Smoke, steam and dust

Following the note on how vfx enhance anticipation and secondary action, I noticed a lot of the actions in the case studies relied on smoke, dust and steam to help sell the action and make acting more appealing. Using Actionvfx's large collection of free digital vfx, I tried to breakdown smoke and dust effects (alongside Joseph Gilland's Elemental Magic).

My case studies gave me an idea of what smoke and dust look in a stylised way:

Dust studies with spacing chart on the side - usually have a fast action and spread and a slower dissipation stage

I also did some tests to apply what I learnt to some Moom animation:

I decided to go with a lineless fire (since it glows) and smoke with a slightly darker outline following my fire styles experimentation. 

I also tested to see if the difference between smoke and steam was just its colour, but I found results similar to what Gilland explained.  

What went well:

• Analysing the different stages, (action, spread and dissipation) helped me time the animation better,
• The stomp and the fire allowed me to animate both smoke (from the fire) and dust (from the stomp),
• Making the steam react to the head bobbing helped give the steam a wave-like motion.

What could be improved:

• Using Actionvfx resources might not be too accurate, I could've used real reference (although that would be less safe?),
• The steam is too steady as it follows a straight line, even though I used After Effects to warp it a little, it's a bit too uniform,
• The smoke at the end of the fire is a bit too centralised and uniform, I should've added a few more wisps,
• The symbol on Moom's face might be distracting the appeal of 2d vfx.