Blender 2.83 Grease Pencil: Comic style from reference (part 1)

[@activemotionpictures]

Don't let anyone tell you that tracing over is cheating, because it's not. REPURPOSING Is everything! Stylize is everything! Great video!

[@jaydon4574]

There’s nothing inherently wrong with tracing. It’s when you claim it as your own original art when it’s wrong.

[@MaeBlythe]

I love you so much for saying that! Repurposing is TRUE punk.

[@mirrortrix]

Naw it’s shit. You can’t simply trace and become a great artists. Great artists trace after learning fundies. Beginner artists always lose steam when they focus on tracing because it’s simply not rewarding.. and also those artists are not structuring their habits and imaginations to sustain long sessions of artistic focus. Basically, there’s nothing to celebrate when it comes to tracing. It’s just another tool. And not a particularly rewarding or special tool either. Learning how to copy from a grid is a real challenge and fun even for an intermediate artist, because it lends to constant control and choices.

[@marksevastipol1946]

@@mirrortrix I have to agree with that looming at a traced drawing doesent feel like I did as much work as making your own. Unless you are animating then copy of course

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

As coders/hackers would say "Never recreate the wheel." if something already exists that suits your purposes, then you should use it.

[@andiroo42]

This is the first grease pencil tutorial I’ve personally seen where I feel like the art is the focus over the user interface.

[@bhargavkalita2207]

There are lot of grease pencil tutorial out there but as someone who is just starting out to learn grease pencil i declare yours is the best one out there

[@arthurocchiutto4686]

my problem with blender huge content of endless and pointless tutorials is over now. You and Ducky3D are the bests on youtube man. Objective tutorial, full of good tips and usefull for a great kind of situations. I'm from Brazil and cannot help u on patreon right now, but I swear that when we leave this economical crysis (maybe never) I'll be a subscriber! Also very thanks to include your work archives in description

[@RonHicks]

I'm glad to see an artist that doesn't decry tracing. I've done a little freelance commercial artwork in the past, in other words getting paid, and it was an absolute must. Otherwise I keep things ethical when needed I'll give credit where credit is due :) Thanks Paul :)

[@_3clipse_]

Holy crap!!! I always favoured CSP over something like Krita because as a so-so artist the little tricks that you can do meant more to me for getting the job done than the quality of the raw materials available to me (most of which were too good for my skill level to take advantage of)... but this just blew my mind... had heard some of the raves for grease pencil and seen some impressive works but the few tutorials I saw were like early days tutorials... (this is the interface point by point till I was like ahhhh just show me where I start and what I can do with this puppy I can figure the rest out myself...) but this was perfect got me envisaging exactly how this can increase my production right now... brilliantly done tutorial. Instant like and subscribe...

[@PCaggegi]

Glad you liked it! Part 2 goes public in a few days (currently available for Patreon early access) all files will be available for download also.

[@slamm600]

Moar!! Watched this on a whim, and its sparked a deep dive on grease pencil. This is nuts!

[@PCaggegi]

Excellent! Glad I could inspire you to create!

[@NutyRiver]

Same!

[@sicfxmusic]

Exactly the tutorial I'm looking for! From adding reference to all the required tools for drawing a (female) portrait 😁👍

[@specialhouse]

please do never stop working - you are amazing

[@mobinkhosravi1666]

It was so good. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. There are a few things that can be used. For example, you can use the Sculpt Mode section to move lines and resize. Also, when drawing a circle, its thickness can be determined with the F key

[@PCaggegi]

Thanks! I prefer the edit mode to sculpt, personally. Sculpt and tint are two things I have yet to master.

[@anndavidson6950]

Great video, subscribed, I'll need to rewatch this one a few times and will check out your other videos too, you have a good way explaining things for sure, just stared learning Grease pencil 2 weeks ago and I'm taking everything very slow, plus this is my first time trying digital art so everything is very brand new to me :)

[@mhrehaan]

man i was so noob in 2D drawing after watching this i got an idea thanks . also subscribed keep it up

[@funlabsdesignstudio]

Awesome Tutorial and Even Awesomer Shirt! 😁👌🏼 Neverending Story Gates is an epic scene favorite of mine!

[@THMCKYPRC]

Some of the best tutorials on this topic. Keep up the great work!

[@dreamzdziner8484]

Always wanted to learn grease pencil since it released but never got the motivation. Now after seeing this great tutorial I understand why it is a game changer for art lovers. This magical tool opens to so many possibilities. You're an awesome teacher mate.

[@pencillab6476]

I am just getting started with painting in blender... Yours was the most interesting and useful tutorial..

[@teucerceoofgenshincreative8019]

TIPS: For those who are not using table to draw, Hold shift then draw using your mouse is easiest!

