E-Book by synccreation

Animated VFX within Blender

I can’t draw

How to get started with

Grease Pencil

SYNCCREATION.ME
 Content

Introduction
Overview of Grease Pencil
Grease Pencil Guide
Canvas Setup
Basic Drawing
Layers and Colors
Animation Basics
Sculpt Mode
Modifiers and Effects
Avoiding Common Errors
Rendering
Future Learning Pathways
You don't have to be able to draw
Synccreation’s Words

1
 Introduction
Overview of Grease Pencil

If you are opening Blender for the first time and would like to
immediately plunge into the Grease Pencil world, then let's get started
ASAP.
Let's start with WHY and FOR WHAT the 3D program has such a built-in
utility as Grease Pencil.

Grease Pencil is a versatile tool within Blender that serves several

purposes:
1. 2D Animation: Grease Pencil allows artists to create 2D animations
directly within the 3D environment of Blender. This can be used for
traditional 2D animation techniques or for combining 2D and 3D
elements in the same project. (this will be the main focus of this
book)
2. It's often used for creating storyboards and animatics, which are
essential for planning and visualizing scenes in movies, TV shows,
and video games. Artists can quickly sketch out scenes and camera
angles using Grease Pencil.
3. Annotation and Marking: Grease Pencil is useful for adding
annotations, notes, and markups directly onto 3D models or scenes.
This can be valuable for collaboration and communication among
team members working on a project.
4. Concept Art: Artists can use Grease Pencil to create concept art
and sketches, exploring ideas and designs before committing to full
3D modeling and texturing.
5. Motion Graphics: It can be employed to create 2D motion graphics,
motion design elements, and visual effects that complement 3D
animations or scenes.
6. Illustrations: Grease Pencil can also be used to create 2D
illustrations and drawings within Blender.

Overall, Grease Pencil extends Blender's capabilities beyond 3D

modeling and animation by offering 2D drawing and animation tools. It's
a powerful feature that provides flexibility and efficiency in various
creative workflows, making Blender a more versatile tool for artists and
animators.
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Here are some examples of how it looks inside the program:

Blender viewport with a mix of 3D and 2D

Blender viewport with 2D VFXs from my upcoming pack

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 Grease Pencil Guide
Canvas Setup

So, to add a grease pencil object to our 3d viewport, you will need to
press Shift + A and find Grease Pencil in the drop-down menu.

We will be offered several options, for now we will focus on the Blank
version.

Adding Grease Pencil to the scene

Now we have an object in the scene, but we don't see anything, that's
why it's Blank - we need to draw something.

Click on the grease pencil object in the outliner and switch to Draw
mode.

Switching to Draw mode

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Here we are in draw mode, but don't rush to draw yet, before that I
would set up our GP.

There is a panel on top that contains a decent amount of settings for

a specific GP object.

Settings for the specific GP object

The first one - is the brush you use to draw, you can choose both a
brush and a pen or pencil.

I always use the most common F Pen

Also, I immediately change the Strength to 1

Automerge

Take into account, Automerge is a very useful thing, and I also turn it
on 100% of the time, although it may only interfere with someone in
some cases. Its essence is that if, for example, you draw a circle, and
when you try to close it, Blender automatically merges the 2 nearest
vertices and eventually closes the circle. If this does not happen, then
there remains a hole in our circle, which can eventually lead to
problems with color filling, etc.

Let's jump to the right side of the screen, in

Properties. By clicking on the Data
Properties of our GP, we get to the section
where we can customize our GP more
subtly. It contains everything you need to
manipulate the Grease Pencil.

Data Properties 5
Let's quickly go through the basic settings that are often used:

Layers are a fundamental organizational tool that allows you to

manage and separate different elements within your 2D drawings and
animations. Layers help you work with multiple elements, such as
sketches, lines, or drawings, within the same Grease Pencil object
without them interfering with each other.

Lines

Square

Tris

Particles

Example of how you can separate elements with layers

Take a look at the picture, each individual element is drawn on the

corresponding layer, so I can individually manipulate them.

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So, after adding the GP object, our Data Properties looks like this:

Data Properties

The first thing I do is disable Use Lights. It works as strangely as

possible on the final render.

Strokes and Adjustments sections

Take a look at Stroke Thickness and Thickness Scale, its very

important
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Both Stroke Thickness and Thickness Scale affect the thickness or
width of the strokes you draw, but they work in slightly different ways

Stroke Thickness is an absolute value that determines the thickness of

a Grease Pencil stroke. It sets the uniform thickness of the entire
stroke, regardless of its length or size in the scene. For example, if you
set the Stroke Thickness to 5 units, the entire stroke will have a
constant width of 5 units, whether it's a short stroke or a long one.

