Welcome to the help corner:Emoticons.  If you have any questions about anything Emoticon related go ahead and send me a note. Not all questions have to be serious, I am  looking forward to all kind of questions ;D    The questions will be answered in the next edition of the help corner.  

I had the idea for this News article when I recently went through the Tutorial list of #Emotication.  I normally send deviants to #Emotication when they need help to create Emoticons. Now that I went through the list I noticed that many tutorials aren't helpful at all.  It is "just" a list with very good but also very bad tutorials.


In the first edition of the help corner I want to share tutorials with you that I find helpful. These don't necessarily  reflect my preferences in the emoticon creation process


Let me first tell you something about different shadings. Every Emoticonist has different preferences when it comes to Emoticon shadings.  Some don't like when the gradient tool has been used, some don't like when too many colours have been used,  some don't like when you use  black for your outline and many other things.  
Don't worry if you think that your first shading attempts aren't perfect, keep in mind that there is no perfect shading!  In a few years you will look back at your shading and you will think that it didn't look that great at all ;D
Most important is that the facial expressions are visible, most deviants will ignore it if it's just a dark blob with no clearly visible face

tips:
• Look at many tutorials as possible and try to combine the stuff that you have learned in them.


• It helps if you look at tutorials about colours, it can help to improve your shading when you understand how different colours work together.
    The Color Tutorial - Part 1
  The Color Tutorial - Part 2
  The Big Long Tutorial:  Tones, Hues, and Saturation.
  The Big Long Tutorial: Colours, and Intro to Light/Shadow
  The Big Long Tutorial: Light/Shadow Continued
  The Big Long Tutorial: Putting it all together.
  Pixel Art Tutorial - Colors     


• Take a look at the bases of other Emoticonists, it helps to see how others have shaded their emotes.  You can also take a look at the emotes in base packs, you can find a few here and here

Which program shall I use?
I can't tell you which program you should use to create Emoticons or which is the best for that. There are many programs out there which can be used. Static Emoticons can be created with any program that has a pencil tool. Some Programs also support animation, you need an extra program if yours don't support animation.    Download the programs and see which is the best for you.
A list with programs that be used to create Emotes can be found here
EasyToon can also be used but you can just create animations in  black and white.

tip:
• Before you start to create Emoticons (or anything else) you should get familiar with your program at first. You can do that by trying everything you can find in the program or you search for tutorials. Nothing is more frustrating than having no clue where to find the tools that you need to create emotes.

Gradient tool or hand pixeled shading?
You have to decide which tool you want use to create your shading.  The gradient tool is good for those who don't want to spend too much time on the shading and immediately want to animate them.  The pencil tool is good for those who want to create a more personalised shading, you have more control when you use the pencil tool.  And it is easier to modify the shading if you use the pencil tool.


Shading tutorials
  


Animation tutorials
            


Miscellaneous tutorials
     


GIF TIPS: Choosing the right frame rates!


You can also go through the Tutorial list of #Emotication yourself, maybe you are able to find tutorials that you like better than those i suggested


That's all for now
I hope this News article was at least a little bit helpful:
I should mention that I don't know when the next edition of the help corner will be released since  it depends on how many questions I receive, if I receive questions at all xD

Don't forget: You can send me all kind of emoticon related questions