Marking Guide

Base Rules Allowances and Shaping Marking Colors Handling White Markings

Base Rules

  • All markings should be easily identifiable, unless obscured by an applicable Apex marking!
  • One marking per geno can be carried, meaning it does not need to show on your design but can still pass in breeding. To carry a marking simply state on the design approval form which mark is hidden.
  • If you choose to color-shift a marking from the Base coat of a design, it must remain clearly picked and shifted from the actual Base coat color chosen!
  • Free Gradient, Fisher's Blush, Base coat, and Adjacent colors must always be pulled directly from the slider.
  • Some markings have special interactions with each other! You can find these interactions under the "Explanation" tab of the individual markings!
  • Be sure to check every marking's guide as you design. Moderators check designs by the guides, and if you do something illegal you will have to correct it!

Marking Layering

All markings have a layering type listed on their front pages. These tell you what markings they can and can't layer over/under!


  • Modifier: This marking can only affect other markings. Color Modifiers (like Fade and Pigment) cannot affect the same marking as other Color Mods unless specified, but Non-Color Modifiers like Varnish and Frontier can affect the same marking as each other!
  • Apex: These markings lay on top of all other markings, but can layer freely with other Apex markings! The exception to this are white markings like Snowed that should always be above everything else!
  • Maverick: Most markings fall in this category. They should always be below Apex marks and be above Basal marks, but otherwise may layer freely among each other!
  • Basal: These markings lay underneath all other markings, but can layer freely with other Basal markings! The exception to this is Free Gradient, which must layer underneath all other markings.

Tricks and Allowances

If you really want to make your import pop, there are several small additions you can add to your design. These effects should remain subtle!


  • White Markings, like Snowed, are allowed to exhibit a slight tint to soften its' impact on the design. This tint should never be too extreme, make sure that all white markings look white! White markings may also have a soft tint along their edge! More info on white markings can be found in the Handling White Markings tab!
  • Any marking with a hard edge may have a subtle Double Edge to help break them up. This should be the same color as the marking itself, but with a lower opacity!
  • Markings are also allowed to have a subtle Watercolor Border on their edges. These should never be dark enough to resemble lineart or thick enough to emulate Frontier! This should be a built-in option in your art program.
  • All markings are allowed to verge slightly into the next edge type over (Soft to Semi-soft, Hard to Semi-soft, etc), as long as those edge types are allowed by the marking. These should never be too extreme!

Marking Shaping

Color Permits

Markings can be the same color as others that share the same color rules, as long as they don't look too much like a marking that the geno doesn't have! You can help to show the different markings by providing a marking map to the Design team, learn more about those [ Here ]! Please note that if you choose not to provide a marking map, the Design team may put your design on hold until you can provide them with one!


This tells you that your marking should be darker than the color you have chosen for the base coat!
This tells you that your marking should be lighter than the color you have chosen for the base coat!
This tells you that your marking has special color rules- Check out the rest of its' guide to learn more!
Edge Permits
  • Most markings give you several edges to pick from! They may not be freely mixed unless the guide specifically says so. Markings with multiple edge types, however, can verge slightly into the next edge-type over! This should be subtle, and runs risk of being sent to corrections!
  • All markings are allowed to show a fur texture on longer fur, like the backs of the hind legs or arms on the furred coat!
This tells you that your marking should have a hard edge. It should never look soft enough to appear semi-soft!
This tells you that your marking should have edges that are slightly soft. They should typically not resemble hard edges, nor dip into soft enough to look like soft edges! You can use the guide image as a reference!
This tells you that your marking's edges should be soft! This is the softest that Rexalia's markings typically can go.
This tells you that your marking's edges can be textured, like showing a heavy fur texture or a "splatter brush"-like texture! These should typically never be more than semi-soft in softness.

Understanding Marking Colors

Nearly all slider colors run into each other slightly, which gives you and the Design team more leeway with marking colors! Don't worry too much about going into the nearest slider with your markings; as long as the general hue seems to be the same, it should pass. However, should you want a marking (or multiple) to have a hue that is very different from the base coat you chose, you must pull these colors directly from your chosen Adjacent slider!

