Creating your very own emoticon is a well-sought after feature of the Twitch platform. Twitch Emotes started around 2015, but they’ve really taken off in the past couple of years.
Although Emotes are only used on Twitch, they are mentioned or referenced on other social sites all the time.
Requirements of Twitch Emote
To create an Emote you’ll need to have the subscription benefits that come with a Twitch Partnership account. This partner account will allow you to upload a specific number of emoticons.
The number of available emoticons each partner account is allowed to have is based on slots. The number of slots you have in your account is based on the number of subscribers you have associated with your account. When you first are approved for a partner account you have two available slots with no subscribers.
To advance further than the two slots you will need to have a minimum of ten subscribers. Currently, the maximum number of emoticons an account can have is sixty with a subscriber base of 10,000 or more.
Creating a Presence with a Unique Emote
When creating your emote, creativity will be your friend. Some key features that will help you generate your ideas are as follows.
You may want to fist create something based off catchphrases. Depending on the types of games you are creating and the tone of the story, the different catchphrases such as, “Blow them up!”, “I the man!” or “Splat Sucker!” are just a few phrases that you can use to create your emotes.
Next to phrases you may want to focus on facial expressions. Having an image with buggy eyes, a spinning head or a morphing animation may set you apart from the crowd.
When creating your emotes think outside of the box. Use something that is unexpected or will make people think something totally different. When you use these different options it can give you an advantage in the game.
Optimizing your Emotes
When it comes to optimization, making the images as web-friendly as possible is the key. After you create your images using a tool like optimizely.com will allow you to strip out any unneeded information from your images and make sure that they are the best they can be.
Before doing this however you will want to create your very own images. The images need to be several specific sizes and file formats.
To begin with, they need to be 32 bit. Then the images need to be saved as a PNG. PNG formatted images have transparent backgrounds which are a requirement for emotes.
When creating your emotes, you will need to have them in three different sizes, each of which will correspond to a different feature in the Twitch platform. Not having all three sizes will cause errors.
The three sizes required are:
- 28x28 - 28 pixels by 28 pixels
- 56x56 - 56 pixels by 56 pixels
- 112x112 - 112 pixels by 112 pixels
This pixel configuration will create each emote as a perfect square.
Twitch Emote Maker - How to Create One for Free?
Many people believe that they need high-end programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator to create images.
Even though these programs are nice and can do a lot of amazing things they are not needed to create a Twitch image.
When creating images for Twitch, the pixel sizes are so small that free and online programs will work just fine.
When looking for free paint programs one of the more popular ones is Paint.net.
There are other free programs out there such as Canva.com or Microsoft Paint, however, we will not be going into detail on these applications since the instructions explained between the free steps and the Photoshop steps will be sufficient in creating any Twitch emote you would like.
1. How to Create a Twitch Emote Using Photoshop [Video Tutorial]
Now that you have a basic understanding on how to create your own image the process is practically the same using Photoshop but with a few minor differences.
Step #1 – Open the image
You want to go to File, Open and open your desired image. With the image open locate the square mask tool. With this tool draw a square around the section of image you want for your emoticon.
Step #2 – Crop your image
Using the crop tool crop the image to the size of your mask.
Step #3 – Pen tool
With the pen tool you want to double click on the background of your image. Then using the pen tool draw around the areas of the image you want to keep. When done right mouse click and choose “Make a selection”.
Step #4 – Additional feature
There will be a dialog box that appears with other options to manipulate the image. You can ignore them and click “OK” to make your selection.
Step #5 – Make Mask
On the right-hand side in the layers panel, you want to click on the “Make Mask” option next to your image. This will remove all the unwanted parts of your image and make it transparent.
Step #6 – Saving your images
Now that we have our transparent image it is now time to make them the desired sizes. To do this, follow these steps:
A – File Save for Web
B – Make sure file format is PNG or PNG 24
C – In the size section make your first size of 112 x 112
D – Select Save and name the file 112.png
E – Repeat the process A – D renaming each additional file the size that you resized to.
Check out Video Tutorial for detailed Walk-through of the steps discussed above:
How to Create a Twitch Emote Using Paint.Net [Video Tutorial]
When working with Paint.net the main differences in the functionality are the number of tools you have in the toolbox. This in no way limits your ability to create images, it just means that you have multiple functionalities built into fewer tools.
Step #1 – Open your image
You will want to go to File, Open and locate the image that you would like to use on your hard drive. Once open the image should appear on the screen.
Step #2 – Select Tool
You will want to locate the select tool in the toolbox to the left. Click on the select tool to make it active.
Step #3 – Make your Selection
Holding down the shift key and the left mouse button you want to find the uppermost left-hand corner of your desired selection. While holding down these two keys you will drag the mouse until the image you want for your emoticon is resting perfectly in a square.
Step #4 – Creating your first image
To create your first image from your selection you want to look for the tool that says “Crop Selection”. When you are sure your image is what you want to select that tool.
Step #5 – Creating your exact image
Now that you have the majority of the image you want, the next step is to remove all the unwanted parts. To do this you will want to use the lasso tool. With the lasso tool make sure that “add union” is checked and start tracing your image.
Step #6 - Trace your image
Carefully you will want to trace your image. You want to be aware of any unwanted background components or unwanted bits and pieces. Depending on your image the background may be the most difficult part.
Step #7 - Cutting your image out
To cut away the unwanted parts of your image you will want to click on the scissors tool. Once clicked, your image will remove all the unwanted components leaving you your desired image. If your image still needs cleanup consider using the eraser tool and lowering the size down to one pixel.
Step #8 - Saving your image
Now that your image is perfect you will want to save your image. To do this go to File and Save.
In the dialog that appears make sure the checkbox that says “maintain ratio” is unchecked / turned off. Next type in the desired sizes for your images making sure the file format is PNG. Choices for sizes will be:
- 112 x 112
- 56 x 56
- 28 x 28
And, that’s it. You can check the Paint.net process of creating an emote in the video tutorial above
How to Create a Twitch Emote Online?
Step #1: Visit Twitch Emote Maker and pick your avatar style for your Twitch Emote. Twitch Emotes Maker offers multiple styles, you can pick from Avatar, Cartoon, and Chibi Style.
Step #2: Customize your emote according to your preference and that's it. Once your done you can instantly download the emote.
Conclusion
Creating a Twitch emote is very fast and easy and can be done in any paint or drawing program you have available. The simple steps are to first open your image, and make sure it is a perfect square by cropping.
Then remove any unwanted parts of your image, save as the desired size in a PNG. Following these steps will ensure that you can take any image that you find interesting and make it into an emote for your Twitch account. Happy creating!