Hi! I am Megumi and since I have been streaming I have been asked a lot for tips on emotes - so I thought I would make a tutorial! The whole thing is also available as a video tutorial with a little more blah blah.

 

 

new document

Create a new A4 document with a resolution of 300 dpi. I personally prefer gray as paper color rather than white because it is easier to assess colors.

Would you like a box?

Using the Rectangle Shape tool, drag a square onto an empty layer. If you hold down Shift, the aspect ratios remain the same.

There are two ways to copy the square:

1: Use the selection tool to select the square and use the "copy and paste" option in the selection menu. Then you select the "Move Layer" tool, hold Shift and move the new square to the right. Holding the Shift key keeps it in alignment with the original position.

2. Make sure that you have selected the layer to be copied, and then select the "Move Layer" tool. If you click and drag on the layer now, CSP will create a duplicate of the entire layer. As soon as you have the copy in your hand, you can let go of Alt and switch the orientation back on with Shift. Make six squares in this way and combine the layers with "Combine with layer below" in the layer window just above the list of your layers.

To save you trouble, lock the level with the small padlock. So you can neither accidentally paint on it nor influence it in any other way, because you no longer need to do that.

Sketches

Creates a new layer and calls it "sketches" or similar. For sketches I use the "Light Pencil", one of the standard brushes from CSP. I also like to draw in black here so that I can concentrate better on the silhouette.

If there is no template yet, sketch your character in the first field so that you can use it as a guide later. The more precisely you do this, the more support you have for the emojis that you build on it. Here are a few design tips:

 

1. Look at the figure for what it is - a communication tool. What you want to convey are feelings! Therefore give the figure what it needs for its expression and leave away what it does NOT need for it. Unnecessary elements make the emote difficult to recognize in small resolutions.

2. The smaller the emoji afterwards, the clearer the expression must be. Of course, the facial expression is important for this, sometimes extremities such as hands, but also the silhouette. Angular and jagged conveys tension, round shapes warmth or cosiness. Characters with animal ears also tell a lot about the shape of the ears!

3. Don't be afraid to go away in favor of expressing classic proportions. Sometimes you have to exaggerate to get a good idea of what is supposed to be received.

 

When you are finished with the sketch, give the layer a layer color, then put the layer into the "Multiply" mode and turn the opacity to approx. 30%. So you have the sketch beautiful in the background, it contrasts in color so that you don't confuse it with others, and by multiplying it remains clearly visible on every paper color.

Draw in and colorize

There are many techniques for drawing in, which I would like to deal with again when. Here I simply use my "Light Pencil" again in 100% black and hardness level 5, because I really like the slightly soft edges of this brush. Adds a new layer above the sketch layer and names it e.g. "Lines".

I don't take the lines so terribly precisely, because in the end you won't see it very well anyway. But be careful not to get too close, because then you always tend to make the lines thinner! Keep track of the big picture. Lines separate surfaces from each other and thus also the forms that later make up the expression. Alternatively or in parallel, you also work with enough contrasts between the colored areas. When you are finished with the final drawing, hide the sketch layer and add another layer under "Lines" and call it "Color".

There are again several options for coloring. First of all, it is important that all areas are fully covered, which is why I use a marker from the same brush tab as the pen.

Alternatively, you can fill closed areas with the fill tool. The lines don't have to be on the same level! Cool wh To do this, select the "refer other layers" bucket. You may have to adjust that the fill area is expanded by a few pixels so that you don't have an empty border.

To add a few more shades without making it too complicated, you can lock the transparent pixels with one click. Now you can no longer paint over the edges. Choose a brush of your choice, maybe an airbrush? And decorate the color layer until you're satisfied. I keep it simple and just put a colored shadow and a little highlight.

Bring into ready-to-use form

From here it becomes more or less specific to the emotes that are used on Twitch. Depending on the platform, the required or permitted size of the emote, and sometimes also the format, varies. Find out what you need and then create a new document according to these guidelines. At Twitch, the default are 112x112, 56x56 and 28x28 pixels. So I'm making a 112 x 112 pixel file.

To take everything from the previous document, you can go two ways again - the first would be that you combine the Lines level with the Color level directly and copy the emote out as it is. This is of course a little more "destructive" because the layers are then clipped together and changes are no longer so easy. Alternatively, you can select the emote surface with a selection tool and then select both layers in the layer window. If you copy now, the contents of both levels will be copied and pasted into the new document as two levels.

Now all you have to do is resize the emote. If the layers are separate, be sure to select both so that you reduce both at the same time. With a click on the eye in front of the "paper" layer you make the background invisible. Save the result as a .png to maintain transparency. Finished!