Unofficial 2D Contests: Emoticons

[morbent]

[rainbow]Hello guys,[/rainbow]

There has been a certain lack of Art Contests and I decided to start one myself and eventually, if successful, make more. Since this isn't moderator supported, there will be no Judges and no Rewards for first places (except maybe I'll rep everyone who joins and does something and rep the winners twice or so). The winners will be chosen with a User Voting system. To avoid cheating only the contestants will be able to vote.

[rainbow]Theme:[/rainbow]

Ok... so, the theme I chose is "Holy" (you can still choose the old "Angelic" if you wish).

[rainbow]Time:[/rainbow]

The contest shall begin on 22nd of November and conclude on 20th of December, 11:59 PM [UTC]. (That's around 27 days I know it's not much but we could increase it if you guys need more time)

[rainbow]Rules:[/rainbow]

The Emoticon can be animated or non animated, it is up to the Creator to decide. Animated emoticons often get more points of course cuz they look more bad ass.

The Emoticon can be anything - special effects, little weapons, anything. I'd recommend making a face though, since it's more usable in forums.

The Emoticon must be maximum 35 pixels Width and Height, with 2-3 pixel free space from all sides. (exceptions can be made, if the unit has a long head, horns, spikes, wings, some background or stuff like that (with maximum of 15 pixels extension) The Emoticon can also exceed the pixel Size if the animation (if it has one) requires it.)

You can make from 1 to 6 emoticons, they don't have to represent the same thing (like voidwalker Laugh and voidwalker Cry), they just have to be on theme (Holy).

The Emoticon's preferable background is transparent. Animated emoticons can skip that since .gif files don't support half-trasnparency (For example, if you have a glow, which is 20% Red (255 0 0) on a transparent background it will become white).

[rainbow]Contestants:[/rainbow]

Contestants:

Roland
Apheraz Lucent
stonneash
Hera_

People who might join:

Wrathion
Amargaard
Chenralstrasz
Vladadamm
RED BARON

[rainbow]Tutorials:[/rainbow]

[rainbow]1[/rainbow]

(I made this little tutorial for people who have never made emoticons (not that I have WOW!) to show you that it's not much different from painting normally. You just gotta work with pixels.)

Step 1 (face)

Create the limits of the face and the position of the eyes.

Step 2 (lines)

Create the lines of the face.

Step 3 (color)

Base colors and the overall value of the paintings (main highlights and shadows areas).

Step 4 (value)

Now, add an imaginary light source --> darken one side of the face more than the other. Leave the middle area lighted, to focus on the eyes. The eyes, nose, mouth area are the most important from an emoticon. They display it's emotion, the thing you want to represent.

Step 5 (details)

Now add the details. You're done

Step 6 (animating it)

Now start moving parts of the face with 1-2 pixels up/down/right/left. For animating it. Make more frames than 1 (more movements). After that, with some program simply make them play one after another. As I said before, if you don't have such a program, ask me (or someone else) and I'll merge them in a .gif

Step 7 (animation)

[rainbow]2[/rainbow]

(A tutorial about Gif making in Photoshop. It's rather large and I had to make it a downloadable PS file. Every step is explained in it's own layer, unlike the previous tutorial)

http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/pastebin.php?id=oxqc8c

Good

luck.

Also, I believe emoticons are some kind of textures so I posted it here. They are the User Interface of a site, are they not :?

 

[morbent]

Oh I forgot to say that, if you don't know how to animate, or don't have program with which to animate just make the frames you will need for the certain animation and I can do it for you. I wanna do something for this contest anyways wow ^^

 

[Amargaard]

Lol, looks awzum, expect me to creep around here for sure

 

[morbent]

But I need contestants not creepers Amargaard xD! It's bloody empty =D Also, I doubt anyone will even see it.

Still, thanks for replying here.

 

[Amargaard]

Well, dunno, never made emoticons before, and I can't participate in the near future anyway due to my computer being trashed during my party last weekend, but if I get it fixed soon I'll strongly consider it ^^

 

[morbent]

Oh I see. Well, for emoticon creation, you can even use a program like Paint - it's just pixel work. I had never created emoticons before in my life until today, and well, it takes time at first.. but once you get the hang of it, it's a lot faster. And also, animating an emoticon is just making frames (many pictures with a little movement in the pixels). And after that you just use a program to combine them in a .gif file. Actually, I will add that to the description, so that other people can see it, in case they want to know how it is done. Or at least I think it's done that way wow xD

 

[Roland]

I want to Join, sorta.

