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ART GALLERY - Are you a terrible artist? Do you look at other people's Beauty
Contest submissions and Art Gallery drawings and burst into tears? I know I do.
There is nothing more frustrating than having a soul spilling over with classic
paintings and have fingers spilling over with stick figures. But there is a shiny
pot of paint at the end of this rainbow. In the spirit of fair play, the "Neopian
Powers That Be" created stuff all over NeoPets to help you improve your
art skills. Of course, they may have over done the fair play a small tad because
you really have to hunt for this stuff. But believe me, it's definitely worth
checking these things out if you are serious about sharpening your art skills
and are bored out of your skull.
Stuff For Completely No-Talent Artists To Do
The first thing you can do that is creatively art-oriented involves you doing
nothing whatsoever even remotely artistic. Everything has already been done
for you already, so you get to just play around with somebody else's stuff.
Now THAT is extremely low pressure art, so you can click out of pastel-phobia
now. There are two games you can play to pretend you've actually done something
artistic to impress any of your friends who actually look at the front of your
refrigerator before cleaning all of your snack foods out.
The first game can be found in Faerieland and involves coloring. In case you
happen to go Faerieland looking for the game that involves coloring and have
trouble finding it, it's called the "Faerieland
Colouring Game". I hope that hint helps. Here is the official description
for it: Choose your favourite pet and colour it with any colours you wish.
When you are finished you can choose a snazzy background to go with your new
pet. You can set the scene any way you like. Then print it out so you can show
it to your friends, or just colour all day for fun!
Of course, if your favorite pet is one that isn't listed there, like a Krawk
or a Draik, you'll have to completely change what your favorite pet is to play,
so that's a minor drawback. The good news is that if you don't find the basic
colors you like, you can use the hex code option at the bottom. If you don't
know what a hex code is, it's a series of six numbers and/or letters that translate
as a color to your computer. Typing in random numbers and letters is a fun way
to pass the time if you're REALLY bored. And since you are playing this game
in the first place, I'm just going to assume you are already supremely bored.
Another big plus for this game is that after you color it and choose a background,
you can also add a message to your picture. To add a message, you simply click
on the pet species name on the left side of the top bar where it says "Instructions",
"Paint" and "Finish". A drop-down box of additional options will appear. With
this handy dandy feature you can create your own customized greeting card to
send to yourself or make a Caption Contest that you always win because you're
the only one playing. Gee, what fun!
The second activity is actually filled to the brim with humorous possibilities.
I have never played this game without some weird combination cracking me up.
The game is called "Neo
Wardrobe" and can be found in the Puzzles section of the Games link.
Here is the official description for it: You can dress up your favourite
Scorchio, Chia, JubJub, Aisha, Blumaroo or Kacheek in the latest fashions. Can
you get the correct combinations and see the hidden movies? The game itself
just boldly comes out and tells you how to do that so you don't even have to
burn brain cells figuring it out: If you find a complete outfit a short animation
is displayed, from here you can print out the Neopet in costume so you can draw
your own backgrounds for the pet.
Okay, so how do these games help you become an artist? They don't. They just
fool people into THINKING you're an artist when you point at the printed copies
and say with a look of devious yet sincere honesty on your face, "I did that
myself!"
Stuff For Only Partially No-Talent Artists To Do
The second step in learning how to draw Neopets is to let a real artist do
it for you. But this is only legal if (A) it's a staff artist who has drawn
the picture for you, (B) it's not anyone ELSE drawing something for you and
(C) you're not color blind. If you follow those rules you can use the Neopet
pictures I am going to tell you about any way you like. I guess we will call
this activity "Basic Coloring and Try To Stay Within the Lines, Please 101".
What I am talking about are the official Neopet coloring pages. These are
ready-made pictures that you color yourself. If you don't know what coloring
is, it involves buying a box of wax-based color sticks called "crayons". You
use these wax-based color sticks to add color to a black and white picture.
I know this seems tricky, but with a little practice and intensive tutoring
from your five year-old sister, I'm sure you can get the hang of it.
Of course, the drawback to this is that it requires you to have a printer.
If you don't have a printer then all you can do is looking longingly at the
ink outlines of cool Neopet pictures from now until the Stone Paint Brush comes
out of retirement. If you DO have a printer, there are a couple of places in
Neopia where you can go to get these pre-drawn outlines to color:
Location: Tyrannian Jungle, Tyrannia
Name: Cave Paintings
Location: Haunted Woods
Name: Neopet Masks
Name: Haunted
Woods Colouring Pages
Location: Top of the Mountain, Terror Mountain
Name: Chilly Colouring
Pages
Location: Jelly World
Name: Jelly World
Colouring Pages
Of course, since Jelly World doesn't exist, just forget about that last link.
But at least the Neopet Masks have the extra bonus of actually having a function.
You can cut them out when you're done, put them on your face and have delightfully
great fun scaring yourself in your mirror. So how does THIS activity help you
become an artist? Well... it gives you practice in adding color to stuff. And
it also shows you what a real piece of artwork is supposed to look like instead
of the bubble-headed amoeba people with spaghetti hair you're now drawing.
Stuff For Actually Semi-Talented Artists To Do
Finally! I am going to tell you about an activity that actually teaches you
how to draw Neopets. There are four places you can go to learn how to draw Neopets.
The first one is even called "Learn
to Draw Neopets". It can be found at the bottom of the page in Pet Central
on a spinning blue Aisha that will get you dizzy and make you pass out if you
stare at it too long. The second link is called "How
to Draw". It is located in the Art Centre on the Main Shops page. The
third link is called "How
to Draw". It is located in the Help Section. The fourth link is called
"How to Draw".
It is located on the World Page. Of course all four links take you to the same
place, but that's just a minor point. I guess Neopets is really tired of all
those anime pictures in the Beauty Contest and are serious about people taking
up their offer to learn how to draw them right.
There is also a section on How
to Draw Petpets, and brand new sections on How
to Draw Random Things and How
to Draw Faeries. But for some odd reason the only Faeries they are teaching
you how to draw now are invisible ones.
The "Learn to Draw Neopets" section is easy to find but after that it gets
a little trickier. You have to hunt down a piece of paper and a pencil in your
ACTUAL home (not your NeoHome) before you can begin. If you are seriously bad
in the drawing department, I highly recommend starting on something easy like
a JubJub or a Slorg. If you have ever seen my Really
Confused comic, I am living proof of the disaster waiting to befall
you if you attempt to draw a Krawk without practicing on something easier first.
All you have to do is click on the Neopet or the Petpet of your choice and
you are zipped speedily (if you have a fast Internet connection, that is) to
a page that gives you step-by-step instructions on how to draw that specific
Neopet or Petpet. Since this almost always involves circles, squares and triangles,
you may want to first practice your primary doodling skills during a particularly
boring class in school. I personally find it easy to get away with in Math class,
especially if I forced to endure a Geometry test. Anyway, after you have copied
all of the shapes exactly the way they show you on the "Learn to Draw Neopets"
page, you can then compare your work to the Neopet's artists' work. HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA!
Okay, so maybe that might be kind of painful the first few times, but eventually
you'll get better. And then you'll be ready for the Holy Grail of Neopian Artwork
-- submitting your drawing to the Art Gallery. Once you get a picture into THAT,
no one can ever again mock your art skills behind your back. Now they can mock
you directly through Neomail. So pick up your box of wax-based color sticks
and let your imagination run wild! Just don't let it run wild through my Neogarden,
okay? | 