[@kibainuzuka8412]

thank you so much :3

[@samushunter242]

Thanks for making this I'm just starting to use blender for art and this really helped me

[@lanceevans1689]

Very nicely done, thank you. I am struck by how many times you RE-drew the image. I've never been a comic book style artist, so no expert. But I've always seen it done with a pencil sketch, then inking. But I'm sure you have your reasons for the extra passes. Thanks again.

[@PCaggegi]

It takes me a while to get right.

[@marcocenteno2001]

Excellent tutorial, My mind exploded

[@maroonedmind]

You make everything sound so simple but I don't know what's wrong with me, I've watched this and your part 2 video a million times but I just can't get my head around it. Especially using vertex for colouring instead of materials (which is what I'm really interested in - I get the tracing part) Don't get me wrong -it's definitely me being stupid, not the way you explain it. Thanks for the taking the time for making these. Even though I'm not quite getting it yet, these are the most comprehensive videos about tracing and especially using vertex colours on KZbin that I've found. Cheers!

[@PCaggegi]

hey Marooned, there's a few videos which have now updated how this is all done (vertext colors are now "color attributes" for instance. I have a bunch of livestreams on @CGcookie which are watchable, and might demystify some of the process.

[@AhmedNassef]

You CAN view vertex colors in solid mode if you switch from material view to vertex view (like when switch to random, object, material, solid colors for any other object)

[@PCaggegi]

Awesome! Thanks for the tip!

[@ynh1379]

Paul Caggegi for using Grease Pencil is Number one :)

[@darcytaylor2442]

Ctrl + alt + space distraction free mode toggle 8). Awesome grease penciling Paul!

[@alinaser2160]

nice job Mr paul . keep it up. and a 1000 times thanks for the instructions. it was really helpfullll

[@chahak376]

Great tutorial !!! Please make a separate Video, how to use proportional editing tool as I tried, but couldn't understand how to use? 🙏🙏🙏

[@World_Theory]

Huh. Before watching this, I hadn't realized that I might be able to simply do the 2D texture painting of a 3D model in Blender. I'm well versed in Inkscape, and this reminded me of using that, though it's not really the same due to the stroke data format not being SVG. I imagine there are some features Inkscape and Blender have that the other doesn't. I might give this a try. Though I do have plenty of backup options for 2D texturing if it doesn't work out. Krita, Inkscape, and GIMP for example. I don't need to do much 2D drawing, and despite years of off and on practice, I don't seem to be very good at it. I bet this would let me use a 3D model I create as an image to trace over, for as a stylized rendering of a sort. I seem to be heaps better at 3D modeling and sculpting than 2D art, despite only having started less than 2 months ago. I think I might just be bad at converting 3D shapes from my brain, into 2D images on paper or the computer. Tracing a 3D model should be easy though.

[@SpitfireStoryboards]

Lovely lines here. Stellar video

[@andre_karavia]

Man this tutorial saved me. Thank you!

[@artofdavidarroyo]

Very useful tutorial as useful. Thanks for making these! 😉👍🏻

[@Diavilat]

Another great video, im learning with your work!

[@sportshighlights030]

Thank you!!

[@RonHicks]

Greetings Paul, I figured out how to keep my inks black. I turned off the pressure sensitivity for strength😀

[@PCaggegi]

Ah. *those* sorts of blacks! You can also set your sculpt to strength and paint over any lines you need to blacken up.

[@ooLevityoo]

When is Part 2 coming? This is really good!

[@PCaggegi]

Just finished the edit. It's scheduled for patreon next week, and will be free here on KZbin the week after. Not long!

[@lukeds5703]

I love this. This is what I needed. Thank you!

[@fivefingerfullprice3403]

In draw mode there are scissor for cutting out points, it's a lot quicker than always going back into edit mode. Downside is it's not always as precise so pick your poison.

[@raliox8093]

amazing! really helpful Thank you so much Paul !

[@RonHicks]

Greetings Paul, I'm still getting used to the vertex paint mode. I like being able to tab the color in pallet and immediately changing the fill for my flats. Now I'm trying to figure out how to keep my ink color black while doing my flats. I like your worflow and how you emphasize starting with pencil construction and more than one inking layer till you can get a flow going in your work😀

[@PCaggegi]

Hey Ron! All you have to do is set your vertex coloring to "fill" only. It's probably set to "stroke and fill". The other thing you can do is go into Vertex color mode. This might be a good way of selecting only the points/shapes you want to color and change only the specific fill.

[@PCaggegi]

I am currently working on a basics course for Udemy, and will be addressing this. I need to do some updates for the new features here on KZbin also, and I'll cover some further vertex painting tips. Tint works GREAT, and switching to Vertex Paint mode for grease pencil is pretty cool, too.

[@idiocracy10]

great stuff, thanks

[@hehtbbsisuecejsisyevrhsjbe6614]

Shift + A isn't working, is there an alternative?

[@PCaggegi]

Yes - in your header: Add menu.

[@calogiga]

Great video.

