Creating Custom Discord Emotes on Procreate: A Step-By-Step Guide

Hey there! If you’re a fan of Discord and love expressing yourself with custom emotes, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I’ll be sharing my top tips and tricks on how to create amazing Discord emotes using the popular digital art app, Procreate.

Whether you’re a seasoned artist or just starting out, Procreate offers a wide range of tools and features that make creating emotes a breeze. From sketching and coloring to adding those final touches, I’ll guide you through the entire process step by step. So, grab your stylus and let’s dive into the world of Discord emotes!

Planning Your Emote Designs

One of the first steps in creating custom Discord emotes on Procreate is planning your designs. Taking the time to strategize and brainstorm can make a big difference in the outcome of your emotes. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Understand the Purpose: Think about the purpose and theme of the emote. Is it for a gaming community, a specific server, or just for fun? Consider the emotions or messages you want to convey with your emotes.
2. Research Existing Emotes: Look at existing emotes on Discord to see what’s popular and what resonates with the community. This can give you inspiration and ideas for your own designs.
3. Sketch and Experiment: Start by sketching out different ideas for your emotes. Procreate’s digital canvas makes it easy to quickly sketch and iterate. Play around with different poses, expressions, and styles to see what works best for your design.
4. Consider Size and Detail: Keep in mind that emotes on Discord are small, usually around 32×32 pixels or 64×64 pixels. Make sure your designs are clear, simple, and easily recognizable even at small sizes. Avoid too much detail as it might get lost when scaled down.
5. Test Visibility: Before finalizing your designs, preview them at different sizes to ensure they are still visible and readable. Experiment with zooming in and out on Procreate to see if any details are lost or if the emote still conveys the desired emotions.

Remember, planning your emote designs is an essential step in creating successful and engaging Discord emotes. By understanding the purpose, researching existing emotes, sketching and experimenting, considering size and detail, and testing visibility, you’ll be well on your way to creating amazing emotes that will enhance any Discord server.

Setting Up Procreate for Discord Emotes

Now that we understand the importance of planning our emote designs, let’s dive into setting up Procreate for creating our custom Discord emotes.

1. Ensure that you have Procreate installed: To get started, make sure you have Procreate, the popular digital art app, installed on your iPad. Procreate offers a wide range of tools and features that are perfect for creating emotes.
2. Create a new canvas: Open Procreate and create a new canvas with the desired dimensions for your emote. Discord emotes are typically small, so aim for a canvas size of 128×128 pixels or even smaller if you want a more detailed emote.
3. Adjust the brush settings: Procreate offers a variety of brushes, but for creating emotes, it’s best to stick with a basic round brush. Customize the brush settings, such as size and opacity, to achieve the desired effect for your emote.
4. Enable the drawing guide: Discord emotes often have a simple and clean style. To achieve this, enable the drawing guide in Procreate. The drawing guide will help you create precise lines and shapes, ensuring that your emote looks polished.
5. Set up your color palette: Emotes are known for their vibrant colors. Before you start creating, set up a color palette that suits the mood and theme of your emote. Procreate allows you to create custom palettes or import pre-made ones.

Remember, the setup process is just the beginning. Once you have Procreate configured for creating Discord emotes, it’s time to unleash your creativity and bring your ideas to life.

Sketching Your Emote Ideas

When it comes to creating Discord emotes on Procreate, sketching your ideas is a crucial step in the design process. This is where you can let your creativity run wild and explore different possibilities before committing to a final design.

Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your sketching phase:

1. Start with a rough draft: Begin by sketching out your initial ideas on a new canvas. Don’t worry about making them perfect at this stage; the purpose is to get your ideas down on paper and experiment with different concepts.
2. Consider the purpose of your emote: Think about the emotions or reactions you want your emote to convey. Is it meant to be funny, cute, or something else? Understanding the purpose will guide your sketching process and help you create emotes that resonate with your audience.
3. Reference existing emotes: Take some time to browse through existing Discord emotes to gather inspiration. See how other creators have approached similar themes or emotions and use them as a starting point for your own designs. Remember, being inspired by others is perfectly fine as long as you put your unique twist on it.
4. Experiment with different styles: Don’t be afraid to try out different artistic styles and techniques during your sketching phase. Play around with different lines, shapes, and details to see what works best for your emote. This is the time to explore and push your creative boundaries.
5. Consider the size and visibility: Keep in mind that your emotes will be displayed at a small size on Discord, so it’s important to consider their visibility. Make sure your sketches are clear and easily recognizable even at a smaller scale. You can zoom out on your Procreate canvas to get a better idea of how your emote will look at various sizes.

