Guide on How to be Fabulous

Before we get started on how to put some customizations together, we need to go over some terms and unique quirks of certain styles of pets.

Types of Pet Styles

Quadruped

These are the pets that stand on 4 legs. For example Kougra, Chomby, and Ixi.

Any bottoms, dresses, socks, or shoes will look different on them. For example, if you place socks or shoes on them (eg. Avocado Socks or Blue Shoes), it will go on their hind feet only not their front feet. Only mittens or gloves will go on their front feet. They also can’t hold things as they are standing on their hands, so the items will be placed on their right side.

Biped

These are pets that stand upright. For example Lutari, Kacheek, and Draik. These are the easiest pets to customize because they are the most humanoid.

Pets without hands

If you put mittens on them, it will go on their feet (eg. Jubjub). They also can’t hold items just like quadrupeds, so the items will go beside them.

Pets without feet

These pets can’t wear shoes or pants, at least not in the normal way. Pants will cover the bottom half of their body, and shoes will cover the tail. (eg. Peophin and Koi).

Wearable Items

Now that you know what style of pet you are working with, it is time to go over the wearables you will use to build your look.

NP vs. NC

You can make customs using items that cost NP or NC (which costs real money), or a combination of the two.

Paint-specific clothing

These are items you can only get by painting or zapping your pet the paint colour that has those clothes (eg. to get Desert Draik Tail Ring, Desert Draik Sandals, or Desert Draik Headdress you would have to paint your Draik desert). You can also use these to ‘double paint’.

Double Paint

When you paint your pet one colour to get the ‘paint-specific clothes’ and then paint them another colour and use the clothes from the previous paint colour. For example, painting your Draik Desert and then re-painting him Eventide and using any of the Desert Draik clothing items.

Species Specific Wearables

These are wearable items that are only wearable by an individual species, they are usually release as part of the pet day celebrations (eg. Chef Lupe Jacket, Kacheek Fishing Rod)

Item zones

Wearable items are categorized by ‘zones’ which are the positions they fit in on the Neopet. You can only have one item per zone as part of your customization. For example, Dark Winter Hooded Cape occupies the hat and jacket zones so you can’t have another jacket or hat. The zones are (in alphabetical order): Background, Background Item, Backpack, Belt, Collar, Earrings, Foreground, Glasses, Gloves, Hat, Higher Foreground Item, Hind Cover, Jacket, Left-hand Item, Lower Foreground Item, Markings, Music, Necklace, Right-hand Item, Shirt/Dress, Shoes, Sound Effects, Static, Thought Bubble, Trousers, Wings.

Foregrounds vs. backgrounds

Backgrounds go behind your pet (eg. Enchanted Tale Background and Gross Food Buffet Background) while Foregrounds go around the edges and along the front (eg. Mountain Wildflower Foreground and Press Conference Foreground). You can have a pet wearing both at the same time. However some Garlands (eg. Nesting Doll Garland) and Strings Lights (eg. Cloud String Lights) occupy the Higher Foreground zone and can be used if the other Foreground is just along the bottom.

Foregrounds vs. items

Some foregrounds will not allow you to have additional items by your pet’s feet. For example, if you add Beware of Meepits sign while your pet is already wearing Beautiful Autumn Leaves Foreground, then the former will replace the latter.

Frames

These items either go around the entire customization frame or along parts of it. For example, the Burning Icicles Frame goes along the top while the Altador Cup Maraqua Frame goes around the entire custom border.

Putting it All Together

So you now have an idea of the variety of pet styles to work with and have an idea of how items work together it is time to start putting together a customization. There are a few different kinds of customizations and the limits are only dependant on your imagination.

Character Customs

When you customize your pet to match the character you made up for them. For example, a hipster Blumaroo could wear a Blue Beanie Bob Wig, Spiffy Black Leather Jacket, and Dapper Striped Socks and Shoes.

RL Characters

When you base your pet’s custom on a character from a tv show, movie or fandom from real life. For example, if you modelled your Krawk after Doctor Who, they could be wearing Dark Wig and Fedora, Woollen Scarf, Brown Suit Coat, Brown Corduroy Trousers , and Krawk Sleuth Magnifying Glass to make an excellent 4th Doctor.

Seasonal Outfit

This is when you dress your pet up in a look that suits the season or event (eg. Altador Cup team outfit, winter wear, or swim at the beach summer look)

But how do I know if I’ll like it?!?

Before you go out and buy all those items for the pet customization you have in mind it is best to try it all out together and see if you are going to like it before spending all your precious Neopoints (or NeoCash)! Unfortunately Neopets does not have a feature to do this unless you own the items, however some of the amazing fan sites have got you covered! Dress to Impress is often the go to, but JellyNeo’s Wardrobe and SunnyNeo’s The Dressing Room also work well! You can find them all through the Fan Site Directory. These sites let you try outfits on your pet (for free)! You can try on both NP and NC items, as well as paint-specific clothing.

Now what?

Have you put your outfit together and need a second opinion on how it looks, or recommendations on what item you should use to fill in that one spot that needs something? Head over to the customization board to get some suggestions, opinions, or just to show your look you worked so hard on off! You can even get opinions from your guild mates if they are Neo-fashionistas!

Customisation Spotlight

This is a TNT organized contest that runs every week starting on Mondays. You can find it under the Spotlight section and entries are classified as Neopoint (for Neopoint only looks) or Neocash (for looks using one or more Neocash items). Users rate the submitted looks on a scale of 1-10 and the results are posted at the end of the week.

Custom contests

These are player organized activities typically played on the boards or in guilds, but someone picks a theme (e.g. spring) and everyone makes customs relative to the theme. They can use items in their closet, buy new ones, or use Dress to Impress. The participants vote and someone wins bragging rights.

Go forth and be fabulous!