I recently came across Elemantal Magic, the art of effects animation by Joseph Gilland. And it is AMAZING and I am hooked.
and so, while searching for more to fuel my curiosity in this side of animation I never realized I didnt know...I came across the great blog of Kathleen Quaife whose effects animation blew me away again.
she posted a page on fire animation and I couldnt resist drawing over it and filming it for myself:
