Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Te gusta pintar animales?

Great question! With gustar, the verb matches what you like. Here, you are saying you like the action of painting (pintar). Whenever you like doing an action, you always use the singular gusta. It doesn't matter that animales is plural because the main thing you like is the action itself!

What exactly does te mean here?

Te is an indirect object pronoun that means "to you" (informal). In Spanish, you don't say "You like painting." Instead, the structure is backward to English speakers: you say "To paint animals is pleasing to you."

Why isn't the verb pintar conjugated as pintas since we are talking to "you"?

Because pintar here means "to paint." Just like in English, when you put another verb right after "like" (or gusta), you leave it in its dictionary form, which is called the infinitive. The "you" part is already covered by the word te!

Why isn't there a word for "Do" at the start of the Spanish sentence?

Spanish doesn't use helper words like "do" or "does" to form questions. To ask a yes/no question, you simply write the statement exactly as it is (Te gusta pintar animales) and wrap it in upside-down and regular question marks. When speaking, you just raise your voice at the end.