New document

Create new 18x18 transparent document.

Zoom in

Zoom in at 1600x (max).

Main head

Choose Ellipse Tool. From the top select "Fill pixels":


Now draw a cricle:

Blending options

Right-click on layer with black cricle and open Blending Options. Swtich to Gradient Overlay and set it to:


Dark color = #ffa800
Light color = #fff000




Now switch to Stroke and set it to:


(down the opacity if you need)

Face

Now time to face :) Grab a Pencil tool, 1px & black. Create new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and draw a face:

Save

Now save it as .png (will have anti-alias) or .gif. Emoticon is finished:


Some of my emoticons: http://www.thedesignworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3050