Welcome to this week’s volume of so we heard you liek emotes. This is the 17th volume in a weekly series aimed towards promoting emote and emoticonists from the dA community. It features emotes posted within the past week from both well known and new emoticonists, as well as featuring some other great emote projects and contests.

Featured Emoticons:

1.
Ever since I laid eyes on Happy Bouncer by ~Argetlam-Br-01 I have not stopped smiling. The whole emote is extremely cute and the expression on its face can’t help but make me grin. The animation is very smooth and loops very well, making it this week’s first featured emote.

2.
It might be a couple of weeks til valentines day, but the emotes are already staring to appear. Love 3000 by ~brave-bom is one of my favourites. The shading is very smooth and the animation of the emote splitting is excellent. The idea is unique and I look forward to seeing other Valentines emotes being posted soon.

3.
I am always impressed when I see emotes in different situations. Emoticon Puyo Puyo by =Marc-pHX is not exception. Its great to see a number of classic dA emotes being recreated and used within the whole animation. All the movements are very smooth and the effect used to eliminate the blocks is nicely pixelled. Its definitely an emote to watch all the way through and remember to press ‘download’ to see the whole thing.

4.
I love seeing the unique ideas that can be created for emoticon projects and the special effects used within them. Glow bomb by ~Leonike especially caught my eye with the glow effect used. The twirl is nicely created and the jump used is also animated very well, giving it a spot in this weeks featured section.

5.
Its not very often you see a blur effect in an emoticon, but the one used in Fight Glomp by ~Jeddy-X really adds to the emoticon. The shading of the emoticons is very good and the animation is quite smooth. The emote loops nicely, making it another great glomp emoticon on dA.


Other great emoticons posted recently



Featured tutorial

- Emote animating tips tutorial - by =psivamp

Questions

Today’s questions are all regarding the Zikes Emoticon Script

Q: What is the voting system on the site and how does it work?
A: The voting system allows people to help have a say in which emotes fill up which codes. Every emoticon added starts with 5 points. If this score drops below 5 the emote will no longer work on the script. If this score drops to 0 then the emote will be removed from the code and the code can then be filled with a different emote. If you feel an emote should be removed from the database, simply downvote the emoticon. If you wish to keep the emoticon around, then upvote it to help keep it on the database and reduce its chance of dropping below 5.

Q: I entered something into the Zikes database incorrectly. Is there anything I can do to get it changed?
A: Yes. I (^Synfull) actually have privs on the website and can fix any mistakes made. Just send me a note clearly stating the emote, the mistake and the correction and I can alter it in the database

Q: I have found a dead code on the database that I wish to overwrite with a new emote. How do I go about this?
A: Before the new emote is added, the old one must be deleted. This can be done one of 2 ways. Either downvote the old emoticon enough times to clear it from the database and then fill the now empty code, or simply note me (^Synfull) with all the information and I can alter the database.

Please note: I will not override any emoticon codes which already have appropriate emoticons in.

Noticeboard

This week 2 new emoticon contests were announced. `Zikes is hosting the Fiery Beard Emote Contest . Prizes include both subscriptions and a fella plushie, so its well worth checking out.

=VIPwnt is hosting the Blank Emote Contest in which you must create an emote blanker than . Top prize includes a subscription and some journal features. I can’t wait to see some of the entries

As we currently don’t have an Emoticon GM, $eStunt and ^Hanratty-Stock have kindly offered to take DD suggestions for emoticons. If you have an emote you would like to suggest for a daily deviation, just send either of them a note. Please understand this is only on a temporary basis until a new GM is announced.

I launched a surprise volume of so i herd u liek interviews?? interviewing =Caeser1993. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you have a read.

=Emotication launched a new journal on Project Tips. If you are considering setting up an emoticon project, its worth a look. Also thank you to =CookiemagiK for some tips on the list.

=Purleez posted an awesome news article on some of the flash animated emote games on deviantART. If you haven’t checked it out, take a look here

The emoticon dictionary (replacement for the outdated emoticon legend) is still being worked on. It hasn’t been forgotten, but is taking a while to develop

Notes

If you would like to suggest a project, emote or emoticonist to be featured please leave me a note on my ^Synfull account. I am also looking for more questions and tutorials to be featured, so any suggestions are welcome . Tutorials do not have to have been submitted in the week of the news article.



Previous volumes

Volume 1 - 12th Oct
Volume 2 - 19th Oct
Volume 3 - 27th Oct
Volume 4 - 2nd Nov
Volume 5 - 9th Nov
Volume 6 - 16th Nov
Volume 7 - 23rd Nov
Volume 8 - 30th Nov
Volume 9 - 7th Dec
Volume 10 - 14th Dec
Volume 11 - 21st Dec
Volume 12 - 28th Dec
Volume 13 - 4th Jan
Volume 14 - 11th Jan
Volume 15 - 18th Jan
Volume 16 - 25th Jan

Interview 1 - cookiemagik - 15th January
Interview 2 – caeser1993 - 30th Jan