In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, one of the hardest furniture objects to get are the framed photos that your villagers can give you of themselves. Villagers will only give you these pictures if you've reached maximum friendship levels with them, and more often than not, you'll have to maintain that bond with them for weeks or even months on end before they feel comfortable enough to give you their picture as a keepsake. Don't worry, though; we're here to help with a handy guide that will help you become best friends with your villagers and get their pictures in no time.
Talk to your Villagers often
The best and simplest way that you can build a strong relationship with a villager in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is to get social and talk to them. You'll want to speak to your villagers at least two or three times a day, though six to eight times is ideal. This is because talking to villagers makes them feel appreciated and valued as a friend. Often, your villagers will have some interesting things to say to you too (including hints about game mechanics!), so you'll benefit from the chatting in ways that go beyond just forming friendships.
Something to be aware of, though, is that if you talk to a villager too many times in one day (typically about more than 12-15 times), they will either become annoyed, bored, or sad. This reaction will reduce your relationship with them and nullify the friendship gains you made by talking to them in the first place, so be careful not to "spam" your villagers.
Send them letters
Another great way to develop a friendship with your villagers is to send them letters in the mail. You can do this by walking up to the postcard rack in the Dodo Airlines airport and telling Orville you'd like to send a letter. Then you can select the resident you'd like to send it to, write out whatever nice message you feel like, and Orville will make sure it gets delivered the day afterward.
Villagers may not always mention the letter you sent them in conversation, but every letter you send will improve your reputation with them. This improvement is increased if you choose to attach a gift to the letter when sending it, too, and in some cases, you may even get a response letter sent back to you.
Give them gifts
Giving your villagers gifts is also a fantastic way to get villagers to warm up to you. To do this, you'll first need to build up your friendship a bit by chatting with villagers daily and sending them letters (this restriction doesn't apply when it's the villager's birthday). Once you build up a decent relationship, you will notice that you're now able to gift villagers items when talking to them. All you have to do is select that option, pick the item you want to give them from your inventory, and watch as your villager's face lights up with glee.
Villagers love to get all types of gifts, but giving villagers items that match their personality types will increase your reputation gains. For example, Lazy villagers love getting food the most, while Snooty ones will go crazy over clothing and accessories. Exercise furniture or clothing is ideal for Jock villagers, while Uchi ones tend to fawn over unusual and unorthodox gifts like bugs. Each one of your animal friends has one of eight different villager personality types, so make sure you give the best gifts for each villager.
Complete tasks for your Villagers
Ah, yes, the dreaded villager favors. While it can be a bit of a pain, you should do what villagers ask you to do because it provides a big boost to your relationship with them. As with gift-giving, you also have a chance of getting a reward for your efforts on top of a strengthened friendship.
These tasks can vary widely. Villagers may ask you to get them some fruit, catch a bug or fish, take an item they have to another villager, and more. When possible, try and go above and beyond for them; for example, if a villager asks you for fruit, bring them a non-native fruit instead of the one that regularly grows on your island. If they ask for a fish or bug, bring them a rare one. This extra effort will be noticed and appreciated, and your reputation with the villager will soar even higher. Just make sure you don't open any wrapped items they ask you to deliver, as they will consider this rude and will become unhappy with you.
Avoid pushing and hitting Villagers
Throwback to when I accidentally hit Genji with my net :( #AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/10tVZGOZs9Throwback to when I accidentally hit Genji with my net :( #AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/10tVZGOZs9— Cassondra (@CassondraBones) September 21, 2020September 21, 2020
This tip is a pretty obvious one but take great care to avoid pushing your villagers around or bopping them on the head with a net. It's something you can do on accident surprisingly easily when trying to talk to them, so we recommend putting your net away before initiating a conversation. If you're trying to catch a bug that's close to your villager, wait for it to move away before going in for the catch. You don't need to worry about this when catching fleas that are on villagers, though.
Hitting or pushing villagers too many times will result in them becoming upset with you, and your relationship with them will drop significantly. Make sure you're careful!
Be patient and don't give up
Animal Crossing is a series that asks you to be patient and trying to get a villager to give you their photo will require you to be so. Even if you do all of the above-listed activities every day, it may take weeks or even over a month for your villager to decide to give you their picture. Don't get frustrated, though, because they will give it to you if you consistently work to build and maintain a strong friendship with your villagers. And in the end, you'll realize all the effort was worth it when their adorable framed photos are sitting on your table.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for $60 on Nintendo Switch. Make sure to catch our list of the most popular villagers if you're looking for new friends to bring to your island, and also don't miss the best Animal Crossing T-Shirts, as you can buy a shirt that has your favorite villager on it.
