Emotions?

[someonewhois]

the vBulletin smilies are so perfect!

Small borders on the outside, and very clear. This one: is very clear.


Mine have thick borders, and the eyes/mouth are sloppy.

I'm using Paint Shop Pro (Photoshop doesn't work on Windows 95 ).

Any tips?

Regards,
Someonewhois

[anode]

Do you have an example you can show?

Without seeing anything I would assume that it's because you're not working with a 1 pixel brush. If I'm totally wrong here , post one of your smilies (preferabley the normal size and a blown up version.)

[someonewhois]

Here's a smiling one

I have yet to make it a transparent background, but will do that after I get a final copy

Regards,
Someonewhois

[cow]

the easiest way to make smilies is to create your blank document (in this case, 15x15 pixels), zoom in as far as you can. then just use the pencil tool to draw each pixel. make sure your pencil tool is set to 1 pixel width.

here is what the normal and zoomed in version of the sitepoint standard smilie looks like:

normal...

zoomed...

[anode]

Hm...it looks like you're using standard tools(like circle selections) which won't work for something so small. As cow reiterated, every pixel must be drawn in with a 1 pixel hard square brush. This actually becomes second nature after a while, so not as hard as it sounds.

Here are some specific tips. I'm not familiar with Paint Shop Pro's feature set, but hopefully you'll be able to adapt some of these:

1)Have the file you're working on be (desired number of smilies x15)pixels wide and 15 pixels high. Place vertical guides every 15 pixels to delimit your future smilies. This way you can look at all of them at the same time, and reuse common elements.

2)If you have the oprion of multiple views ata time, try to have one open of the smilies at "full" size and one at pixel level. This way you can see your changes right away without zooming out.

3)Make an outline layer and a fill layer (in your most common color.) Place these in a layer set and (Option for Mac, Alt for PC)+drag
one into each of your smilie containers. From then make sure to work on each smiley in it's own set. It's a good idea to make each element(eyes, mouth etc.) a separate layer for reuse.

If you get stuck and have trouble getting expressive faces out of the small working space, try to take a look at some pixel art tutorials (especially teh ones that focus on the old 8-bit video game characters.) "So you want to be a pixel artist?" is regarded as a classic and is my personal favorite.

[someonewhois]

Cow: I do that

Anode: Thanks!

[ThaVincy]

Emmmm...

Can't you DOWNLOAD sets of smilies?

[redux]

someonewhois...the best way to do smiles is to do them pixel by pixel (e.g. pencil tool in photoshop) or, if you must use other tools, turn off antialiasing.

[someonewhois]

ThaVIncy - Not when I'm wanting to distribute what the emoticons are for


Redux - I found that out, and I made a fairly nice set.

http://www.sowibb.com/images/emoticons/

I'm happy with them