Spilled Oil

Here's a short PSA by MAKE. Displaying some excellent 2D fluids animation:

Kieron Helsdon on Animating Explosions

The aim of this old CG Talk article is to show the variety of explosions that exist and to give a visual framework for animating them. It's in five parts and not bad for FX reference, check it out here.

The Works of Chris Graf

Here's a few more FX samples from Master Effects Animator Chris Graf.

























Here's his final show reel, marvel and drool over the astounding sense of design, timing, color schemes, and fluidity in his work.

The Show Reel of Nicolas Léger

Check out the nice FX work mixed into this animation demo. See his artwork here.

Bring Color To Life

See the Making Of video here.

“The beauty of chance and high speed film come together for this new commercial for Canon’s Pixma printer. Shot over two days with biochemist Linden Gledhill and Award Winning Photographer Jason Tozer.”

The spot entitled ‘Bring Colour to Life’ was directed by the fantastic Christopher Hewitt and is as simple as a concept could be but is absolutely spectacular to watch. You can also take a look at some amazing images from the shoot in Linden Gledhill’s Flickr account, aalong with Christopher Hewitt’s website, and these follow-ups for great FX animation references:

www.dentsulondon.com/blog/2010/09/28/sound-sculptures/ 
Timing and flash triggering by StopShot, see www.cognisys-inc.com

The Works of Jason Keyser

Watch Keyser's incredible show reel of beautiful Flash FX Animation, and see his website with a few tutorials and samples of his art here.

The Works of Jake Macher

I've known Jake for 10 years now, ever since I started directing animated series for television, and I've always relied on his incredible talents as an effects animator, check out his show reel, the FX kick in at 1:28. Visit his site with illustration work here.

More FX References