you and how they fit into your Neo-family. Perhaps you can complete an interview with them or use their base characteristics from creation to learn more about who they are and what their cross-paint should be. A cross-paint is a chance to really have your pet leave their unique stamp on Neopia, so it is best to make sure they aren’t recycling outfits or motifs from your other pets.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match “rare” and “accessible” colors: Despite what you may think about cross-painting, it is not only to be used to mix two high-end colors. On the contrary, a lot of inexpensive paint brush colors can provide a great base color for some really fancy clothes. Maybe the Gelert you have on your main account has a pre-existing characterization of being a brown-coated royalty. The easily accessible Christmas Paint Brush gives the Gelert a beautiful, deep brown color to their body and is a great tone to match with any paint brush clothes. Additionally, you get the added bonus of playing off your Gelert’s new Christmas color to help characterize them further if that’s your thing. A cheerful, royal Gelert, anyone? Many users may overlook the “accessible” paint brush colors when considering cross-painting ideas, but this is absolutely not ideal and it really puts a limit to how creative your cross-painting can be. Each brush in Neopia can creative beautiful, vibrant colors on your pet that can truly be paired with any number of clothes.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match paint brush: Let’s really start talking about uniqueness, creativity, and personality here: the great thing about cross-painting is that you can roll so many awesome ideas into one look! If your Draik is a stealthy pirate queen, let her strut her stuff with a beautiful Royal base color, some Stealthy clothes, and a Pirate Draik earring! The sky is the limit with your cross-painting ideas. So don’t be afraid to really go “outside” of the box when it comes to creating awesome outfits that really show your Neopet off to the rest of the Neo community!

Show some variation in colors: Since we’re talking about really mixing and matching clothes, it does come with a small warning: don’t get stuck in one color or a color theme. Sure, you may love the color red, but that does not mean you need to stick to just that one color. The truth is, there are plenty of different colors and palettes you can create that go wonderfully with the color red. Add a pop of vibrancy to your cross-paint and choose clothes that complement that color red. One way to make sure you’re making good use of varied colors is to look through more traditional customizing materials such as backgrounds. Go to the NC Mall and have a great time trying new backgrounds on your pet and see what like and what you don’t, and what really complements the work you’ve put in to your cross-painting ideas.

Use your resources: Since we just touched on the NC Mall, let’s talk about your other resources! One great resource you can use to examine cross-painting ideas and how they fit into your overall customization efforts is to ask for an opinion on the Customization Neoboard! Let them know what you’re thinking and what you’re trying to convey and ask them your questions: “what do you think about this idea? Do you have an opinion on this color palette I want to work with? I’m having trouble finding the perfect background…” The best thing about Neopets is that you have an entire community of cross-painting and customizing fans to talk to about whatever you’re thinking of. Neo has always been filled with helpful community members, so rely on them if you need any help!

In reality, there are a million different things to consider when it comes to cross-painting and, ultimately, customizing your Neopet to give it a unique and fun look. This article is by no means all-inclusive, but hopefully it gives you a great starting off point when it comes time to consider your new Neopet and all you want them to be. Cross-painting and customizing can be such a fun activity and every user can use it to develop their own unique voice and sense of fashion. Best of luck! Happy cross-painting!