_{| You know ... | Free Avatars | Comissions | Plz accounts | Rubik Collection |}



There has been a bit of dArama over the past few days in the emote community which has cropped up through a number of different areas. Whilst most are complaining about the situation, `BlissfullySarcastic (in all her awesomeness) has set a challenge to promote positivity in the emote community. So, i accepted and i'm writing a journal to promote it.

Comment on at least 3 emoticonists' pages that you already watch, telling them how much you appreciate them and their work. (:

I chose to thank:
`Mirz123 For all she has done in the community
^SparklyDest For her awesome commitment to the EMTC
~yarjor for her work with #Emotication

Find at least 3 good emoticonists with 10,000 pageviews or less and watch them.

I've watched:




Feature at least 5 emotes in your next journal with explanations of why you think the emotes are good

I decided to feature deviations which appeared in a search for 'water'

I love the gorgeous colour and the bounce animation is rather mesmerizing. The simple expression allows you to focus on the animation and the white border really draws your attention in

Not only has the tornado been wonderfully pixelled but its been created out of a limited palette too. =Wooded-Wolf always amazes me with what he can manage especially only using MS paint.

I just love the amusing situation created - everything from the wonderful snowball dithering to the choice of emote expression.

It was the multi-coloured background which really caught my attention to this emote which on closer inspection has a really funky effect. this deviation is made even more special by the fact i own a similar postcard from my zorbing experience

Its simple and effective and as the same time adorably cute

Give some constructive criticism on emotes when the artist asks for them!  

I'm always open to comment on emotes whether is you 1st, 10th or even 1000th. Just fling me a note with a link and i'll be sure to take the time to comment. It may take a month of so to get around to it, but i will eventually

For the full journal (including an additional challenge) check out `BlissfullySarcastic's here: [link]




In light of a couple of recent journals it appears that some people in the community seem to believe part of the emote community downfall is down to a few 'key members' taking a back step and letting the community fall to pieces. Whilst this may be partly true, i feel that it is the emote community's responsibility to step up and patch up any cracks that appear and build from strength to strength. Now people may be saying 'i would, but no one knows me in the community' so i wanted to share my story. This is in no way designed to promote my achievements - merely prove a point.

I joined the emote community back in June 2008 having admired emotes from a distance for some time before. I was new to the community having no previous experience of emotes or any sort of digital art and having no existing friends in the community. I didn't have any prior knowledge of creating emotes - i learnt all i know from the emote community here on dA. When i joined i noticed there was a lack of communication in the community and generally the community felt like it was in a lull. I spotted a gap in the community and decided to start up a emote news letter to try and promote art and news that had recently been submitted. It wasn't easy at first - the first few issues didn't get that much attention but i persevered and listened to feedback to adapt the news article to meet the community's needs.

3 years later and its hard to find a regular emoticonist that hasn't heard of 'So i herd u liek emotes??'. Its easy to see the news article and think it takes no time at all to create, but each issue takes 2-4 hours. Multiply that by 125 issues and that's over 375 hours (15+ days) of my life spent on a single news article. I was determined to make it happen and through pure effort, time and determination i made it a success. Its not always been easy to carry on, but i did it for the community and through it have met so many amazing emoticonists and friends.

Having started a successful news article i went on to found my own group - #Emotication. It started as a single journal listing tutorials and over the past 3 years has developed into a wealth of knowledge covering everything from basic tutorials and bases to listing free emote programs and current contests. Although now a days it takes little effort to maintain each page has taken anywhere up to 10 hours to compile and organise.

My emote career took me on to do a 9 month stint as emote GM, create a handful of other unique groups, host a few successful contests and run a series of interviews and other articles that have since been retired. None of this was handed to me on a plate -  i committed a good 2 years of my life to the emote community because i was passionate about it and the members within it.

---------

Fast forward to today and as many of you have probably noticed, my news article is taking an extended break and many of my groups are becoming rather neglected. I've burnt out and given all that i can offer leaving a couple of gaps out in the community. But i ask myself, why do i now take the blame? Where is the next generation of enthusiastic, hard working emoticonists that are stepping up to the plate to propel the community forwards?

What i'm trying to get at is the fact that you don't have to be an experienced emoticonist to help out in the community. You just have to be passionate, motivated and determined. You can't give up if things don't go to plan - stick at things and keep going until you get things right. If people give you feedback, take it and move forwards with it. You can't just write 1 journal and expect the community to jump on the bandwagon. Get out there, be motivated and stick at it. Any 'key member' out there will have a similar story and just because we have been there in the past doesn't mean we will be there in the future.

Its down to you - the emote community - to work itself out of the lull its in. If you spot a gap, fill it. If you have an idea, voice it. if you see someone struggling, help them out. You don't have to commit as much as i've done, but any little bit can really support the community.