How to Paint Dinos in ARK
Painting dinosaurs in ARK is easy – making it look good is what’s a bit harder. Some of the paint colors are so bright and discordant that they can make your zoo look more than a little silly. However, so many colors available means that your menagerie can have any aesthetic you prefer.
Free Painting Tames on ARK
When you paint dinosaurs on ARK, you don’t choose zones and add colors like you do with structures. Instead, you use free painting and work on the tames by hand. This means you can paint shapes or words if you choose. You have to access free painting in various ways, depending on your platform. Remember, if you upload the creature, put it in a cryopod, or clone it, the paint job will be removed.
Painting Dinosaurs in ARK Mobile
Painting dinosaurs in the mobile version of ARK is a bit different. You use an item called Potent Dust and color it with your dyes. Then you place it into the inventory of the tame you want to dye to see the effects. On mobile, you can use the dyed Potent Dust on baby creatures your tames have produced to keep the number you’re using low. However, you can also feed larger, adult tames the dyed Potent Dust to change their colors. Remember that there is a chance Potent Dust consumption will knock out your tame. Some players even say that it can kill some tames, albeit rarely. You can’t use a paintbrush tool or freehand paint on mobile like you can on other platforms.
Preparing to Paint in ARK
To paint your tames, you will need paint brushes and dyes. It can take a lot of coloring, especially if you have large or many tames that you want to decorate.
Making a Paintbrush
To craft a paintbrush, you must unlock the engram. It only requires you to be level 9, so you can start painting your creatures early if you please. Once you have a paintbrush, you can use it to access the painting menu when you’re near a tame.
Making Dye
The recipe for each dye is different and requires different ingredients. Unlike the Paintbrush, dye can’t be crafted in your inventory. You’ll need a Cooking Pot or an Industrial Cooker. For this example, we’ll make Forest colored dye. Its hex code is #006b00. Each set of ingredients should make five of the desired dyes. You don’t have to unlock engrams for each of the 25 colors available. Once you add the right ingredients to the Cooking Pot or Industrial Cooker, it will simply produce what dye it can until it runs out of components or fuel. This means that you only want to add enough of each ingredient to make your desired dye unless you don’t care which color you get. Many dyes share elements in common.
ARK Dye Recipes
Each type of dye in ARK has a slightly different recipe. They use a selection of the five berry types, water, and either charcoal, gunpowder, or sparkpowder.
Forest: 7 amarberries, 7 azulberries, 4 narcoberries, and 1 gunpowderGreen: 9 amarberries, 9 azulberries, and 2 charcoalBlue: 15 azulberries and 2 charcoalCyan: 6 amarberries, 12 azulberries, and 1 sparkpowderNavy: 12 azulberries, six narcoberries, and 1 sparkpowderSky: 12 azulberries, 6 stimberries, and 1 gunpowderMagenta: 9 azulberries, 9 tintoberries, and 1 sparkpowderPurple: 9 azulberries, 9 tintoberries, and 2 charcoalRoyalty: 7 azulberries, 7 tintoberries, 4 narcoberries, and 1 gunpowderPink: 12 tintoberries, 6 stimberries, and 1 gunpowderRed: 15 tintoberries and 2 charcoalBrick: 12 tintoberries, 6 narcoberries, and 1 sparkpowderOrange: 9 amarberries, 9 tintoberries, and 2 charcoalTangerine: 7 amarberries, 7 tintoberries, 4 narcoberries, and 1 gunpowderCantaloupe: 7 amarberries, 7 tintoberries, 5 stimberries, and 1 sparkpowderOlive: 12 amarberries, 6 narcoberries, and 1 sparkpowderYellow: 15 amarberries and 2 charcoalMud: 4 amarberries, 1 azulberry, 7 tintoberries, 6 narcoberries, and 1 gunpowderBrown: 6 amarberries, 3 azulberries, 9 tintoberries, and 2 charcoalTan: 4 amarberries, 1 azulberry, 7 tintoberries, 6 stimberries, and 1 gunpowderWhite: 15 stimberries and 2 charcoalParchment: 12 amarberries, 6 stimberries, and 1 gunpowderSilver: 6 narcoberries, 12 stimberries, and 1 gunpowderSlate: 12 narcoberries, 6 stimberries, and 1 sparkpowderBlack: 15 narcoberries and 2 charcoal
Add these ingredients with a full water container to your desired crafting device. Turn it on and wait until the dye finishes.
