Rocket Smoke!

I’m doing a REALLY simple animation of a rocket taking off, separating stage by stage, and releasing something into orbit.

I’m using kinda ragggedy shapes with shape tweens and a glow for the exhaust flame, and lil’ elliptical shapes with white-to-black gradients and blur filters for smoke.

Does anyone have any suggestions to make this look really slick, tips or tricks or hints that might be useful? I want this to look really nice.

Anything y’all can tell me is greatly appreciated!