But I prefer Paint.Net, it's a easy Pixel making tool for Minecraft weapon makers it's easy and a Precise tool. I use Paint net to make small emoticons such as Avatars, but I mostly make some Graphics.

 

[Chen]

Don't you know that we can have Emoticon contests? I think the Hive already have two Emoticon contests finished. The one is Night Elf themed and the other is Creep themed. I can join but you shall have a specific theme.

 

[morbent]

Hmm? Even if we do have Emoticon contests, it was in the past right :? We can have another one, why not ^^ And since I'm organizing a small event here, I don't want to give a theme (it might make some people give up, since they might not like the chosen theme). Draw whatever you want, Chenrals. Also, Roland, I never said you have to use the programs I specified above, you can do it with whatever program you like

 

[GreeN!X]

Hmm, I'll give this a try, I think some new emoticons for hive (or .w3m) would be nice. However, does the emoticon need to be THAT tiny? or are we free to choose our own sizes?

O wait, just reread the thread and noticed the 45x45 pix part.

 

[morbent]

The Voidwalker emoticon is 40x40. In fact, I think 45 is a lot I'm still unsure whether to make a minimum size, cuz some people might make smaller emoticons which will normally lose to the large ones, since they will have less detail. There has to be a 2-3 pixels free space from all sides of the icon, which, basically makes it around 40 pixels. Actually, I'll add that to the rules, thanks for the comment Hera. Also, don't forget that:

(exceptions can be made, if the unit has a long head, horns, spikes or stuff like that. The Emoticon can also exceed the pixel Size if the animation (if it has one) requires it.)

 

[morbent]

Hey hmm.. Guys :? Has anyone done anything for the contest xD ?
Is it because I put no theme :? Or maybe it lacks.. it lacks contestants and you don't want to join it due to that? Or is it cuz there are no rewards? Hmm.. Just tell me how to do it and I will. I just want us to have a contest I miss the good ol' contests.

 

[Roland]

Off topic:
Damn you morbent you added me and Chris (Minimage) from a group chat accidently, well, I left the conversation on skype..

On Topic:
Some emoticons can be made depending on their Pixel size.

 

[morbent]

On Topic:
What do you mean :?

Off Topic:
Hmm, sorry for that.

 

[Statharas]

Did you even bother to ask for moderator support?

>Should have been in the Arena...

 

[morbent]

Hmm? I did Stath, I asked enjoy (but I have no reply yet) and Misha who told me I can host it... But I wasn't sure if Non-Icon/Textures Moderators could host it, so I didn't ask others ;p

 

[Cakedog345]

I think it's a good idea! Why not become official this contest?

 

[morbent]

I started it and I'm no moderator, there are no judges and no rewards. It's quite unofficial xD

Update: Since everybody asked me to add a theme I have finally decided to add one, when a few more contestants decide to join. Also, I think that Ralle might set up a notice for the contest.

 

[Apheraz Lucent]

Count me in

 

[morbent]

Ok guys, since this contest became kinda official, and since everybody wanted me to put a theme I will now do so. The theme will be written in the first post and the time you got as well.

 

[Statharas]

Guess I could pass some rep around (10/5/3)

 

[morbent]

There's time until we get to the winners Stath, there aren't many contestants yet wuwz but thanks, that would really help me rep the contestants faster.

 

[Misha]

okay let's get this thing started, folks. i expect you to not spam it, but take it as real contest, even tho it's unofficial, and go for it. are we clear?

 

[Apheraz Lucent]

Sir, yes, sir!

 

[morbent]

Uhm K Misha, but I set the starting date after 4 days

 

[Roland]

Yes, I'm in, I'll be making some Angel tardies :3 And the ones with wings

 

[morbent]

Ok, just to mention, in case you guys don't see it - I changed the maximum size for the Face of the Emoticon to 35x35 (from 45x45) after checking many emoticons (from Skype, THW, Facebook and other sites). I believe it's enough.. I mean, bigger emoticons aren't very useful anyways. But since it's angelic, I would expect people to want to put wings or holy background stuffs and objects, so the Extension Rule will be changed to 15 (from 5)

Also, do you want me to put the contestants who said they might participate in the first post :?