Thickness Scale is a relative value that scales the thickness of a Grease

Pencil stroke based on its length or size in the scene. It allows you to
adjust the thickness of the stroke proportionally, depending on the
scale of the object or the distance from the camera. For instance, if you
set the Thickness Scale to 2, the stroke's thickness will be doubled
when it's viewed at a larger scale or when the camera gets closer to it.
Conversely, it will be halved if viewed at a smaller scale or from a
greater distance.

Affecting only specific layer by Affecting entire stroke by adjusting

adjusting the Stroke Thickness the Thickness Scale

Draw something and try to play with the scales yourself!

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 Basic Drawing

I drew the most ordinary square, you can draw whatever you want!

Square

if you have a tablet with a pen for drawing, it will make your life
literally 5 times easier, so I strongly recommend buying yourself
even the cheapest tablet (you can find it for $50).

I’m using Huion Kamvas 13 tablet with an extended display, this is a

game changer actually!

Okay, by clicking on the T button, we get a whole

arsenal of drawing tools. In fact, most use only 2 of
them - Draw and Erase. I immediately bind these 2
tools on the pen buttons in order to speed up the
drawing process.
Of course, you can try other tools from this list,
maybe they will seem useful to you, but as
practice shows, the artist only needs a pencil and
erase. :)

Tool bar

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Let's try to add such a frame to our square.

Adding frames to our cube (try not to interrupt

the line while drawing)

At first, it will seem to you that your skills in drawing even such
simple elements as lines are very poor and you are hopeless. Don't
worry, I've experienced the same thing, moreover, everyone who
started drawing has experienced it! everything comes with
practice. Therefore, here is the first practical lesson for you - when
you draw any element, try not to interrupt the line, try to bring it
to the end, at first it will seem impossible, I understand you, but it
is more than real, the main thing is to train your hand.

An example on which shapes to practice with

continuous lines
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Also, when drawing VFXs, you should not focus too much on how
smooth or even perfect the shape you get, since our ultimate goal
is animating our drawings, then in motion and in rapid frame
changes, some irregularities will be almost invisible. Therefore, do
not pay too much attention to this, especially at the beginning of
your journey. Focus more on how a particular shape should look as
a whole, how much it needs to be stretched, made sharper or more
rounded, etc.

Sharp shapes reflecting fast motion

Round shapes reflecting slow motion

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 Layers and Colors

Let's refresh our minds on what Layers are.

They allow you to separate, organize, and edit specific elements of
your drawing without affecting the rest. Each layer can hold its
unique strokes, enabling you to build your artwork piece by piece,
detail by detail.

Now move on to another important aspect - Colors.

Layers allow artists to separate different elements of their artwork.
This separation becomes essential when applying Colors, as it lets
you color different parts of your drawing independently, without
affecting other elements. For instance, you might have one layer
for your character's outline and another for their clothing. This way,
you can easily apply and modify colors on the clothing layer
without disturbing the outline.

Material section

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Let's say, we need to draw 2 elements - a circle and a triangle, and
do it so that we can change the color, turn on and off the outline
and change the thickness of this outline.

How we can do that?

We need to create 2 layers and 2 colors. Let's name them

appropriately.

Creating 2 colors for 2 corresponding layers

Creating 2 layers for 2 corresponding colors

So, let's draw a circle. Select circle layer and circle color and start
drawing.

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 Using Stabilize Stroke

Also, in some cases, it will be convenient to use Stabilize Stroke, it

allows you to draw lines more smoothly, just suitable for drawing a
circle. To activate the Stabilizer Stroke, hold down the Shift key
before you start drawing.

Using Guides

In addition, you can use Guides, which have presets for different
geometric shapes, by turning on circle, we can draw a perfectly
smooth circle if you suddenly need it!

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 I drew a circle and a triangle, now I can change their color
separately, in the same way I can change the thickness of the line
for each individual layer.

Changing colors

Changing thickness

Thus, you can create an unlimited number of layers and colors and
divide everything into separate parts in order to have more
control, just don’t forget about naming!

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 Animation Basics

Animation is the art of bringing static images to life, and with

Blender's Grease Pencil, this magic is more accessible than ever.
Grease Pencil blurs the line between 2D drawing and 3D animation,
allowing you to animate your 2D sketches in a 3D space.

