Animal Crossing: New Horizons | How to Spot Fake Paintings

Telling the difference between Animal Crossing: New Horizons paintings and forgeries is a fine art (pun intended). With the game’s latest update, a plethora of new activities have been added, as well as new characters and collectibles. Before you can even thing about checking out your art, you’ll need to find Redd.

Don’t worry, it’s easy. Redd will show up on your island, as long as you’ve updated the game. He appears on various days, so just play every day and keep an eye out for him. You can’t miss him. Now Redd deals in fake and forged art. Real art can be collected in the new level of your museum, but fake art is worthless. We’ve got a selection of tips to help you tell the difference between Animal Crossing: New Horizons paintings and forgeries below. 

Use this helpful image to see the direct difference between a fake and real painting

Use the image above, and the ones below, to see the differences between the real and fake paintings. We’ve described how to tell each fake apart in the rest of this guide. 

Jolly Painting

Normally you shouldn’t stare at someone’s chest, but here it’s completely justified

The real Jolly Painting has a plant sprouting from the chest, while the fake does not. 

Famous Painting

If those eyebrows look even more painted on, then this is fake

The eyebrows on this fake painting are a lot more aggressive than the real one. Take a closer look when you’re about to buy it. 

Scary Painting

The anger is real

This is the opposite to the Famous Painting. It’s meant to look angry, so the eyebrows are supposed to be slanting down towards the nose.

Wistful Painting

The earrings are the giveaway

The fake version of the Wistful Painting has a star shaped earring, while the real one has a pearl earring.

Wild Painting (Left and Right Halves)

Left god

Right god

The fake of this painting has inverted colours. The real painting has a white god on the left, and green god on the right. The fake has a green god on the left, and a white god on the right. 

Amazing Painting

If there’s no hat, don’t buy that!

This is a tough one to track. The fake image has no hat on the figure in the middle. Take a really good look, because you don’t want to miss this. 

Academic Painting

Coffee stains are the fake

The fake painting is very easy to spot because it’s covered in coffee stains. Do not buy the coffee stains. 

Moving Painting

Check for the trees

For this image, look to the right hand side of the painting. There should be trees in the background. If not, it’s the fake. 

Solemn Painting

It’s all in the arm

This fake is very hard to spot, so pay attention. The image has a lot of people standing or sitting in it. You want to look right in the middle for someone standing in a doorway, it’s very hard to see at first. That person should have their arm pointing only slightly upwards, more out of their chest at what I would say is an 80 degree angle. If the angle is more acute, meaning that the figure is pointing more towards the ceiling, then it’s the fake. Try to use your best judgement here, if the arm looks too high, leave it. 

Detailed Painting

If it’s purple, leave it

This is another very easy fake to spot. If the plant is purple, it’s fake. The plant should be green.

Graceful Painting

The massive woman is clearly fake

The fake of this image simply features a larger woman. The real image has a woman who is about half the height of the actual picture. If the woman is close to filling up the painting, it’s a fake.

Quaint Painting

Too much water? It’s a fake

Now for another tough one. This is an image of a woman pouring water from a jug. The water coming out of the jug is what you need to be looking for. The real painting has a small trickle of water pouring out of it. If the water takes up the entire lip of the jug, it’s a fake. 

Basic Painting

The stupid haircut is the real one

This painting is of a single boy. If he has a forehead that is completely covered in hair, it’s fake. The real picture has a boy with a lick of hair almost directly down the centre of his forehead. He looks very silly, so if you think that then you’re probably looking at the real image.

Scenic Painting

If you see one man, it’s a fake

This one might look complicated, but it’s very easy to spot the fake. There should be two men at the front of the painting, if you only have one, it’s the fake. 

Serene Painting

The stoat should be white

In this image, the woman is meant to be holding a stoat. The stoat in the real painting is completely white, so if you see a dark furred one, it’s a fake. 

The following Paintings are always real, so memorise them and buy them if you see them for sale.

Calm Painting

Never fake

This picture is never fake, so just buy it when you get the chance to.

Common Painting

This painting is also, like the Calm Painting, never fake. 

Dynamic Painting

Once again, this painting is always real.

Flowery Painting

One of my favourites in the list, and one that is always real.

Glowing Painting

This is another painting that is always real, but I’d recommend staring at it for hours anyway because of how pretty it looks.

Moody Painting

The Moody Painting is terrifying to me, as well as always being real.

Mysterious Painting

This painting oddly reminds me of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, though that has no bearing on the fact that it’s 100% always real.

Nice Painting

A simple name for a painting that is simply always real.

Perfect Painting

The name of this one makes it easy to remember that it’s always real, a fake is never perfect.

Proper Painting

The Proper Painting is another one that’s always real. I like how much it looks like Resident Evil 5‘s version of Jill Valentine.

Sinking Painting

The Sinking Painting is always real, it cannot be faked.

Twinkling Painting

You know this one, and you should also know that it’s always real.

Warm Painting

This looks like it could be straight out of Titanic, It’s always real as well.

Worthy Painting

Named as such because it is always real.

Don’t be fooled by the fake paintings. Use the images in this guide, as well as our explanations, to keep an eye out for fakes and avoid them. If you think we missed any, or you found it useful, please tell us in the comments. A huge thank you to GameRant for putting many of the images together.