Essential Effects: Water, Fire, Wind, and More 1st Edition

The best book to have if you're an animator and you want to get into effects animation. This is a treasure trove! There are so many resources on character animation out there but effects animation is harder to come by, so I really appreciate this book. So much good knowledge here.

The title is 'Essential Effects: Water, Fire, Wind, and More' and in fact this book is an ESSENTIAL reference book on how to animate classical, hand drawn effects. Master efx animator Mauro Maressa has packed this book full off his knowledge acquired in a 40 year career in animation working at the top animation studios. Highly recommended.

Covers many of the techniques for FX animation. Highly recommended

I am a storyboard artist and have been one for some twenty five years. Because of the computer I have seen a lot more responsibility placed on the storyboard artist. We now have to basically animate our sequences and this includes special effects. Mauro Maressa has put out a book titled “Essential Effects Water, Fire, Wind, and More”. I have just received my copy and am amazed on how much meaningful information Mauro has been able to pack into a how to book. Besides Richard Williams “The Animator’s Survival Kit” and Frank and Ollie’s “The Illusion of Life” I feel Mauro has given us the inside scoop on how to approach effects and execute them. Anything I can do to plus my work means more employment for me and this book will be a vital aid in breathing more life into my storyboards.

I got this book hoping it would help me understand how to draw and animate effects but most of the example images are hard to follow. It's nice to look at for examples of how other people have drawn things but not necessarily how to replicate or build on them in my opinion. You're better off looking at videos online