Create an Emoji

Have some time on your hands? Want to express how you feel? Then you can create an emoji of how you feel!

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Start with a circle. 

Open the Gradient Panel on click on the Freeform Gradient Icon next to the Linear and Radial icons. 

Dots will appear on the circle and they may not be any color that you have chosen, but you can change that and move the dots around. 

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Move the dots so there is one top, bottom, left, right and center. In the center dot, double click and make that yellow. The top and bottom dots, double click and make those very light. On the left and right dots, double click and make those more of an orange-red like blushing cheeeks.

Add a circle for the base of the eye. 

Make it a radial gradient fill with white in the center going to about a 20% gray at the edges. 

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Inside that gray circle, add a dark blue circle. Then add a smaller, lighter blue circle. 

Select the Crystalize Tool that is nested in under the Width Tool. Double click on the Crystalize Tool to open the preferences. 

In the Crystalize Tool preferences, set the size of the tool to be slightly larger than the small blue circle. Click OK. 

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Select the blue circle then click on it with the Crystalize Tool. Do this a few times to get the Crystalize look. I did this 3 times to make it look like this. The Crystalize shape may be bigger than the dark blue circle so you may need to scale it down. 

Select the Crystalize shape, the go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Set the offset to -10 then click OK. 

This will create a smaller shape in the middle. 

Select the large blue circle the Crystalized shape and the smaller shape inside that as well. Go to Object > Blend > Make. This will blend the colors in a smooth look. 

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Create a black circle in the center of the eye. Click on the Free gradient in the Gradient Panel and add 3 dots as show with a black fill and one with a white fill at the edge.

Click on the Lines button in the Gradient Panel when you are in Freeform Gradient mode. Then click on the dots as shown to connect them together to create a gradient blend. This gives a highlight effect at the edge of the circle. 

This is the result of the Freeform gradient, adding a highlight to the edge of the black circle. 

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Add another circle, filled with white, opacity at 20%. Move it off to the upper left of the center part of the eye to create a specular highlight. 

Create an arc above the eye, heavy white stroke. 

Use the Width Tool to select the center and pull the arc wider in the middle, leaving the ends thinner. 

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Choose Effect > Blur > Gaussian blur and blur the eye brow.

Duplicate the eye and the eyebrow to the other side. 

For the mouth, create a circle. In the Gradient Panel, create a Freeform gradient. Add two points in the upper part filled with brown, one point on the lower part filled with white. 

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Duplicate the circle over Itself by about 25%. Choose the Minus Front Mode in the Pathfinder Panel to leave the upper crescent. 

Move that upper crescent over the mouth and set the opacity to 30% and add a blend mode of Multiply. 

To create a happy face, duplicate the round mouth and grab the handle that comes out the right side of the circle. Swing it around to the left to create a half-circle. 

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Place it on a copy of the emoji and scale it larger. 

With the Curvature tool, click on the the center top line and pull it down a bit. 

Then, double-click on the center top point to curve the line. 

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For a tongue, create two red-orange circles. Use the Pathfinder Unite mode to merge them together. 

Duplicate the mouth shape, remove the fill color. Click on the Draw Inside mode at the bottom of the Tool bar. Copy the tongue, paste it into the mouth shape and scale and position it as shown. When complete, click on the Draw Normal mode. 

Position the mouth with the tongue on top of the mouth. Move the eyes closer together to create a happy face!