Helpful Tips to Brighten Your Day - Boredom

Some of the most famous Neopians have Neopets with personalities and designs. I won't list any names, but I'm sure you can think of someone. *cheesy grin* Anyway, you may be wondering just how you can accomplish such a feat. Those people have custom lookup and petpages for their pets, they've got brilliant art littering said pages, and they manage to roleplay through all of that! They must be super-human! Well, in all honesty, they're no more super than you are. They've just taken a bit of time out of their day to practice at drawing, roleplaying, or coding. You'd be surprised at how much difference it can make if you just take half an hour out of every day to sit down and practice at something.

Neopets really like having personalities. It sets them apart from every other pet in Neopia. Take a good look at your Neopet, and ask yourself, "If they were a person, what would they be like?" Are they brainy book-worms, or maybe they like to explore the Haunted Woods? The possibilities are endless! Try to make them unique. People often make the mistake of giving their pets a 'flat' personality. "My pet is nice, smart, and funny." That's not very interesting, now is it? Get under their skin, be the pet! How were they raised as a youngling? What's their favourite thing to do? Do they have any faults? I know I sound a bit odd saying this, but it's really fun once you start thinking of a history for your pet! I'm sure you can think of something wonderful if you apply yourself!

Since you've got an interesting, and unique personality for your Neopet, maybe you'd like to give them a custom design. Instead of a plain-looking red Lupe, maybe your Lupe has special markings, or wears jewelry? If you can't think of anything, look at all of the wonderful items that TNT has provided Neopians with! Maybe your Lupe wears that spiffy Sloth Cap you saw in the Trading Post. Or maybe they like to sport the latest wearables? There's a lot of room for creativity here, so I'll let you decide what you want to do. Though pets with custom designs are pretty to look at, remember, just because your pet doesn't have one, doesn't mean they're not special!

Now to cover something that everyone can appreciate; artistry. Now, now, before you give me the usual groans of "But I can't draw!" or "I don't have any expensive art tools!", I'd like to put a delicious sock into your mouth. Good art takes practice. No one is born a great artist, and the tools have no effect on the artwork if you haven't had practice with them. And besides? Who limited your artistic mediums to just pencil and paper? You can draw, paint, sculpt, or make mosaics, etc. Yet again, there are no limits to what you can do! And if you think you're ready, try your hand at entering your pet in the Beauty Contest! People on the Beauty Contest board are really nice and helpful, and you'll make a lot of great friends. Not only that, but your pet will have a blast! Just remember, you can't enter those three-dimensional works of art into the Beauty Contest. If you're a master of the sculpting arts, and really want to show off your Neopet, enter a photo of your art in the Art Gallery. You never know if you'll be accepted!

Roleplaying is a great way to put that spiffy, new personality and design to use! Not only is this a great way to make new friends, it helps give depth to your pet's character, and make them seem real. When you've filled out their character enough, you'll be able to answer every question about them, and who they are. You will be able to give a confident answer to questions about what they'd do in a certain situation. It'll be almost as though they're an extension of yourself. If you don't know how to roleplay, there's tons of nice people on the roleplay board to get you started on the right path. As a side note, chatspeak is not appreciated when roleplaying, or on the roleplay board, so try your best to not use it.

And now we come to the hardest part. If you're HTML and CSS savvy, then this part will be a breeze. If not, you'll have to work at it a bit. Making your pet a custom lookup or petpage is where you can put all of your newly acquired art and writing skills to use! There's tons of helpful guides to get you started; even TNT provides a very helpful guide for beginners! If you really can't figure something out, you can always use premade coding. Premade coding is nice-looking, and it's easy to use. Just make sure you don't take the credit off! Just because you didn't work hard to find that beautiful, premade petpage, doesn't mean that someone else didn't spend a few hours perfecting it. Please be courteous when using other people's work.

And, if you've read this far, it means that you haven't been following any of my tips! Silly face, get out there and make your Neopets all that they can be! Thank you for your time, and I wish you luck in your endeavors!