Marina VFX – 50 Weeks of Stylized VFX: Between Art, Emotion & Code

[MarinaVFX]

Hi everyone!
I’m Marina — a real-time VFX artist with a background in both art and technology, trying to weave beauty, logic, and emotion into one living flow.

For the past few years I’ve been working with Unity, Unreal, and Houdini — exploring how motion, light, and timing can tell stories and awaken feelings. I love that moment when a few abstract shapes suddenly start to breathe — when something technical turns into something alive.

I’ve been silently reading this forum for about four years, learning so much from all of you — and today I finally decided to write my first post.
To celebrate this small step (and to stay consistent with my own creative growth), I’ve started a personal challenge:
50 Weeks of Stylized VFX.

Each week, I create a new video — showing the process behind a texture, shader, or mesh, or explaining the basic principles that make an effect work. A few videos are already done, but now I want to make this journey more systematic — a space to grow, learn, and refine my voice as an artist.

I’m not chasing perfection — I’m experimenting, observing, and searching for the best format to express what I feel through real-time visuals.
My goal is to find that fragile balance between beauty and logic — and to share what I discover along the way.

I’m completely open to critique, comments, and new ideas — please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts or feedback. I deeply value honesty and dialogue, and I believe that every perspective helps the work become stronger and more alive.

I endlessly love what I do.
And it would mean a lot to walk this journey together — to learn, to exchange ideas, and to keep this spark of wonder alive.

Thank you for creating this space. I’ve been inspired by it for years — now it’s time to finally join in.

[Manus]

We are very happy to have you here
Looking forward to your creations and I’m sure there will be a lot to learn from! I love seeing breakdowns of others

[MarinaVFX]

Week 1 — Stylized Fire Texture

A few years ago, I started practicing by creating small stylized effects for environments — one of them was fire.
It began as a simple study, just a way to understand motion, heat, and rhythm inside an effect.
But even after I finished it, the idea never really left me.

I kept thinking — what if I turned this process into something I could share with others?
Not just the final texture, but the way it moves, grows, and finds its shape.
So this September, I finally came back to it — and that moment became the first step of what’s now my 50 Weeks of Stylized VFX journey.

Created in Substance Designer — procedural, looping, and built entirely from noise.

I wanted this fire to feel light and alive — not realistic, but expressive.
To build it, I split the idea into two systems:
one for the main fire motion and one for the wave that gives it breath.

1 - Fire Noise

I started with Anisotropic Noise, warped by Cells 1, to create elongated, fiery streaks.
This combination gave me the sense of vertical tension I was looking for — clean, flowing lines that already carried the structure of heat and motion, even though the texture itself is completely static.
After refining it with a few Blend and Levels adjustments, I got the pattern that felt both organized and alive — the visual rhythm of fire captured in still form.

2 - Wave Motion

For the wave, I started with Perlin Noise and shaped it using Cross Section, which defined most of the wave’s silhouette and gave it that characteristic smooth curve.
From there, I added several Warp and Blend steps to emphasize the edge and enhance the overall wavy feel — not to create motion, but to make the form more expressive and natural.
The result is a static texture with a clear, rhythmic flow — something that feels calm yet full of potential energy when combined with the fire pattern later in the shader.

3 - Blending Both Worlds

Once both base patterns were ready — the fire noise and the wave — I combined them to shape the final look of the flame.
The goal was to find a natural balance between the vertical tension of the fire lines and the soft curvature of the wave.
Through several Blend, Warp, and Levels adjustments, I refined the silhouette and contrast, highlighting the thin bright core and the gentle falloff toward the edges.
For the preview, I used a Gradient Map built from white through yellow, orange, and red to black, to visualize how the temperature and brightness would distribute across the form — while keeping the final texture itself fully grayscale for later use in the shader.

4 - Closing Thoughts

This was the moment where everything clicked for me — I realized how much I enjoy the process itself.
What began years ago as a simple training exercise — just a way to study form and contrast — slowly grew into something much more meaningful.
Through this small experiment, I found a way to connect art, emotion, and structure into one living flow — where every node, every layer, and every choice becomes part of expression rather than just a setup.

It’s still a simple texture, but for me, it marks the beginning of something bigger — the start of consistency, curiosity, and beauty in creation.

Full video process:
Stylized Fire Texture Tutorial (YouTube)

[MarinaVFX]

Thank you so much, Manus!
I really appreciate the warm welcome — it feels great to finally share something here after following the forum for so long.

[SilverEye]

Hello! I also just recently started learning VFX. Speaking about fire textures and stylization, I like that even with a small number of nodes you can achieve pretty good results