Remember, the sketching phase is all about exploring and refining your ideas. Don’t be too critical of your early sketches; they are simply stepping stones to the final design. Once you’ve sketched out several options, you can then move on to the next step in the process, which is bringing your emote to life through coloring and detailing.

But before we get into coloring, let’s talk about considering the size and detail of your emote.

Adding Color and Detail to Your Emotes

Once you have sketched out your emote ideas and refined them to your liking, it’s time to move on to the next step: adding color and detail. This is where you can really bring your emotes to life and make them stand out in the Discord community. Here are some tips to help you make the most of this phase:

1. Choose a Color Palette

Before you start coloring your emotes, take some time to consider the color palette you want to use. Think about the mood or theme you want to convey with your emote and choose colors that align with that. It’s important to keep in mind that emotes will often be viewed on small screens, so using bold and contrasting colors can help make them more noticeable and impactful.

2. Experiment with Different Techniques

Procreate offers a wide range of tools and brushes that you can use to add detail to your emotes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different techniques and brushes to find the ones that achieve the effect you want. Whether you want to add texture, shading, or highlights, there’s a brush or tool for every purpose.

3. Pay Attention to Details

Small details can make a big difference in the overall look of your emotes. Take care to add intricate details to facial expressions, accessories, or any other elements that can enhance the emote’s message or personality. Remember, the goal is to create emotes that are visually appealing and easily recognizable, even at small sizes.

4. Test for Visibility

Before finalizing your emote, test it out in different sizes to ensure that it remains clear and visible. Emotes are often displayed in a variety of contexts, including chat windows, user profiles, and servers. So, it’s important to make sure that your emote is easily recognizable and doesn’t lose its impact even when displayed at smaller sizes.

By following these tips, you can take your emotes to the next level by adding color and detail. The color palette, techniques, and attention to detail will help your emotes stand out and make an impact on the Discord platform. Now, let’s move on to the next step: exporting and using your emotes on Discord. Stay tuned!

Exporting and Optimizing Your Emotes for Discord

Now that you have created your custom Discord emotes on Procreate, it’s time to export and optimize them for use on the Discord platform. Follow these steps to ensure that your emotes are optimized for visibility and impact:

Step 1: Exporting your emotes

• In Procreate, go to the Gallery and select the emote you want to export.
• Tap on the Share button and choose the Export option.
• Select the desired file format for your emote (PNG is recommended for transparency) and choose a high resolution to maintain quality.
• Save the exported emote to a location accessible on your device.

Step 2: Resizing your emotes

• Open your exported emote in an image editing software such as Photoshop or GIMP.
• Resize your emote to the desired dimensions for Discord emotes (usually 128px by 128px).
• Make sure to maintain the aspect ratio of your emote to avoid distortion.
• Save the resized emote as a new file to avoid overwriting the original.

Step 3: Optimizing for file size

• Emotes on Discord have a file size limit of 256kb. To optimize your emote:
  • Reduce the number of colors in your emote using indexed color or color reduction options in your image editing software.
  • Remove unnecessary metadata and save your emote with the minimum amount of compression necessary to maintain quality.
  • Use an online image compression tool if needed to further reduce the file size while preserving image quality.

Step 4: Testing your emotes

• Before uploading your emotes to Discord, it’s important to test them to ensure they are clear and visible at different sizes.
• View your emotes at different zoom levels to simulate how they will appear on Discord.
• Make any necessary adjustments to the colors or details to ensure they are still easily recognizable at smaller sizes.

Remember, creating and optimizing emotes for Discord is a creative process. Experiment with different techniques, brushes, and color palettes to find a style that fits your emotes and engages your audience. With these steps, your emotes will be ready to upload and use on the Discord platform.

Now that your emotes are ready, let’s move on to the next section and learn how to upload and use them on Discord.

Conclusion

Creating custom Discord emotes on Procreate is a fun and creative way to personalize your Discord server. By following the step-by-step instructions provided in this article, you can easily design, export, and optimize your emotes for use on the Discord platform.

Exporting the emotes from Procreate and resizing them to the desired dimensions for Discord ensures that they will display properly and be visible to all users. Optimizing the file size is crucial to meet Discord’s limitations and ensure smooth loading times. Testing the emotes at different sizes helps to ensure their visibility and clarity.

Remember, the key to creating visually appealing and engaging emotes is to experiment with different techniques, brushes, and color palettes. This will allow you to bring your ideas to life and make your emotes truly unique.

Now that you have learned how to create and optimize emotes, the next step is to upload and use them on Discord. With your newfound knowledge, you can enhance your Discord server and make it even more enjoyable for your community. So go ahead and start creating your own custom Discord emotes on Procreate today!