HOME | DD

12hc12Emoticon Tutorial

Published: 2008-08-21 01:59:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 57964; Favourites: 1303; Downloads: 1550
Redirect to original
Description Attention!
Considering the great amount of time since I have thought about emotes, never mind the neglect I've put on my emoting programs, I can no longer truly provide satisfactory advice for all you budding emoticonists. I still love to see a new emote now and then, and the comments on both my tutorials are very uplifting. However, the flood of questions must come to an end.
But, I won't just leave you in the dark. There are many resources out there in the deviantART community that can really help.
Be sure to check out #Emotication for other tutorials and a long list of resources for all aspects of emoticon creation. If you need a mentor, they have a program set up to give you the kind of help you need.
If you have a specific question about emoticons or emoticon creation (including animation), head over to #WeEmote . The group there are sure to have an answer for you, or at least point you in the right direction.

And of course, dA has a massive section on tutorials for some of the most popular programs (as well as general tutorials) that can be easily found in the Resources and Stock Images > Tutorials gallery.

If you comment or send me a note, please don't be offended if I direct you elsewhere. I really can't provide you with the help you deserve.

-----

Warning: File size is fairly gigantic.

Well, seeing as how I had a tutorial for GIMP emoticon animations, I figured I'd make an actual emoticon tutorial.
This is a beginners tutorial, and the likelihood of me teaching more complicated colouring styles, how to colour and how not to colour, and things like that is fairly minimal. Be happy with what you have, people.

(Oh, and this one has a prettier layout than the last one. )

The tutorial covers programs, outlines, two colouring styles, and hands. And again, this is just a simple tutorial. Build off and learn from it; I recommend any new emoticonist that REALLY feels comfortable with the above two colouring styles to try their own; make more complicated symbols and gradually make your way to something unique to yourself.

And if you make an emote with the help of this tutorial, don't be afraid to show and tell. :D I'd love to see 'em. ^__^

Thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you for the DD, =davebold370 and ^Hanratty-Stock !
Related content
Comments: 832

12hc12 In reply to ??? [2010-02-20 15:17:05 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

xXAli-StarXx [2010-02-07 08:00:34 +0000 UTC]

I used you're tutorial to help me with my shading here [link]

Thankyou for the wonderful tutorial

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to xXAli-StarXx [2010-02-08 00:14:41 +0000 UTC]

I'm glad I could be of help; your shading style is looking quite nice!

And what a great animation for a great cause.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

xXAli-StarXx In reply to 12hc12 [2010-02-08 01:03:19 +0000 UTC]

Thankyou

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

FudgecakeKamy In reply to ??? [2010-02-02 22:21:45 +0000 UTC]

*explodes* Thanks sooooooooooo much for this AMAZING tutorial!! Heres a link to my FIRST EMOTE [link] Tell me how i did :3 Is it good or ehhh? And again Thanks

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-02-02 23:03:24 +0000 UTC]

How very, very large it is! o: Try zooming in to fill in individual pixels--each of your pixels appear to be a 3-by-3 square of normal pixels. (; Other than that, it looks pretty good! (:

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-02-02 23:34:00 +0000 UTC]

I did 50x50 pixels....so maybe thats why it looked so big. But i will do 15x15 pixel for now on Thanks for the advice! I hope i get better

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-02-02 23:54:58 +0000 UTC]

That'd do it. (;
With a bit of practise, you'll be a master in no time!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-02-03 00:04:00 +0000 UTC]

Aww thanks I hope i will too! And thanks for this tutorial it really made a big difference for me

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-02-03 03:02:34 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome! I'm glad you've learned from it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

FudgecakeKamy In reply to ??? [2010-01-25 21:03:32 +0000 UTC]

I FOUND IT. I know where it is

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-26 02:26:32 +0000 UTC]

Awesome!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-26 21:44:05 +0000 UTC]

I will link it to you soon

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-31 04:01:00 +0000 UTC]

Great!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

FudgecakeKamy In reply to ??? [2010-01-20 02:48:47 +0000 UTC]

I can't find the radial gradient or the symbol style. Please help me! I really want to make emoticons!!! And this Tutorial is really awesome it's just i can't find the stuff on GIMP at all

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-20 02:54:08 +0000 UTC]

The radial gradient is a function of the gradient tool. In the tools window, find the Gradient Tool (which should look like two colours blending together), and select it. Near the top of the page, a new set of options should appear, allowing you to change "Linear Gradient" to "Radial Gradient."
The symbol style isn't a function of anything in GIMP--you have to manually use the pencil tool to come up with a shape (or "symbol") to begin your shading with--start at the center of the emote with this small shape (usually a small square, or something similar) with a light colour and gradually use darker and darker colours as you encircle this initial symbol.

