Animation work in progress

I created my character for the fire animation and tested out different colour variations that could work well with the lineart. I was immediately drawn to the top left (1) and the bottom right (4) compositions, which both held different qualities. For instance 1 contained bright yellow and blue hues and 4 contained subtle sepia tones which worked well mixed with the dark blue of his coat and the light blue of his eyes.
The top right composition doesn't work well with the hues used as the magenta and red colours do not merge and and give this harsh quality to the image, I believe this is due to the intensity of the magenta colour, however the green coat does contrast with the red but not with the magenta. The bottom left design worked well as the orange and red blend, linking with the colours used for heat. I preferred the top left design however as the blues were more subtle than the reds which would work well with the rest of the background compositions of the animation; I decided to go with the top left design as I felt it would contrast better against the mostly white background due to snow. The blue hues linked with the snow like qualities and are known for resembling cold weather.

When creating the fire,  at first, I only made 2 different images, which made the movement of the flames extremely jagged. I solved this by adding more images inbetween the 2 images, a total of 8 all together, which made the flames flicker and move smoothly from one image to another. At the current speed of the fire moving, I felt it worked well however after some peer feedback I was told to experiment with the speed to see if the fire would work better at a slower rate. I slowed the fire section down by duplicating the same frame. When comparing both the original and the slower version, I decided that the slower version was not successful as it did not run smoothly as the movement of the fire seemed to stagger as it went to the next frame.

These images show the process of drawing the inbetweens between the 2 original images of the fire and debating with colour and placement of the frames:

I drew frames inbetween by lowering the opacity of the layer and on a new layer designed the inbetween.
I drew the inbetween slightly overlapping and slightly moving the body of the flame away from the previous,
to link the images together and not create a lurch as the frame plays.

I filled the fire with a red hue at first adding flickers of flames rising into the top of the screen, to give the
illusion of the flames rising higher.

I then added orange and yellow tints and small lines to symbolise embers emitting from
the burning logs. I added large parts of yellow and orange tints with in each image in varying images
as to portray the heat of the flame as it moves decreases and increases in height.

As each image was different I needed to move the tints of the flames as well as move the whole body of the fire slightly as it eats away at the wood.

Example of one of the images. I still need to add a yellowy glow around the fire and more shadows to emphasise the light from the fire.

This video is the fire sequence so far. After watching the sequence I realised that I need to move the embers along with the fire as it doesn't fit with the movement of the flames.