FX Blog - Lightning Strike

There is a lot less information about lightning fx than other elements, however due to how fast it is, animating lightning is all about good shape design and timing, Tracy Strong (2017). For the very few frames that lightning shows, it should read very well with very bright light and angular shapes. Strong (2017) also suggests not being tight with your successive drawings, as the natural wonkiness helps give the bolts an electric feel. This allows you to be very loose and go a bit wild with your designs, depending on style.

Ron Doucet (2014) talks about the anatomy of a well designed lightning bolt. Generally there should be a combination of these to give it the right feel, but the actual design can be exaggerated or simplified. In essence, it is a “shaky line that goes from thick to thin to thick and thin again.” Doucet (2014).

Ron Doucet (2014)

For the actual animation of lightning you have a lot of leeway. Doucet (2014) says that generally it’s good to have; a few frames of it striking, having the same start and end points but changing up the angles in the bolt; a flash of white before a thicker, larger strike; a blank frame every 2-4 frames to give the lightning a flicker effect; and finally a couple of frames of dissipation, just so that it doesn’t suddenly disappear.

Leeroy Kevin (2016)

Alex Redfish (2014)

Matt Timms (2013)

I used these three animations as references to inform my own lightning animation for different reasons. With Leroy Kevin’s (2016) animation I liked that initial ball of energy before the lightning strike followed, it created good anticipation as well as suggested the potential energy of the effect.. The way it dissipated - simply getting thinner and thinner - was also very effective and gave it an appealing quality, much more than if it just disappeared or faded out. Alex Redfish’s (2014) animation took a multiple lightning strike approach, however he also incorporated that initial short strike. I really liked the way he tackled the dissipation, making the strikes fizzle out whilst moving away. This made it seem like the lightning had motion and the energy was propelled by the force of the strike. Finally, Matt Timm’s (2013) animation had really strong timing, and good use of glow effects. Instead of having that initial smaller strike, Timms just made the base of the strike very bright. He also used blank frames to give the strike a flashing quality that was very effective. 

With my own animation, I want to combine features from these three artists. I’ll have an initial strike for anticipation, and use the blank frames technique to give the lightning a flashing quality. I’ll also use a combination of fully white frames and glow to give the strike more impact. For the dissipation of it, I think I will combine Redfish’s and Kevin’s styles - some strands dissipate on the spot while others continue their movement outwards.

Here is the animation:

As with my initial animations, this was definitely my favourite. I had a lot more freedom with the shape design, and playing around with the timing was quick and fun. I used the approach of my plan, and I included a secondary strike.

The most trouble I had with this was creating interesting shapes for the lightning. I used the principles from Doucet’s lightning anatomy guide, whilst also focusing on avoiding parallel lines. Despite this, I think I still should have exaggerated the angles further to give it more appeal.

A mistake I made with my initial lightning animation was making some of the drawings overly complicated which resulted in it looking cluttered, so for this one I focused on rendering the main strike as interesting as possible and reducing the number of branches coming off of it.

Again, I think this animation is significantly better than my original lightning animation, mainly due to the addition of the white frame, blank frames and glow effects. In addition to this, the shape design is much stronger, and the timing is more believable. Looking back at the original, I think the timing is too slow, making it look less like a strike and more like a character that’s moving forward.