Have you just started making emoticons? Or are you new to dA and like looking at tiny balls with faces that do funny things? Then you have come to the right place! This journal is all about getting you started on that long and awesome road to emoticon making/watching/spamming! So keep reading if you are interested!





So... where to get started? Some people already know how to make complex animations when they start making emotes while others don't have a clue where to even start looking. But don't worry. There are tons of tutorials here on dA to fit all skill levels. A great place to start looking is here: #Emotication This group has a long list of tutorials for a long range of different programs. It also has links to necessary programs, resources, links to other emote groups, projects, contests  and basically everything you need to get started and keep going!







Once you've made a few emotes and gotten comfortable with it you might want to try entering some projects to try and make something together with others. Or you might want to defeat your enemies in epic battles!
You can find a lot of awesome projects that are still open at #Emoticon-Projects, and for epic contests and other fun stuff you can join #EmoticonOpus and #Emoticiety ^___^
Or if you are just looking for some more ideas to create emotes around then check out #SuggestAnEmote







Find out what's happening in the community and get involved. The easiest way to do this is to get to know your fellow emoticonists, share your knowledge and learn from them... and poke them! You can do all that in WeEmote which is the main chatroom of the emoticon gallery. Go there and say hi! This is a great place to hang out for both emoticonists and emote users, even though it gets quiet there most of the time you can be sure that you will meet some nice, cheerful and helpful and/or scary people there!

Also, you might want to add the gallery moderator of the emoticon gallery to your devwatch. `mintyy, she's someone you can go to if you have questions about the gallery, community or emoticons in general. Other important people who I think do a lot in the community are `Synfull and `Krissi001. So whether you are an emoticonist or just like finding and using new emotes, these people will bring a lot of news, events and awesomeness your way!




Well there are still a lot of things to see and do... but if I try explaining them all then we will end up with a really, really long journal! So I will put the rest in bullets!


[link] (So I herd U liek emotes??) , a weekly news article by `Synfull featuring some outstanding emotes!

#Pack-it-in, a group where you can find most of the emote packs on dA, and also get your own pack featured!

#dAmn-Emotes, a group for chat based emoticons!

Don't forget to check the [link] (Daily Deviation page) to see if there are any emotes there! You can also suggest an emote to `mintyy if you feel that it should recieve a DD.
        _{FAQ #61: What is a Daily Deviation?
        [link] (Monthly DD Summary)}

[link] (Emotional Emoticons), a news article featuring emotes of certain themes.

Here's a brand new emote project! Go check it out.

If you have any questions ot need some help or tips with your emote making then feel free to send me a note or leave a comment. I would love to help you out any time.


But after some time here, I'm sure you will find a lot more than what I have mentioned above. So I hope this journal has been helpful for some of you new emoticonists out there. Feel free to spread this around if you think it migth help someone you know!

and now... here are (in my opinion) some of the most awesome emotes on dA: