Paintbrush

Color for structures, creatures and survivors

The Paintbrush is a tool in ARK: Survival Evolved that puts dye onto things in the world. The game's description: "Apply a dye to this, then swing it at structures to paint them." Structures are not the only targets: the ARK Wiki adds creatures, other players and the survivor holding the brush.

Loading the brush and painting

Drag a dye onto the brush in your inventory, equip it, and use the attack button on what you want to color. A single load gives 10 charges of that color, which covers several structure parts. On structures you can choose which paint region receives the color. Creatures, players and some objects, the War Map and the Single Panel Flag among them, have no regions to pick; you draw on them freely instead. For almost any free-hand surface, including the Painting Canvas, a save option at the top of the painting interface keeps your work, and custom doodles can be saved and loaded.

Spending less dye

When a job calls for several colors, the wiki suggests keeping more than one brush, each with its own dye loaded, as that can be more economical. For structures, the Spray Painter is faster and uses dye more sparingly, once you can craft one.

Crafting and wear

The engram unlocks at level 9 for 3 engram points. You craft the brush in your inventory from 10 Thatch, 3 Hide and 1 Wood (Fungal Wood also works); it takes 5 seconds and gives 0.7 XP. It weighs 0.5 and has 100 durability. The wiki notes that this durability becomes visible when the dye runs out, and that adding dye repairs a broken brush. Our records count 28 crate types that can contain one, among them the Aberration White crates and the Island Cave Blue crate.