Tutorial 01: How to Create an Explosion (Flash 8 required)

 

This animation was done at 24fps on approx. a 325x325 stage size.

 

Step 1: Begin with a sketch of each frame. In this case, our explosion starts off as a star and errupts into a big cloud of smoke. Name this layer "sketch".

Step 2: Create a new layer and draw in the heat expanding with a different color. Name this layer "heat".

Step 3: Create a new layer, draw in the shading lines. Name this layer "shading".

Step 4: Create a new layer and name it "ink". This is going to be your final outlines of the animation. Retrace all of your sketches on this layer. If your lines aren't perfectly smooth, use the smooth tool and then round them out using the arrow tool.

Step 5: Copy the contents from the "shading" layer to the "ink" layer by using the paste in place command for each corresponding frame. Make sure all of the lines from both layers match up and are closed. Proceed to color. I have used dark: #2B2B2B, light: #4B4B4B and #FFFFFF for the heat and starbursts. You can delete the starburst outlines when finished coloring.

Step 6: Highlight each frame on the "ink" layer and change the outline color to a different color tone that those you have already used. I used #B8B8BB for the outline color.

Step 7: Go back to the "heat" layer and delete the purple outlines.

Step 8: Now comes the fun part. You may have a different way of doing this so feel free to post your techniques on the forums. Highlight each frame on the "heat" layer and hit F8 and name it "heat01" and select movie clip as the type and hit OK.

The reason for this is because the only way to apply Flash 8's filters is on a movie clip, so convert all of the heat frames to movie clips.

Step 9: Highlight "heat01" on the stage and go down to the properties box (CTRL+F3) and click on the filters tab and a add glow. Use these settings:

Add another glow right below it with these settings:

Step 10: I recommend clicking the add icon and going to Presets > Save As and name it something like "Explosion Glow". This will speed up your workflow when applying this filter set to subsequent movie clips.

Continue to apply this filter preset to the rest of the "heat" layer contents, tweaking the settings each frame to your liking.

Step 11: Go back to your first frames and convert the starburst into a movie clip as well and name it "starburst01". Apply these glow settings:

NOTE: I find it easier to do it this way because you can tweak each movie clip individually and adjust the glows to fit each frame.

That's it! The way you draw your explosion and color and tweak it is totally up to you. This just covers the basics on how to achieve the animation and glowing effects seen in cartoons and anime.