1. A method comprising: selecting, by a user via a user-input device of a sender, a still image that includes a single array grid of pixels, wherein the still image is not part of an existing character set stored on the sender; transforming, by a pixel array generator of the sender, the selected still image into a custom graphical emoticon; obtaining a character sequence from the user via the user-input device of the sender, the character sequence including alphanumeric characters; assigning, by a processor configured with executable instructions, the character sequence to the custom graphical emoticon, the character sequence representing the custom graphical emoticon, wherein the character sequence acts as a placeholder for the custom graphical emoticon; obtaining a message from the user via the user-input device of the sender, the message including textual content with the emoticon-placeholding character sequence embedded therein; transmitting the message from the sender to a destination via a message-transmission modality of transmission, the transmitted message including the textual content with the emoticon-placeholding character sequence embedded therein; and separately from the transmitting of the message, sending the custom graphical emoticon to the destination via a different modality of transmission than the message-transmission modality of transmission.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a request from the destination for the custom graphical emoticon; and in response to the request, performing the sending of the custom graphical emoticon to the destination.