Often, and if you are just starting out, the process of animating
Grease Pencil takes place from the camera.

View from camera

if you are drawing from the camera, it will most likely be more
convenient for you to have the Grease Pencil strokes aligned to
your camera view. If you don't understand, watch:

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 How it looks beyond camera

If you look from the side, you can see that the square that I drew
looks directly into the camera, which means that by drawing our
strokes will align in 3D space clearly under the view from the
camera.
So, let's move on to animation already. First, we need to open the
timeline. Blender has a built-in timeline specifically designed for
Pencil Pencil. Dope Sheet - Grease Pencil

Dope Sheet window

Grease Pencil in Dope Sheet

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Also, I'm adding a regular timeline so that I have access to other
animation functions, this is how it looks:

2 windows - Dope Sheet and Timeline

Let's turn on Auto Keying, so when we draw on a new frame, the

keyframe will be automatically placed on the timeline.

Auto keying

Grease Pencil are used to define significant points in your

animation, capturing the position, shape, or other attributes of your
drawing at a particular moment in time.

Let's create a simple impact effect.

First of all, I make a raw animation with an interval of 2 frames

between each keyframe, and after that I adjust it to the timings,
reducing or increasing the distance between the keys in order to
speed up or slow down the animation.

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This is my first frame. Start from small thing in order to show the
appearance of the object.

First frame
We indent 2 frames and draw the next movement. Notice how it is
very different from the previous one - this is how I show the speed
of animation development, since this is an impact, it should be
sharp and speak in its own way - I am aggressive and with sharp
angles.

Second frame

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The next frame is empty, thus I show as if the impact is "charging".
If it's not clear to you yet, by the end of the animation you'll
understand what I mean.

Empty frame

Also, you could notice a green painted "footprint". this is Onion

Skin, I forgot to tell you about it, although I think it is very useful
here because it clearly shows in practice how it works. Onion Skin
- is a technique that shows several frames of the animation at
once, with past and future frames appearing as translucent
overlays. This helps animators visualize and create smooth motion
by seeing how an object or character moves from one frame to
another.

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You can turn it on here:

Turning on Onion Skin

Also, you can adjust steps for a specific Grease Pencil object here:

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Okay, back to our animation.
After our empty frame, I step forward 3 more frames and draw the
next movement.

4th keyframe

I take 2 more frames forward and draw a new frame. I decided to

add a type of fragments, they act as an additional element in order
to detail our impact effect, in fact, this can be done after the
completion of the main animation, and do it on a separate layer
and with a new color. Try to divide it into 2 or even 3 layers. The
main thing is practice, do not forget that.

5th frame, adding details

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Take a look on Onion Skin. Agree, it is very convenient to know
where the last frame was and what it looked like?

Onion Skin

Continuing to animate, I take our impact up and gradually reduce

its size, in the same way for small details and eventually leave an
empty frame at the end for the final disappearance.

7th 8th 9th

9th 10th 11th

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it makes sense to reduce the gap between the keyframes at the
beginning of our animation and increase it at the end, thereby
showing that this is an impact and it happens quickly and its peak
speed is at the very beginning.

That is, the position of the keys should be something like this:

Position of the keyframes on the timeline

This way we create more believable movements of our animation.

This is also called Timing- it's a fundamental concept in animation

that dictates the speed and rhythm of the motion being depicted.
Proper understanding and control of time spacing are crucial for
creating fluid, natural-looking animations.

There is also Spacing - involves the physical spacing of the object

or character's position from one frame to the next. Closer spacing
results in slower motion, and wider spacing leads to faster motion.

The way frames are spaced affects the perception of weight,

gravity, and the laws of physics in the animation. For instance, a
heavy object might have more frames (slower movement) as it
struggles against gravity.

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Thus, in just 11 frames, we made a full-fledged impact effect that
can now be used anywhere.

I will post the final animation on my Instagram, also you can tag me
in your stories what you got! :)

Now we can change the fill and stroke color, choose according to
your taste :)

Fill and stroke color change

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 Sculpt Mode

Sculpt Mode in Grease Pencil is a powerful feature that allows

artists to adjust and refine the shapes of their strokes in a very
intuitive and flexible way.

Sculpt Mode enables

manipulate the shapes of
Grease Pencil strokes as if they
were molding clay. This is
especially useful for fine-tuning
the shapes, ensuring they align
perfectly with your vision.