Once you use GIMP and take a good look around, you get used to where everything is. And when something just can't be found, google has always proven to be a master at hide and seek. (;

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-20 19:51:28 +0000 UTC]

I can't find it There is nothing at the top of the toolbox that has options. But i guess i will try the Pencil.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-20 20:52:58 +0000 UTC]

Once you have the Gradient tool selected, the new options should be a few lines below the File, Edit etc. menus.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-20 21:00:17 +0000 UTC]

Okay i see. Then i click "select"...and then now what? Sorry I really suck at listening/ doing this

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-20 21:38:17 +0000 UTC]

It's been a while since I've actually used GIMP, so I'm getting it confused with other programs. Sorry!
This image shows where to select the shape of the gradient.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-21 02:02:45 +0000 UTC]

Ummm...Thank you. I have still haven't find it...but it's okay i guess Thank you again

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-21 02:58:31 +0000 UTC]

Keep looking. You'll find it one day when you least expect it.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-21 19:41:24 +0000 UTC]

Sure i will I usually have badluck

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to FudgecakeKamy [2010-01-21 19:48:35 +0000 UTC]

Best of luck then.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FudgecakeKamy In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-21 20:10:10 +0000 UTC]

Yup

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Airewyn In reply to ??? [2010-01-16 19:09:01 +0000 UTC]

Extremely Helpful!!! this is what I made [link]

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to Airewyn [2010-01-16 22:21:54 +0000 UTC]

Very nice. (; Quite the little evil genius you've created!
I think that means you've doomed us all!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Airewyn In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-16 22:58:39 +0000 UTC]

Muwhahaha! (j/k....or am I?)

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to Airewyn [2010-01-17 01:11:34 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

OneFriend In reply to ??? [2010-01-15 05:25:16 +0000 UTC]

tnx ! i used your tutorial in FARMVILLE ! farmville? click this [link] to see my work in DA . D

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to OneFriend [2010-01-15 19:54:27 +0000 UTC]

Very creative! Good work. ^__^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

OneFriend In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-21 12:24:10 +0000 UTC]

thnx !

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

iluvme4never [2010-01-08 02:35:41 +0000 UTC]

hey, whenever i make an emote in gimp, it sort of stacks the layers on top of each other, so i cant do any movement in the emote outside of just moving the facial features around. how do i make it so that the layers do this instead of this ?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to iluvme4never [2010-01-08 03:50:20 +0000 UTC]

Check out my GIMP Animation Tutorial and make sure that your layer names follow the guidelines outlined there (the layer naming guidelines are near the bottom of the image). When you've got that done on all of your layer names, make sure that you've used the replace method.
For example, a layer name might be something like this:
Layer #1 (200ms)(replace)

Your issue most likely stems from the use of the combine method, which stacks all your layers as it plays them, instead of swapping them out.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

iluvme4never In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-08 15:27:50 +0000 UTC]

oh, ok. thank you so much

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Arctic-Hunter In reply to ??? [2010-01-04 03:29:18 +0000 UTC]

my first.

[link]

now i can get to those emote animations i had mapped out on paper for a while.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to Arctic-Hunter [2010-01-04 20:25:57 +0000 UTC]

Very creative, and nicely done.

Best of luck in animations. (; They tend to be a bit tricky at first, but a lot of fun once you get into it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Arctic-Hunter In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-04 21:57:20 +0000 UTC]

tx!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

7IsAMurderer In reply to ??? [2010-01-01 21:56:36 +0000 UTC]

I have a problem. I've made a new 15x15 project in The GIMP but it wont let me draw anything. Do you know why this is?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to 7IsAMurderer [2010-01-03 04:04:17 +0000 UTC]

There's a very wide range of situations that could create this issue, and I'm really not sure if I could pinpoint it to a single solution.

To be completely honest, I haven't touched GIMP in months, and wouldn't even know where to begin suggesting solutions. The best answer I can give you right now is to make sure you have the correct tool selected, a visible colour (preferably black) selected, and ensure that the canvas is as it should be. Play around with it, check the help files, and if all else fails, Google is a mastermind of answers.

I'm really sorry I can't be of more help; best of luck, though!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

7IsAMurderer In reply to 12hc12 [2010-01-03 09:45:22 +0000 UTC]

Okay. Thanks anyway.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

GenreChowderStudios In reply to ??? [2009-12-13 03:44:55 +0000 UTC]

I loved this! Personable yet informative! My favorite type of instructions!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to GenreChowderStudios [2009-12-13 04:24:42 +0000 UTC]

I'm glad it's been so good to you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GenreChowderStudios In reply to 12hc12 [2009-12-13 04:33:51 +0000 UTC]

I'm going to use it to hopefully make some emoticons.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to GenreChowderStudios [2009-12-13 15:56:42 +0000 UTC]

Be sure to show me if you get around to finishing some! I love to see what people come up with on their first try. (;

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GenreChowderStudios In reply to 12hc12 [2009-12-13 16:22:54 +0000 UTC]

I will! This'll be fun.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to GenreChowderStudios [2009-12-13 16:49:29 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GenreChowderStudios In reply to 12hc12 [2009-12-13 17:29:59 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Akjsnksa In reply to ??? [2009-12-05 23:35:46 +0000 UTC]

Oh wow, thanks so much for making this! I never really though all that much about emotes but they are so cute and fun to do! I love making them. (i'm working on my first one right now and i'll show it to you when i'm done)
This is a VERY easy to follow tutorial and easy to remeber. Great job!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

12hc12 In reply to Akjsnksa [2009-12-06 23:53:47 +0000 UTC]

I'm glad you're getting some good use out of it; enjoy making emotes! It's terribly addicting. (:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0


<= Prev | | Next =>