Sparkler

This gif was made in 30 minutes, 4 frames in Photoshop, about a dozen or so layers.

There's a color dodge overlay on the hand and also one color dodge overlay on the sparkles. Otherwise everything is in "Normal" overlay mode.

Most of my animated gifs start with one "defining" frame done in black and white out line, then I will go in and build the assets in color (the sparkler stick, hand, and of course several layers for the sparkly parts themselves.

The hardest part was figuring out what to do with the "background" sparkles, the darker yellow/brown color behind the very bright sparkles in front. Adding in those extra two layers (that alternate between each other) behind the brighter bits gave a bit of dimension and ambient lighting that a sparkler gives off. Took me a little while to hit the color I wanted and to get the size and shape that would convey what I needed it to without distraction.