Stickers for messaging apps & social media have become very trendy of late.
However, few apps allow users to truly express their creativity & originality via the medium. Most apps offer an in-house brand of stickers. If they do allow users to produce their own, the creative options are usually very limited.
Cloud-based instant messaging app Telegram, on the other hand, has a wholly unique method for users to engineer their own sticker packs. It even has a ‘‘Sticker Bot” to assist members/users in this endeavor. All this means you can make your own Telegram stickers.
Telegram has kept it as simple as possible for users wanting to make & share stickers. However, it does have certain guidelines that you’ll need to adhere to if you want your witty artistic memes to be published.
For example, the only image type allowed is the PNG file, which has a transparent background, making it ideal for digital screens to display.
Next, the Telegram team is very particular about image file size, so your artwork will need to render at 512 x 512px(pixels).
Each artistic work must be uploaded individually, even if it’s meant to be part of a pack.
Finally, an icon(optional), if used, must be a 100 x 100px PNG.
Once you have the correct file types ready for uploading, click the @sticker tab to open a window conversation with the Sticker Bot.
Options include:
1. /newstickerpack : create a new Telegram sticker pack.
2. /addsticker : add to an existing pack.
3. /delsticker : delete a sticker from an existing pack.
4. /ordersticker : rearrange the stickers.
5. /cancel : cancel.
In order to create a new sticker pack, select /newstickerpack. The bot will prompt you to give a name to this pack, so comply. Next the bot asks you to submit an emoji for the 1st of the stickers, you can send more than one, but the bot suggests no more than two.
After sending your emoji, the bot will prompt you to upload your size compliant PNG. Telegram offers an example of what is required, & the bot will offer a link so that you can compare your work (https://telegram.org/img/StickerExample.psd).
The .psd is an Adobe(Photoshop) file, so it’s best to use Adobe to make stickers & Telegram’s uploader (available for Web/Desktop) to upload your stickers.
Drag & drop your PNG file to the window where the label reads “Without Compression”. Once done, you can upload all your associated images & emojis for your pack—one by one. When you’ve uploaded all images, you simply need to hit the publish button.
Telegram gives you a URL directing you to the location of your pack so that you can share your creation with your friends & family. Another option it offers is for you to publish your pack on the Telegram Sticker Directory. Simply submit your pack and wait for their ruling.