Make sure that all markings, first and foremost, follow the color rules listed on their guides! Some markings have special color rules and only allow for specific sliders to be used!


  • There are two different ways to pick marking colors in Rexalia: Color-shifting, and Color-picking. Markings that are color-picked are always legal, as long as they are pulled directly from the Main or Somber portions of the Basecoat slider. Color-shifted markings should always pull from your Basecoat slider, with little to no hue-deviation. Take care not to oversaturate your colors when color-shifting! Colors that resemble Arcane will be sent to corrections.
  • Markings pulled from the Adjacent sliders must be color-picked directly from the Adjacent slider's Main or Somber portions! These colors should never be edited in any way, no matter what! Please note that Adjacent in Rexalia isn't as straightforward as the next over slider. Adjacent for us is a specific term that applies to the color that is allowed to be used with another color.

  • Markings should always follow their lighter/darker rules. If pulling from an Adjacent slider does not allow this, you cannot use that slider!
  • All markings are also free to use the Black and White sliders, as long as they still follow their respective color rules! Black should never be used for a marking that should be lighter than the base, and the same for White on markings that are darker than the base!
  • Make sure that your markings never look grey without Fade present in your geno! They may be slightly desaturated, but should never verge into full grey. The only exception to this are the Void and Akoya basecoats!

Ink, Terra, Solum, Osseus, and Dune may use each other as their Adjacent sliders! Please note that despite having four sliders to pick from, you can still only pick one slider as your chosen Adjacent!


Remember that you can only use one Adjacent slider!

Slider Breakdown

Every slider has different portions that can be used depending on the marking!


This is the Arcane portion of the slider! It is much more saturated than the rest of the slider, and as such can only be used for specific markings!
This is the Main portion of the slider! As long the marking does not have special color rules stating otherwise, most markings can use this portion of the allowed sliders freely!
This is the Somber portion of the slider! As long as the marking does not have special color rules, most markings are able to use this portion of the slider freely! Please note that you may never use this portion of the slider as a Base color without Somber in your Geno!

Special Color Rules

Some markings, like Free Marks, have the special color rules icon, along with the specific sliders or portions of the slider they're supposed to use!


This tells you that your marking can only take its' colors from the Main portion of your base coat slider! These markings can never take from an Adjacent slider, nor can they use the Somber or Arcane portion of your base coat slider!
This tells you that your marking can only take its' colors from the Main and Somber portion of your base coat slider! These markings can never take from an Adjacent slider, nor can they use the Arcane portion of your base coat slider!
This tells you that your marking should be white! Unless paired with one of the above sliders or another rule, these markings should always look white against the rest of the design, even if they aren't color-picked from the white slider!
This tells you that your marking should be black! Unless paired with one of the above sliders or another rule, these markings should always look black against the rest of the design, even if they aren't color-picked from the black slider!

How to Handle White Marks

White markings are allowed to be slightly tinted in order to be less harsh on the design! This comes with a few caveats; if you're not careful you may get sent to Corrections! Please note that the hue of the tinted white should still mostly fit the hue of the overall design, unless the white is pulled directly from the slider!
This white color is completely fine. It still reads as white, and has a similar hue to the rest of the design! This would be approved.
This color is way off hue compared to the rest of the design and is very clearly pink! Even though it looks decently white, it would still be sent to corrections.
This white color is too dark, and almost looks like a supersaturated grey! Be careful to make sure all white markings on the design are actually white!
Though this is a different hue from the rest of the design, this is fine! It is pulled directly from the slider, and therefore would be approved. Just make sure that it is clearly pulled from the slider!
This is pure white, and completely legal! Hue/Saturation don't come into play here, because this is pure, 100% white.
You may also tint the edges of your white markings! Make sure they are subtle, and don't make the whole marking look too dark!