Unlike traditional vector-based

adjustments, Sculpt Mode
offers a more organic and
dynamic way to edit strokes.
You can push, pull, smooth, or
twist your strokes, providing a
natural and fluid experience
similar to traditional sculpting.

Sculpt Mode Tool Bar

Sculpt Mode can significantly speed up the editing process.

Adjusting the curvature or form of a stroke is much faster and
more intuitive than manually editing each point or bezier handle.

For those using graphics tablets, Sculpt Mode works seamlessly

with pressure sensitivity, offering a high degree of precision and
mimicking the feel of traditional sculpting tools.

During animation, you might find that certain frames or movements

require adjustments to the stroke shapes for better flow or
expression. Sculpt Mode allows you to make these adjustments
quickly and intuitively, ensuring that each frame looks just right.

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When animating, especially frame-by-frame, some strokes may
not transition smoothly from one frame to the next. Using Sculpt
Mode, you can subtly alter the strokes to ensure a smoother
motion, enhancing the fluidity of your animation.

Changing shape by using Push brush in

Sculpt Mode

Instead of redrawing or extensively editing points in a stroke,

Sculpt Mode can be a quicker way to make necessary
adjustments during the animation process, saving valuable time.

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 Modifiers and Effects
Modifiers and Effects for Grease Pencil in Blender are powerful
tools that allow you to enhance and manipulate your 2D artwork
and animations in various creative ways. They can significantly
expand the capabilities of what you can achieve with Grease
Pencil.

List of modifiers

There are a decent number of modifiers that work uniquely for

Grease Pencil, I think a separate book is needed about them haha.
Let's look at some of them.
Noise

Noise OFF Noise ON

Noise is a versatile tool that adds a random, jittery movement to

the strokes, simulating a hand-drawn or natural look. It's
particularly useful for adding dynamism and a sense of
imperfection to animations or static drawings.

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 Envelope

Envelope OFF Envelope ON

Envelope allows manipulate the shape or properties of an object,

much like an envelope that wraps around and influences its
contents.
Multiple Strokes

MS OFF MS ON

Multiple Strokes modifier generate multiple parallel strokes

around the original ones.

And there are many other modifiers that just won't fit into this
book, just try experimenting with them yourself!

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Effects - this is purely a set of tools that was created exclusively
for Grease Pencil.

These effects allow for creative and dynamic alterations to the

appearance of strokes, adding depth, texture, and flair to your
artwork.

Effects

Here's an overview of some common effects available for Grease

Pencil:

Blur Effect - This effect softens and blurs the edges of Grease
Pencil strokes. It's useful for creating a sense of motion, depth, or
focus. You can control the intensity and spread of the blur to
achieve various artistic styles.
Colorize Effect - This effect changes or enhances the color of your
strokes. You can use it to add a uniform color tint, create mood
lighting effects, or even animate color changes over time.
Wave Distortion - Wave distortion adds a wavy, rippling effect to
your strokes, which can be animated for dynamic movement. This
is particularly effective for creating underwater scenes, heat haze,
or other environmental effects.
Glow Effect - The Glow effect creates a glowing halo around your
strokes. This can be used for light sources, magical effects, or to
make certain elements stand out in your scene.
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Shadow Effect - This adds a shadow to your Grease Pencil
strokes. It can be customized in terms of color, offset, and blur,
allowing you to create depth and a sense of realism in your
drawings.
Opacity Modifier - While not a direct effect, the opacity modifier
can be used to alter the transparency of your strokes. This can be
particularly useful in creating depth-of-field effects or for
emphasizing certain parts of your drawing.
Thickness Effect - This effect allows you to dynamically adjust the
thickness of your strokes. It can be keyframed, making it useful for
animations where you want to emphasize motion or impact.
Texture Effect - You can apply textures to your strokes for varied
visual styles. This can simulate different artistic materials or add
interest to your drawings.
Rim Effect - This effect adds a rim light around the strokes, which
can help in creating a more three-dimensional look, especially
useful for giving a volumetric feel to flat drawings.

When using these effects, it's important to remember that they

should enhance and not overpower your artwork. Subtlety is
often key, and the best use of effects is when they support the
overall aesthetic and narrative of your piece. Additionally,
combining multiple effects creatively can lead to unique and
compelling visuals in your Grease Pencil projects.