 

[Roland]

Renie, Just list the new contestants. :3 I wanna join.

 

[Vladadamm]

Might try to do something if i have inspiration and motivation.

 

[Kyrbi0]

I like how you started a contest and wrote a mini-tutorial at the same time. Rather generous of you.

Good luck.

 

[Vladadamm]

Hmm, are we obligated to do an emoticon with a face ? Because i don't have much inspiration atm for an head that fits the theme.

 

[morbent]

Hmm.. Well, it's an emoticon.. and emoticons are mainly faces xD I'm not asking for FSJals and such.. but tell me what you have in mind, I can always change the Rules if the Contestants want them to be different

 

[Kyrbi0]

Hmm, are we obligated to do an emoticon with a face ? Because i don't have much inspiration atm for an head that fits the theme.

Think of it this way: "Emoticon" is a portmanteau between "emotion" and "icon", meaning "an icon that shows an emotion". This, combined with the realization that most emotion is communicated through the face (facial expressions & such), leads one to the common idea of making a "face" emoticon.

However, this is not the only thing one can do: case in point,

 

[Vladadamm]

I want to do some special effects emote, such as Healing, Holy Shield, etc... But i'm not managing to do it well for the moment.

 

[morbent]

Oh yes true, Kyrbi. I forgot those emots xD Ok so do you want me to change it :? But it would be harder to choose the best from them then.. They will be quite different I assume >.< Vladadamm, why don't you instead make a face + special holy effects :? That would be quite cool.

 

[Misha]

feel free to think outside the box, guys who says emoticons need to have a face

 

[Vladadamm]

Oh yes true, Kyrbi. I forgot those emots xD Ok so do you want me to change it :? But it would be harder to choose the best from them then.. They will be quite different I assume >.< Vladadamm, why don't you instead make a face + special holy effects :? That would be quite cool.

No, it's ok.

Hmm, i could try, but i'm not that good of an artist, even in pixel art.

 

[Apheraz Lucent]

I'd like to suggest one more thing: any number from 1 to 5 emoticons are allowed to be created, but it won't affect the final rating. Instead, total score rating is divided by an amount of emoticons submitted. A month is more than enough for this contest.

 

[morbent]

Ok so you can choose whether to make 1 or more emoticons, they don't necessarily have to be faces and they don't have to represent different emotions of the same face. Is that so?

I will change the first post then.

edit: oh and about the theme - do you think it's ok guys?

 

[Vinz]

Morbent is awesome.
I might join, but I don't know if it's an Angelic thing I'll come up with.

 

[morbent]

Well I had put it Themeless but some people said it MUST have a theme Just tell me what theme you'd like it to be ^^

 

[Vladadamm]

Imo, the theme is fine.

But if you change the theme, then you could maybe put Holy instead of Angelic, as it's wider (i know there's fallen angels and such, but well, usually angels are related to heaven and other holy stuff).

 

[Roland]

Here's some of my Examples/Templates for my Tard smiley, I found them in DeviantArt.

 

[T. D. W.]

Let's bumb this a little, and morbent, you have a broken table BB code on the first post

 

[morbent]

Oh thanks for that Jad, didn't see it. If you could see what a mess it is in that first post xD

 

[T. D. W.]

It isn't a 'mess'
Well, i didn't get lost ^^"

 

[morbent]

No, no, I meant the Post from the "inside" with all the code names and such ;D But that's off-theme so lets switch that theme to something else. O, now I remembered. I intend to make a little tutorial about gif making in Photoshop. Sadly, I don't know other ways to make it (except some google fucked-up programs, but they are quite.. fucked-up). I think GIMP has a similar animation making to Photoshop?? I don't use it very often, just for threshold and alpha channel.

 

[T. D. W.]

AFAIK you can't make gifs in photoshop, and i think you 'can' well i am not sure, but you can make one in Adobe Fireworks

 

[morbent]

Nope, you can. If you have Photoshop you can check the downloadable file I left in the first post. I'm pretty sure some tutorial about it could be found in YouTube as well.

Hmm, I'm not familiar with Adobe Fireworks... what exactly is it for :? Animating? Cuz gif making is a lot simpler than 2d animation. (however, answer me (if you will) in my Profile, cuz we got too off-theme here xD)

 

[Vinz]

Actually GIF and 2d animations are the same.. right?