Hi all! I thought Id make this handy little, well quite big really, tutorial to share my wisdom and so on and so forth . So here it is...

This tutorial was done on photoshop CS2, but I'm sure it could be used on other graphics programs.

Lesson 1: Making a happy smiley!

Step 1: First of all, load a new page on photoshop as so:



Step 2: now copy and past this smiley base: onto the page. it should look like this:



Here's a tip: save this now as "smiley base". Then you can just go back to it when you want to make another one!

Step 3: Right, now zoom in till it fits the screen, or if your using a bigger page, 1600 percent:



Step 5: now draw down in a line for 3 more pixels. you should end up with this:



Step 6: repeat for the other side:



Now its taking shape!

Step 7: Now we start on the little guys mouth! draw a line under the two eyes like so:



remember not to make the line any bigger or you'll end up with a smiley that looks like Jade Goody! (you might like that, and I won't judge you for it...)

Step 8: now Draw the rest of the mouth:



see? it looks like a mouth now, but there's still a little bit to go.

Step 9: Now you need to use the colour picker, and select the colour that makes the outline of the smiley. then make two dots on the top of the mouth at the ends like this:



Step 10: last step for this lesson! colour the inside of the mouth white! easy:



And there you go! one smiling smiley just like how I do it. bet your chuffed aren't you?

Next lesson: how to make a crying smiley. aww!

That'll have to wait for tomorrow though I'm afraid. see you next time!

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Nice tut mate, well done

Thanks alot and i made mine

Lesson 2: making a crying smiley!

Step 1: load your smiley base (if you saved it, which you should of done.)

Step 2: now draw two dots on the smiley as so:



make sure you draw them where shown, or you get eyes that are very close together!

Step 3: repeat for the other side:



these are the eyebrows.

Step 4: now draw the eyes:



Nearly there!

Step 5: and now the mouth:



Step 6: Now for the tears. select the colour shown:



Step 7: now draw the tears. for a better effect, try to draw them as they would look like in a person's face as they stream down it:



There! done!

Lesson 3: drawing a body!

This lesson will try to teach you how to draw an optional accessory, in this case a body.

Step 1: load the smiling smiley we made earlyer.

Step 2: now move it 3 to 5 pixels up:



Step 3: now draw the body. You need to select the outline colour to keep it the same. I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how:



Step 4: now fill the body in the yellow shown:



Step 5: now to draw the highlights. as you can see I use the same colours as the sides of the head. do the dark side first. I also try to use the same amount of each colour, as you can see:



Step 6: last step! repeat what you just did but with the lighter colours:



And there you go! one more lesson to go.

Lesson 4: saving for web!

You may already now how to do this, but just in case...

Step 1: Zoom out by clicking actual pixels. I would also do this as your drawing, to see if it looks right:



Step 2: Now click file; and then save for web:



Step 3: now use the settings shown. If the colours don't show up properly, increase the number of colours:



And there you go! you now know all you need to know about making smileys!

If you post your smileys, Then I can see if I'm a good teacher or not!

On the crying one, do you know how to make it animate like this one:



Thanks

yea thats easy. you just need to draw the different frames.

load the sad smiley:




now make a new layer, and add a dot for a tear:



Now carry on as so:













Now for the animation:

for each cell, change which tear layer is visable as you can see here:



Make the first cell 0.5 seconds long, and the rest 0 seconds long.

Now you should end up with this:

hope this helps!

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