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 Avoiding Common Errors

When animating with Grease Pencil in Blender, avoiding common

errors can significantly improve the quality of your work and
streamline your workflow. Here are some key points to consider:

Inconsistent Frame Rate. Ensure that you set and maintain a

consistent frame rate throughout your animation project. Changing
frame rates can cause the animation to appear jerky or uneven.
Ignoring the Principles of Animation. Familiarize yourself with
basic animation principles like squash and stretch, anticipation,
and follow-through. Neglecting these principles can result in
animations that lack fluidity and realism.
Layer Mismanagement. Properly manage your layers.
Overcomplicating by using too many layers or mismanaging
existing ones can lead to confusion and errors in your animation
sequence.
Ignoring Onion Skinning. Not using onion skinning can make it
difficult to visualize motion and spacing between frames, leading
to less smooth animations. Always use onion skinning to see the
before and after frames.
Inconsistent Stroke Thickness. Pay attention to the thickness of
your strokes. Inconsistent stroke thickness can break the illusion of
depth and make your animation appear amateurish.
Overlooking Timing and Spacing. Timing and spacing are crucial
in animation. Incorrect timing can result in animations that are too
fast or too slow, while improper spacing can affect the smoothness
of the motion.
Overcomplicating Actions. Sometimes, less is more.
Overcomplicating actions or movements can make animations
hard to follow and visually cluttered.

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 Rendering

Rendering Grease Pencil in a Blender is a bit tricky, especially when

we mix it with 3D objects that you render on Cycles. The fact is
that the Grease Pencil does not work very correctly in Cycles and
gives out some bugs. Therefore, I strongly recommend rendering
the 3D layer in Cycles first, and then the 2d layer in Eevee, besides,
there is no visual difference.

Changing to Eevee rendering engine

This is what my
typical 3D & 2D vfx
mix scene looks like.
I always divide the
scene into 2 layers -
the 3D part and the
2D part.

Compositing tab

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In the layer with the 3D object, I disable the collection where I have
the grease pencil and leave the 3D part on.

3D Layer. Turning off GP collection to separate renders

Then i switch to the GP layer and here for the 3D part I turn on
Holdout, thereby when the grease pencil is behind our object in
our scene so that everything is displayed correctly.

GP Layer. Turning on Holdout for the 3D collection to avoid

clipping

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You can enable the display of the holdout button here:

Turning on Holdout display

Thus, we divide the render into 2 parts in 2 different folders, and

after that I throw 2 sequences into After Effects and start making
post-production (color grading, motion blur etc.) separately for
two layers. I strongly recommend that you study in depth how to
render layers, this is a very important skill.

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 Future Learning Pathways
In blender 4.1, we will finally be able to manipulate Grease Pencil via
geometry nodes. This should be just an incredible offshoot of the
path in learning and exploring the possibilities of Grease Pencil.

Some potential possibilities and areas of exploration:

Procedural Strokes Creation - Geometry Nodes could be used to

generate Grease Pencil strokes procedurally, allowing for complex
patterns, shapes, and designs that would be time-consuming to
create manually.

Procedural Stroke Generation (vid by Open Class)

Dynamic Animation Effects - By combining Grease Pencil with

Geometry Nodes, animators could create dynamic, procedural
animations. For instance, animating a Grease Pencil drawing to
grow, shrink, or morph based on node setups.

Advanced Particle Effects - Utilizing Geometry Nodes for

controlling Grease Pencil stroke behavior could lead to advanced
particle-like effects, such as strokes that simulate natural
phenomena or complex motion patterns.

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Geometry Nodes could offer more sophisticated ways to apply
textures and materials to Grease Pencil strokes, leading to richer
and more complex visual effects, also for adding randomization
and variation to strokes could enable artists to create more
organic and natural-looking scenes and many many more
possibilities.

I expect big changes in workflow in drawing grease pencil works,

but the good old frame by frame method will not go anywhere, it
will still live and have its place.

37
 You don't have to be able to draw
Synccreation’s Words

I would like to tell you a little bit about how I came to start drawing
as a 3D modeler and animator.

I started 3D back in 2020, it began only from modeling 3d things,

these devices, then i thought, maybe i should animate them? I
jumped into learning animation. After that, I thought something was
missing... I started looking for my own style, my own zest.

And I came across the Grease Pencil. I began to study it in small

steps. By the way, I absolutely can't draw :). So, if you've never
shone with your drawing skills either, that's no reason to despair -
anything is possible. I wasn't afraid of the fact that I was drawing
as if I had a broken arm, I was confident that I would be able to
comprehend this skill. Everyone can master one craft or another.

If you liked this book, in the future I plan to create similar books,
but for the 3D article!

Thanks for reading! <3

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