Well darn, and here I was thinking I had a shot, haha.

Here's what I'm working on, still rough though, colors and all:

I think anger, the ‘yes’ emote (which reads as happy), confused, dead, bored, and scared read pretty good. Laughing reads fine as well, same for clown/devils of course. Many of the rest I wouldn’t be able to guess the emotion on if the yellow emotes weren’t there to give it away.
The ‘don’t know’ emote looks like he’s worried/going to throw up. The :P emote lacks the smile that conveys the ‘joking’ emotion. The sunglasses emote needs darker shades, I think. The ‘blah-blah’ emote looks violently pissed rather than dejectedly dismissive. The ‘kissing’ emote looks kinda like a puffer fish, a distinctive mark of ‘kissy faces’ is that the cheeks sink in rather than bulge out. The slightly open (and wide) mouth also throw it off.

Guess I'll throw my hat in the ring.





Some of them are really awful and need to be redrawn, especially cry and lol.

EDIT: updated with a few more
EDIT2: more updates. animated ones are on their own because I don't know how to combine multiple animations into one gif.


Edited by Hatch - 25 June 2011 at 11:57pm

Hatch, those are soooo awesome ! They are very easy to read...and just adorable. Good job!

Now my chances to win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, are completely gone

update

I don't think this one reads very well, but I'm not sure what to do about it.




Edited by Hatch - 26 June 2011 at 11:55am

So I think it's it...


                                                                   
Green = Reading okay
Yellow = Need to refine
Red = Need to start again


Do you agree?


---

Some edits...



[edit]

More edits.



[one more...]

Claps!

  



Edited by Jinn - 26 June 2011 at 10:05pm

OMG!

It's pure awesomeness.

There are a lot of jewels here 
Jinn you're just amazing.

so many awesome looking smileys, keep up the good work :)

Those are really cute, JuninFC. But why the hands are brown?
Doesn't Bomberman wears pink gloves?

UPDATE...



ANIMATED EXAMPLES...

             

This is as far as ive got so far, i hope you guys like 'em!

Really?? thanks 

Made a few more... (not sure which one is better for love/fav)



Fun to see so many variations amongst the contributions. Jinn's work is great (and I love the logo) but for emotes I really prefer something clean & simple like Hatch's... think mine might even be a bit too complex for my own taste! :D

Edited by Jinn - 01 July 2011 at 3:51pm

I think yours are are the best so far DawnBringer

Yep, maybe some more contrast though?

@Dawn- You and Jinn for sure have my vote!

These look great guys, I've decided that it must be literally impossible to make ol'  look non-terrifying ;D

I quite like cure's.  They seem very clear and crisp. No fat on the edges to trim, y'know?

UPDATE:

Hopefully these are good enough to call done, i hope you like them.



Animated Examples:

                           

Please tell me if you see any problems or anything i could improve

good call on the distracting colors ska


and while i love your emotes dawn, I might make a suggest for saturation/contrast:


(just messed with the yellow ramp a bit)





Edited by cure - 04 July 2011 at 1:43am

I like the ones by Hatch and the pencils. =) Jinn's emoticons are way too good to be used, in my opinion: they might become annoying because of their detalisation level.

Edited by MyO the HedgeFox - 04 July 2011 at 2:11am

@Jinn:

"I'm talking seriously, pal... I think my pieces are becoming less and less acceptable with time, and I'm not talking about just this emoticon set..."

C'mon... you're not letting a few (negative) remarks about your frequency of fan-art bring you down, are you? I just think ppl are impressed by your skill & energy and curious about what you can/could accomplish in other areas.

For the icons; yours are great gfx, just as Dumbo's...the Nerd is just a tricky character to portray as easy-to-read Smilies.


@Cure:
Yeah, they are a little washed-out for Smilies...will add a bit more color & contrast in the base yellows.