Preface 005
Character Greetings 006
Point 007 of this book
From planning to launch 008

CHAPTER 01 What kind of emoticon should I make?

Lesson 01: What Are Emoticons? 014
Lesson 02 Types of Emoticons 017

CHAPTER 2 Which platform is right for you?

Lesson 01 KakaoTalk 032
Lesson 02 Naver OGQ Market 037
Lesson 03 Naver Band Sticker Shop 042
Lesson 04 Line 046
Lesson 05 Between 052

CHAPTER 3 What materials do I need?

Lesson 01 Finding the Right Gear for You 058
Lesson 02 Finding the Right Program for You 065

CHAPTER 4 Creating Your Own Character

Lesson 01 My Giant Character Even from a Distance 074
Lesson 02: A Clean, Standout Character 086

CHAPTER 5: Planning Characters as Emoticons

Lesson 01: Solving Emoji Past Exam Questions 096
Lesson 02: Thinking About the Role of Emoticons 105
Lesson 03: Adding Character Personality with Emotions 115
Lesson 04: Writing a Proposal as Easily as Doodling 119
Lesson 05: Editing Unapproved Emojis 126

CHAPTER 6 Practicing Real-World Emoticons

Lesson 01: How to Use Procreate 138
Lesson 02: Drawing Characters Digitally 155
Lesson 03: Drawing a Still Emoji 163
Lesson 04: Drawing Animated Emoticons 172

CHAPTER 7 Finishing with Photoshop

Lesson 01: Creating a Kakao Proposal File 206
Lesson 02 Working on the Final File After Approval 222

CHAPTER 8: Using Characters in Various Ways

Lesson 01: How I Became a Freelancer 240
Lesson 02: Introducing My Character to the World 243

[Appendix] Candid Interviews with Six Current Emoticon Artists 249
Search 253

Approved character emoticons have different plans

If you've been frustrated by the rejection of your emoticon proposals, wondering, "My character is cuter, so why isn't it approved? Why is that product being released?", it's time to re-evaluate your understanding of the basics.
The author says that knowing how to use emoticons and developing your own planning skills are more important than having outstanding drawing skills.
Emoticon planning and unapproved analysis are one and the same.
So, it's necessary to develop the habit of analyzing emoticon platforms yourself, rethinking the role of emoticons, studying emotional expressions that can be used in chat windows, and writing a brief plan.
This practice becomes even more valuable for aspiring emoji creators who still have limited suggestion experience.


Create freely with Procreate and Photoshop.

Of course, if you have Photoshop, you can complete the entire process from drawing emoticons to finalizing proposal files with just one tool.
But if you want to do some light work in a cafe or make use of your commute, the iPad Procreate app is the way to go.
This book introduces how to draw emojis using the Procreate app and finalize the files with Photoshop, which is essential for the platform proposal process.
For those who have not yet completed the proposal file, we provide a Photoshop practice example file that allows you to practice the process of following the text. By following the example file, you can learn how to propose an emoticon through processing.


The power to overcome the red ocean lies within you.

There are still many people who challenge emoji approval.
So, approval strategies are overflowing, almost like preparing for an entrance exam competition.
Even if you're lucky enough to get approved, will it work the next time? If everyone tries again with the same strategy, it'll only create another red ocean.
Even when you have too much information in your head, you start to lose the courage to actually take on challenges.
This book encourages aspiring emoji artists to take on the challenge.
Just as you need to solve a lot of practice problems to improve your test score, you will also accumulate your own know-how when it comes to emoticons as you accumulate experience thinking about them.


Expected readers of this book

- I'm curious about how to become a freelancer by drawing pictures.

- I want to know the know-how of approved character emoticon creators.
- I want to create a character emoticon, but I don't know where to start.

- I want to have a productive hobby life using the Procreate app on my iPad.

- I want to do character branding using emoticons and Instatoons using characters I created.