At SoulSoft, we are celebrating the greatness of emoticon artists. Every day, millions of these little emoticons are bounced endlessly around internet forums and back and forth within emails. Do you ever stop to think who created these little works of art? Exactly, so did we, and to show our gratitude, we bring you the first of our "Interview With An Emoticonist" series... We kick off with the life and work of PhaeThorn.

Phae Thorn

What is your real name?
My real name is Nico Roukema and I shall be 17 years old in April.
Where are you in the world?
PIn the human world, or in the emoticon world? If you mean the human world, I'd be in The Netherlands ;)
What tools do you use to create your emoticons?
I only use Paint Shop Pro 7.0 and Animation Shop Pro 3.0 for the birth of my emoticons.
What inspires you when making emoticons?
Humans ... yep humans. When I create emoticons I try to make it look like they're alive ... and the best way to do that is to recreate humans. Of course emoticons have their own way of "walking" and some other things that are different from humans, but even then you can make it look more realistic. Of course I also need the basic emoticon idea ... and those come also a lot from requests.
Have you any formal training in computer art?
Nope, I never had any training or learning for anything computer related. Sure some tutorials helped out here and there but mainly I learned all by myself and by looking at other works.
What got you started?
I created a account on deviantart, just because I wanted to comment on a friends work. Since I had nothing to submit I tried out some things. One day I started to make my own emoticon. I believe it was because someone in the shoutbox on DeviantArt said DeviantArt needed a frustrated emoticon. I liked it and I had something to submit. I created more smileys and slowly I grew my own style. I became handy in making them and I loved it more and more. BTW, that very first smiley is still on my DeviantArt account ;)
And the hardest part is?
I'd say the hardest part is thinking of ways to make it looped. I work 99% of the time with animated emoticons and I really find it ugly if an icon, emoticon, or whatever that is animated but it just jumps back to his first frame. I want to create it so, that you can't see where the first and last frame is.
What software did you start with compared to what you use now, and why is it better?
The same software I use now, and that is still PsP 7 and Animation Shop pro 3
What do you do 'outside' of the Internet?
I go to school and for the rest I like to photograph a bit. I always try to find ways of being creative in the things I do, even school projects :)
What is your view on people that use your smileys without permission?
I don't really dislike or hate those people, but it's a shame they just use it without asking. I think many people see emoticons as something easy to create and therefor not worthy .... it's a thing , no big deal about it at all! Some emoticons are indeed easy to create, but there are also other types of emoticons. Too bad those types of emoticons get the same thoughts as the "easy" smileys.
Who is your favorite emoticon artist other than yourself?
I think my favorite emoticon artist will be "hprince329" , also from the DeviantArt scene. He made wonderful emoticons and he was the one big guy in the emoticon scene I kind of looked up to, mainly in the beginning. I admired his works and I know it sounds wierd ... but it's true :)
What is your most favourite thing in the whole world?
Being creative and original!
Can you create a special emoticon just for EmotiPad?
Maybe if you have any ideas on how it should look. I have to say though, I haven't been making emoticons for a long LONG time ... hopefully I haven't lost all my skills in it :D
And finally, do you have any advice for emoticonists' out there?
I advise them not to copy anyones style. Create your own style, color use, way of animating and also ... try out things others never tried out before. That last thing is kind of what made me famous. I made a whole new thing in the emoticon world , remaking a matrix scene. That emoticon is still up till today special to me since it got so popular when I submitted it , it was in the daily top favorites on deviantart. It was the first emoticon ever to get in that list and it got a lot of new visitors to check out my work.