Welcome to this week’s volume of so we heard you liek emotes. This is the 33rd 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.
I really can’t get my head around how smooth :inloveglomp: by =MenInASuitcase is. The flawless animation and adorable glomp combine to make an outstanding and very cute emoticon.

2.
Its always great to see new emoticonists to the site already producing great emotes, and this is certainly the case with ~ROBlNHOOD and Chargin ma lazur beam. The laser effect is stunning to watch and the pixelling of the laser and emote are also top notch. I can’t wait to see what they might create next.

3.
The simple bounce in Golden dA by =Droneguard is really quite mesmerising to look at. The animation runs smoothly throughout and the pixelling of the dA symbol outstanding. Together they form a brilliant emote and a great tribute to deviantART.

4.
I didn’t really know what to expect when I clicked on Playing Critic by =brgtt but I was astounded by what I saw. The whole concept of the emoticon is amazing, and has been executed extremely well. The animation is fluid throughout and the small jumps and twists add to the whole emote. Be sure to take a look and not miss out by only seeing the preview.

5.
With the summer weather now coming for most of us, there’s nothing better than messing about with some bubbles. :bubble: by ~Toxic-Fox-Girl really sums up the highs and lows of bubble blowing in one emote. The facial expressions have been used extremely well throughout and pixelling of bubble is brilliant, to make a great little emote.

Other great emoticons posted recently



Changes to the Categories?

We have been given the chance to look at changing the categories for emoticons within dA. There is nothing set to saying anything will happen, or when, but if there is an idea in place, there’s certainly a chance it will get looked at.

Many people that watch me will be aware I post the first of what will be several journals on the matter. If you missed it you can read a copy here. What I really want to see is community involvement on this project. As it is you that have to submit and browse the gallery, I am really keen to see your opinions on the subject.

Within the journal I posted a possible layout for the new look gallery. The feedback on this has been positive throughout, yet several people have asked if the static/animated split within the gallery should be removed. I balance on the fence when it comes down to this. On one side I’m reluctant to lose something the gallery has always had, and something that is a clear split within emoticon styles, yet on the other side I can see there is very little difference between and so the separation is not always needed. Therefore I set up this poll for your opinions. I value both your votes and your reasons for the choice. At the end of the day there is going to be a minority of people that feel the categories should be different, but if the majority agree, that’s a positive step forward.

Many of you have also spotted another issue with the work so far … my group names stink. I won’t deny this. I have never been strong when it comes to naming things, so I will need your input on the new names and descriptions. The main thing at the second is to get the skeleton in place and bulk out the idea later

So you are aware, I have a list of things I want to look at when it comes to categories. I will need your help along the way to make this work, so to help you, these are the points I wish to address:

New breakdown of categories
Is the animated/static split needed?
Category names
Category descriptions
Restrictions on categories
Other related issues

I want to keep you as up to date on this as possible. I have long felt that the gallery needs a revamp, so I want to give this my best shot. The most important thing is your support. The more feeback on this the better. Even if its just an ‘I agree with this’ your response is always valued. I need to know if I’m going in the right or wrong direction, and without feedback I can’t tell.

I will most likely post a name based journal in the very near future, so keep an eye out for it ready for the next step forward

Featured Projects

It was nice to have a calmer week when it came to the release of new projects. It allows people to catch up on entries for current projects and keep on top of new ones being created. However there were 2 projects that were announced this week.

Flower Project



For a number of months I have seen =Helen-Baq’s flower emotes sprout up within the gallery, and this week she announced a project to allow everyone to join in the fun. The idea is to create a flower emote to add to the garden. It can be animated or static and be personally created, or made through the use of the flower base packs. It’s a cute little project and I’ve enjoyed seeing it develop, so go check it out

Secret Emote Project

This week also say the re-release of the secret emote project. `Solitude12 is looking for deviants to make a range of emote with a set colour so they can be used within the secret emote project. As the entries must be static it doesn’t take long to enter, so its definitely worth a look.

Noticeboard

- After being dormant for a few months, I have give some life back to *EmoticonOpus. The account runs mini contest just for emoticonists with a range of features and requests up for grabs. This time the theme is angels, so if you interested take a look here. Any prize donations are also appriciated

- Also this week =Sinister-Starfeesh launched her own emoticon contest. The them of this contest is the future, and you can find a list of prizes and more info on this journal

- I could do with a few more DD suggestions. If you spot any DD worthy emotes, please let me know via note

- I have heard (though not confirmed myself) that gifs over 150x150 pixels can now be submitted to dA without having to hit the ‘download’ button. A preview image will still be needed for your gallery (and thumbs) but they will automatically be shown in your gallery now.

- The next interview in the So I herd u liek interviews?? series should be out this week, so make sure you don’t miss it.



Previous volumes

Volumes 1-20
Volume 21 - 1st March
Volume 22 - 8th March
Volume 23 - 15th March
Volume 24 - 22nd March
Volume 25 - 29th March
Volume 26 - 5th April
Volume 27 - 12th April
Volume 28 - 19th April
Volume 29 - 26th April
Volume 30 - 4th May
Volume 31 - 10th May
Volume 32 - 17th May

Interview 1- `CookiemagiK - 15th January
Interview 2 - =Caeser1993 - 30th January
Interview 3 - =MenInASuitcase - 12th February
Interview 4 - =Red-Bananas - 27th February
Interview 5 - =LeoLeonardo - 12th March
Interview 6 - =MixedMilkChOcOlate - 28th March
Interview 7 - `brokenboulevard - 14th April
Interview 8 - =Droneguard - 28th April
Interview 9 - =krissi001 - 14th May