A Guide To Adoptables

     Adoptables on Neopets are unique drawings that are meant to be shared all across Neopia. An artist will draw a species in various colours. The same line art is used for each to show off an art style. Of course, it's to save a lot of time too. Adoptables are usually shared on petpages and it's an entire subculture within the art and petpage community. Adoptables are meant to be "adopted" regardless if the code to use them is provided. Adoptables are not always of Neopets. Sometimes they're of Petpets or items.

     What is the purpose of adoptables?

     If you dig enough you can gather art from many different people showing the same pet and colour combination!! It's always fun to see how different artists interpret the same pet. These adoptable collections are put into their own sections often called a "Toybox", "Adopted", or "Clones". This is almost like getting custom art of your pet, which is why they're so fun to collect. Adoptables are great for sharing the work of various artists all around Neopia. Adoptables can be used to decorate any of your pages on Neopets, including your lookup and gallery. Due to the text limit on pet lookups and user lookups I recommend collecting adoptables on petpages. It's a perfect addition to a page that shares who your pet is.

     Custom Adoptables:

     Spin-offs of adoptables called "Customs" are when an artist colours their line art to look like someone's pet. Example lineart is usually shown. This is always done as a gift or as a part of an art trade. You can find artists who are taking requests or trades on the art Neoboards and on petpages. If an artist is accepting requests they will say "Requests: Open" and if not "Requests: Closed" on their lookup or page. Some artists take requests for existing colours of Neopets only or only for specific kinds of adoptables. Most artists stick to one species for this as well.

     Makeables:

     If you're interested in collaborating with another artist then "Makeables" are an option. When an artist shares line art of a pet and grants permission for anyone to colour it then it is always classified as a "Makeable". I recommend saving makeables as soon as you find them because most images are lost to time eventually. I also recommend putting the petpage name in the file name when you save it to easily keep track of where it came from. If a makeable has an image host watermark be sure to right click and select "open image in a new tab" to get the version without the watermark.

     Standard rules for using makeables always include:

     Do not remove the artist's name from the makeable.

     Always credit the artist by providing the petpage it came from.

     If they took their page down, I recommend providing their username instead.

     Never use makeables for the art gallery or beauty contest.

     Never claim makeables to be your own art.

     Always read the rules an artist has posted about their makeables before using them.

     Lineart is only a makeable if it is specifically stated by the artist that anyone can use it.

     Always do these:

     Copy the provided code when possible. Many have custom text that shows when the adoptable is hovered over. Usually, it's a cute message such as "Zzzzz..." if the pet is drawn sleeping.

     Make sure there's a petpage with the adoptable code. Older art is frequently missing the source petpage in the provided code and sometimes the wrong petpage is in included.

     If no code is given you can right click and select "copy image address" and copy the petpage link into your own code.

     Even if the source petpage disappears it's still equally important to use it for proper credit.

     Never do these:

     Never use an adoptable without proper credit, which involves linking it to the source petpage. Never claim the art to be your own under any context.

     Advice on making adoptables:

     If you want to make your own adoptables, then you should! It's a fun and unique art project to take on. Before you do, I recommend asking yourself how many you'd be willing to make and give yourself a reasonable goal. After achieving that goal you can always create another goal to create more adoptables.

     I don't recommend only drawing red, blue, yellow, and green Neopets. Many people do this and it isn't a bad thing, but 99.9% of people who collect adoptables look for specific colours, so your adoptable is more likely to be used if it's specific. However, unpainted colours are useful as examples if your adoptable is shared on an adoptable directory.

     There are two major options for drawing your adoptable. You can either use a species of pet or an item as your basis. With an item, you can paint it various colours that pets can be. When designing your adoptables you should consider its originality, effort, and cuteness.

     Originality:

     When considering the originality of your adoptables, think about the pose and props they could be interacting with. Are they sleeping, in a box, or smelling a flower? Props, pose, and art style are key elements that make an adoptable feel original. Brainstorm how you can translate a species into your art style. What makes adoptables special is how the art varies between artists. Desserts, especially cupcakes, are the most popular theme so I suggest skipping those themes if you want to make something more original.

     Effort:

     With effort decide how much time you want to put into each adoptable. Do you want to add shading? I highly recommend looking at what makes each colour stand out. Gold is shiny and jelly is a bit transparent. Including the small details of colours makes adoptables much more high quality. Do you want to include the invisible colour? If so, there are many ways to go about it. Some people only include their adoptable's prop, some use a dotted line, and some share a blank image. If you want to draw a lot of species or a lot of colours, then I recommend making your design smaller and more simple. It makes the project significantly more practical. Do you want this to be a long term or short term project? Be honest with yourself about your art goals.

     Cuteness:

     Also, ask yourself, do you want to use a cute style or a serious one? What tone do you want for your adoptables? Some adoptables are like fine art and some are silly. Quality art comes in both varieties. Another thing to consider when drawing adoptables is whether or not you want to highlight a lesser drawn species. I want to encourage every artist to pick any species that speaks to them, but I also ask them to consider every species when doing so.

     Some are harder to find than others:

     Moehog, Nimmo, Ogrin, and Vandagyre are only a few of the least popular species I've seen used for adoptables. Aisha is by far the most popular to draw. Lupe could easily take second place. Kougras I would rank as third and Draiks fourth. Older adoptable sets will, of course, lack the more newly discovered colours. The more recent it was that a colour was found for a specific pet, the less likely it is you'll find an adoptable of them. The colours featured are an interesting way to trace back the art's age without a date being present. If you find when specific colours were discovered you could narrow down the time range the art was drawn in. The art style can sometimes be its own clue, but usually not.

     If you want to for sure find an adoptable for your pet no matter the species and no matter the colour then check out:

     https://www.neopets.com/~xox

     Petpets and Items too!

     A lot of people make adoptables for various Petpets and specific items. The Meepit, Harris, and Meowclops are among the most popular for Petpets. Noils and Kadoaties are also up there. When I say items this time, I mean people will draw an existing Neopian item they like and share it as an adoptable. I highly recommend looking for Petpet adoptables if your Petpet isn't too unknown. Unconverted Petpets have some adoptables too! Petpetpets could use more love. Item adopts are a great way to showcase your interests, personal aesthetic, and your pet's interests! You can use them to decorate any page, add some nostalgia, and truly make it stand out.

     If you want to see adoptables and makeables from all across Neopia's history I recommend visiting https://neopets.com/~supunu

     If you want to see my favourite adoptables I recommend visiting https://www.neopets.com/~lol2000