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5 Tips to Build a Spotlight-Worthy Gallery


by desirae336

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Ever scroll down on the spotlight section, see that beautiful gallery spotlight trophy and think, "Hey, I want one of those!" Well, now is your chance to learn all about what it takes to design, build, collect, and grow a spotlight-worthy gallery. I won't claim to be an expert, but I have won the spotlight before. And it took seven years to do it. I also spent many an hour glancing over the past spotlight winners, soon-to-be winners, as well as those galleries that were just not quite up to par. I have seen galleries with three items, galleries with 1500 items, some with fantastic and unique themes, as well as some with themes to this day I have not been able to figure out. Here I will give you my breakdown of the most important things you need to have in order to get noticed for the spotlight!

1. Unique theme is key. I can't tell you how many island galleries, plushie galleries, or even rainbow galleries exist out in Neopia. Two words: too many. Nothing is more of a nose-turner-upper than a common theme. So whenever people wonder on the Gallery/Spotlight chatboards if their theme is good, I ask if there exists any other in Neopia. If they say yes, I tell them to try again. Please understand, this is not me being arrogant. But it is so difficult to win spotlight with a theme that has become more common than a grumpy Snowager when you wake him up. I started with an Island gallery (shame... I know... but bear with me). The more I collected, the more galleries I saw, and the more I realized how un-special mine was. So, I took my favorite theme and narrowed it down. I now collect Island Petpets. They are unique, adorable to look at, and best of all, a theme that I can one day complete. It is not too cheap, or to too expensive, and TNT is always adding more. So when you want a specific theme, try to individualize it by narrowing it down. If you want a Darigan gallery, why not Darigan petpets? Faerie galleries can be too broad and almost impossible to complete. Narrow it down to faerie food, faerie petpets (notice a trend here?), or even narrow it down to a specific faerie (Fyora comes to mind). Once you have a great and utterly unique theme, the rest will fall into place.

2. Have an almost complete collection. So many times I have seen people wonder why they don't ever win spotlight... then I scroll to their galleries to see that their collection is missing big, key items to a collection. No one wants to look at a Royal gallery and not see a royal paintbrush, or a royal petpet paint brush. It would be like showing up to the art gallery with no art! I understand that it can take time to accumulate items; I have collected Island petpets for 11+ years and still am missing the elusive Island Candychan. But I have 78 others that help distract from that little fact! Galleries that are spotlight-worthy take work, and that trophy should be a sign for all the effort you have put in!

3. A layout is not just a shopkeeper anymore. You have a great theme, a great collection, but all is lost when you pull in those pre-made blogs. It detracts from the overall presentation of the gallery when I see a disorganized, unrelated layout. So many talented Neopians are willing to make custom layouts. If a custom layout is out of reach, a simple color-scheme that matches your theme will do just fine. There are many simple HTML guides (even the TNT has a good one!) that can help you set up your gallery. The best galleries usually have tables to house their items, a blog and description of what the gallery is, as well as unique sidebars and topbars to match. I cannot tell you them number of times I could not figure out a gallery theme because the layout did not match the collection.

4. ORGANIZE. So often I see a gallery that is just a smorgasbord of items that happen to be related in some way with no sense of dignity or organization. They are merely a collection or a shrine of the owner's favorite items. I am not asking for anything complicated like trying to figure out when the Wheel of Monotony is going to end. Just simple organization. I personally prefer alphabetical. I have seen galleries organize by type of item (toy, food, book, etc) and even some by color (Ogrin orange, Yurble yellow, you get the drill...), and some by the number of dots on the item. It is all personal preference, but have some sort of method. It makes the gallery seem much more professional and much more appealing to the eye. You want TNT to notice you right?? Well this is a sure fire way to increase those chances!

5. Last but not least... Get opinions outside your own! I know this is crazy, but some Neopians are a little biased towards their own collections. To get rid of this, I often recommend that people get their galleries "rated" much like fonts and such on the Avatar Chat. To do this, head on over to the Gallery/Spotlight chat. It's a slower board, but you will find many able eyes to glance and critique your gallery.

Galleries are very much like any other aspect on this site... you have to work hard in order to reap benefits! So be sure to pick a gallery you can work hard on with the ultimate goal of completing it. So many times people quit their galleries because they do not see the end of the road.

So there you have, all my secrets to winning the gallery spotlight trophy! You cannot leave off other elements though, such as hard work, passion, and dedication! With no time at all you will have a gallery fit for the spotlight!

 
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