A Short Guide to Cross Painting

Cross painting means giving two colors to one pet. How is that possible? It is mostly done with a Base Coat and a Clothes Coat.

A Base Coat can be any color in Neopia, with the exceptions any color that will alter the original pose of the pet, which includes babies, mutants and Maraquan Draiks. However that still leaves you with many possibilities! It could be checkered, speckled, blue, royal, transparent, or anything that you think looks great on the pet. Go crazy with this option, since it is where you get the most freedom.

A Clothes Coat is the second color you want for your pet. This coat comes with a condition though; the color must give your pets clothes, as that is where the coat comes from. You will simply have your pet wear the clothes for a different color than the base color. For most pets, colors that give clothes will include: royal, island, Christmas, elderlygirl/boy, desert, Halloween, pirate, robot, stealthy, and zombie. Make sure to check that the color is available for your specific pet species though.

The combination of both these coats will result in a cross painted pet, with the Base Coat of one color and the Clothes Coat of another color. Most people choose both coats at the same time though, to ensure that it looks good and that it matches.

So now that you know what a cross painted pet is, how do you go about getting one?

Since it is a two-step process, acquiring first the Base Coat and then the Clothes Coat, there are different methods on how to reach the final product. For the sake of the guide say you would like a white pet cross painted with royal clothes on top. So your Base Coat is white, and your Clothes Coat is royal.

First Method: Painting Both

One way to achieve a cross paint is to purchase both paint brushes in order to paint your pet twice. You would follow the steps below.

1. First purchase both paint brushes (royal and white) and have them in your inventory.

2. Paint your pet with the Clothes Coat (royal) in order to keep the clothes but not the base coat of the royal color. It is very important that you paint the Clothes Coat before the Base Coat as you do not want to end up with only the Clothes Coat on your pet!

3. Once you have painted royal, you now have the clothes in order to cross paint. You will then paint your pet white (yes, over the royal).

4. Your royal clothes will seem to disappear. However they are only in your closet. Go to customize your pet and there you should see the royal clothes.

5. Put the royal clothes on your pet, and save your customization.

6. You now have a wonderful white and royal cross painted pet!

Second Method: Painting One and Trading for the Other

For this combination you will be either painting the Base Coat yourself and trading for a pet with the Clothes Coat, or trading for a pet with the Clothes Coat in order to paint the Base Coat yourself. This method is used in order to save your neopoints, so it is logical to buy the cheaper paint brush, but for the guide, I will teach you step by step how to do it both ways.

If you are painting the Base Coat and trading for the Clothes Coat –

1. Purchase the paint brush of your Base Coat (white)

2. Paint your pet white

3. Trade for a royal pet in the same species as the one you want to cross paint

4. Now you only want the clothes so you will not need the pet that you just traded for. You can either pound the pet, or paint it a cheap color (red, blue, green, etc) in order to just obtain the clothes. Make sure you do this on the same account that you have the pet you want to cross paint, as you will not be able to move just the clothes once the pet it originally belongs to is gone.

5. Go to customize the pet you want to cross paint, and put the royal clothes on.

6. You now have a lovely white and royal cross painted pet!

If you are painting the Clothes Coat and trading for the Base Coat –

1. Pick a pet with the same species as the one you want to cross paint from the pound.

2. Paint the pet from the pound your Clothes Coat (royal). Make sure it is not the same pet that you want the final cross paint to be on.

3. Trade for the pet you want the cross paint to be on - the pet with the Base Coat (white)

4. Pound or repaint a cheap color the pet that you had painted royal. Again caution when pounding/repainting, make sure the royal pet is pounded from or painted on the same account you want the final cross paint to be on

5. Customize the white pet that you had traded for

6. Your pet is now cross painted white and royal!

Third Method: Trading for Both

If you would rather not spend any neopoints at all, and would rather trade for both the Base Coat and the Clothes Coat, that can be done as well. Just follow the steps below.

1. Trade for both pets separately, but make sure they are both the same species as the one you would like to cross paint and both on the same account. Make sure that the pet with the Base Coat is the pet that you want to ultimately have the cross paint on.

2. Simply pound or paint a cheap color the pet with the Clothes Coat (royal). Caution to only do this on the account that you would like the final cross paint to be on, as you will not be able to move the clothes once the pet is gone/changed.

3. Go customize your white pet with the royal clothes that are in your closet

4. Tada! Your pet is now a white and royal cross paint!

There you have it, three different methods of cross painting your pet. Pick the method that you are most comfortable with, based on how much neopoints you would like to spend and based on how expensive the colors that you choose are.

You are now ready to venture into the exciting world of cross painting. There are now so many different color combinations open to you that you are free to pick from. So why let your pet only be one color, when they could be two?