They’re all so creative and good looking, I love what you’ve done here! Can’t wait to see what you’ll do for the coming days!
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 15 - Necrotic 
This was super fun to put together, got inspired by bubbling tar pits
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 16 - Lightning 
Been experimenting again with realistic-ish and stylised VFX visuals 
This time with stylised smoke and realistic lighting shapes - think this one turned out well 
3 Likes
ExplosionTober Day 17 - Ghoul 
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 18 - Asteroid 
I love all the little details in this explosion!
Spent a fair bit of time today working on improving my knowledge of the Houdini to Unreal workflow - been neglecting this a little bit, but glad I got the chance to look into it again
Would folks be interested in a breakdown/ sped-up VFX creation video of this one? 
2 Likes
ExplosionTober Day 19 - Thorn 
Had this fun idea of rings of thorns spinning as a part of this explosion - not too sure how successful it is, but it was fun to try out
2 Likes
very cool work! keep it up! <3
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 20 - Portal 
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 21 - Volcanic 
This explosion is definitely one of my favourites of the challenge so far! So many cool details! 
2 Likes
ExplosionTober Day 22 - Fairy 
Back to an orange and purple colour combo!
Also completely forgot to mention that yesterday marked the end of week 3 of ExplosionTober! 
ExplosionTober Day 23 - Neon 
2 Likes
ExplosionTober Day 24 - Calamity 
Whenever I hear the word ‘Calamity’, I immediately think of the Legend of Zelda.
The colours and shapes used in the VFX for Calamity Ganon were my inspo for this effect
It was fun to reference one of my favourite games
ExplosionTober Day 25 - Solar 
Think I came up with a cool take on a solar flare explosion - really made me use my brain 
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 26 - Shatter 
Only a few more days of ExplosionTober!
I can’t believe how fast this month has gone by, but also how much I’ve been able to learn with each explosion - thanks to everyone for following along 
3 Likes
ExplosionTober Day 27 - Sticky 
So this explosion started really differently…
I originally wanted to try making a Honey Explosion 
as it felt different from the sticky slime explosion I also considered.
(Still might do it after the challenge )
Sadly, the honey shader didn’t come together how I wanted, so I pivoted to plan B - Green Sticky Slime
ExplosionTober Day 28 - Fire 
Went back and forth for a bit on whether this should be a stylised explosion or realistic
Ended up going down the realistic path and tried a few different techniques to get that firey feeling - not too sure how successful they were but glad I gave them a go
1 Like
ExplosionTober Day 29 - Sand 
Only 2 more days of ExplosionTober 2025 to go! 
ExplosionTober Day 30 - Bubbles 
Only one explosion day left!
I can’t believe how fast this explosiontober challenge has gone by!
Thank you again for following along, and thank you to everyone who used my explosion prompts! - it means to the world to me
Can’t wait to see everyone’s final explosions tomorrow!
2 Likes
ExplosionTober Day 31 - Seance 
(Final Day!!!)
I can’t believe that today is the final day of the ExplosionTober Challenge for 2025!!! Thank you everyone for following along all month long and for your support!
1 Like
ExplosionTober 2026
It’s that time of year again when I start talking about ExplosionTober . Wild to think that we are about to begin year 3 of this community challenge. A huge thank you to everyone who has participated in past, provided feedback and cheered on other members of the VFX community - it has been great to see 
So, for those who don’t know what ExplosionTober is, here is a quick summary:
The ExplosionTober VFX challenge is an annual, month-long challenge held in October, with a different prompt each day (31 days, 31 prompts). By providing the subject matter, an explosion, and a different theme each day in October, it lets artists focus on creativity, their goals, and learning objectives while removing the ‘umming and ahhing’ about what to make.
For me, it was important to have themes that could be interpreted in different ways, but also have some of the prompts touch on the more ‘typical’ explosions in games/film, Eg., grenades. Alongside this flexibility was an important factor, so I generated two sets of prompts:
- Prompt List 1 – 31 prompts in 31 days.
- Prompt List 2 – 13 prompts in 31 days, to allow a few extra days per prompt for artists to complete their explosions.
The challenge is open to a wide range of VFX types, such as 2D VFX, 3D VFX (Real-time or Simulation)
So… what are the prompts for ExplosionTober 2026?
Luckily, you won’t have to wait; here they are:
Prompt List 1 (31 prompts, 31 days) :
Prompt List 2 (13 prompts, 31 days) :
I’ll be posting my results here during October - All feedback and thoughts are welcome
Super excited to see what this ExplosionTober will bring
If you want to get involved, tag me and use the ExplosionTober hashtags
2 Likes