[@waltof2504]

Awesome, this is what I have been looking for... Thanks man

[@jenninexus]

This was awesome. Thx!

[@thischuckieho3]

At 8:41 I get lost i followed every step but as soon as 8:41 comes up you press a button on the keyboard and thats what i cant find i clicked the points and also the Proportinal edit mode but i cant find the button that gives me the circle to strech and stuff can you please help me there!!

[@showme360]

Great demo, just wished to shown how to enable the grid! my grid is cellected but not shown on the screen!!!!

[@PCaggegi]

The default Blender grid or Grease Pencil grid? Take a look at your overlay properties drop down. There are a few tickboxes that will allow you to toggle the canvas grid on and off.

[@getroot_]

💜💜💜

[@intrastellar5245]

great tutorial. thank you ;-)

[@kidstv9290]

Amazing 👍👍👍👍

[@antoinedevldn]

That was very helpfull thanks a lot :)

[@matslarsson5988]

Who made the music? Sounds like something from the good old point and click adventure Machinarium.

[@PCaggegi]

I'll look up the track later, but I can tell you that I use the royalty free KZbin music library alot. I try to use tracks that are less common.

[@Blacmao]

8:55 (question for anyone) How is the artist able to grab points and move them without having to click on the point first? (edit: found it...drag mode must be set to "tweak")

[@somapradhan31]

why is it that i cannt add a colour pic as a reference pic? on the other hand when i convert the pic to greyscale, i am able to add it. Great tutorial...learnt a lot. thanks for sharing.

[@ginescap]

fantastic thank you

[@KiallVunMyeret]

So when i add in a reference image, I am stuck in object mode and i can't do anything anymore. Would you know a sollution for this?

[@angeldeleon495]

Shift + A then click grease pencil :)

[@KiallVunMyeret]

@@angeldeleon495 Thanks, it worked :D

[@Aaaaraaa]

@@angeldeleon495 😘 thanks bro❤️👍

[@matthewmay6272]

I am using a PC and unable to shift+A to add reference or background. Any help? I cannot find the option any other way.

[@PCaggegi]

File>>add?

[@dengraphics6527]

Waiting for part 2

[@MyStarPeopleExperiences]

Help anyone? When I import an image, reference or background, object mode is the only mode I can access. This happens in Blender 2.93 and 2.83. There is no way I can draw with grease pencil. I can only select the image. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

[@PCaggegi]

You're drawing on a separate grease pencil object. One way around it is to lock the reference image/object. Because it's so close to the GP object, you're probably selecting by accident. Once you have the GP selected you will be able to access other modes for it, like draw.

[@noradrenaline3115]

how did you switch from object mode to draw mode after adding the reference image?

[@PCaggegi]

Select the grease pencil object, hit spacebar and select "draw". Or use the dropdown from the upper left where it says "object". Alternatively, I think there's a shortcut key (or one can be assigned). I dont know what it is off the top of my head tho. :( I'm a men's guy lol

[@noradrenaline3115]

@@PCaggegi Thank you for the reply. maybe i use a different version. mine is 2.9

[@tokamohamed4078]

oh i had trouble with that too. just go to where all the scene collections are and make sure your on stroke and not image. then you should be able to go to draw mode.

[@dreamzdziner8484]

@@tokamohamed4078 Thank's man. You saved me:-)

[@kratikasaraswat5670]

Hey Paul, Great video. Was just wanted to know what did you press after 1.33 to bring it to the center? Apologies very new to this tool.

[@nishantbodkhe7443]

Hey Paul can you please make a tutorial for LANPR pleasseeee!!!!!!! Very professional video btw

[@PCaggegi]

I'll never say never, but at the moment it is unlikely for various reasons.

[@nishantbodkhe7443]

@@PCaggegi No pressure dude!

[@jethrolongwemalawi]

thank you sir

[@ahmedalhisaie7698]

you have really nice work I like it, I have stopped for so long using blender, I have new product I need to release and I need to transfer my hard paper portrait sketch to the blender, I need it in a pencil view not a digital one, is there a tool in blender can draw a realistic pencil feeling ?

[@rodolfomedellindelacruz8847]

porque despues de agregar una imagen no me puedo meter al 2d para dibujarlo?? alguien me podria ayudar

[@two_pisces]

8:41 sorry, but I confused for what you had pressed, to measure the diameter. I can't find it, even after read the documentation.

[@pazgomenskii5310]

Please, at 7:35 you started drawing, you started by putting in construction lines. I want to know if this rough sketching of the character is done using only a mouse or you did the sketching using a graphic input tablet & pen?

[@PCaggegi]

Definitely a graphics tablet. I have a wacom intuos pro.

[@yokanshree4621]

after i import my image to blender i cant change it to draw mode

[@avinSlow]

hello paul i'm new to blender i want to ask how you put color palette in active tool

[@PCaggegi]

Watch part II

[@pupaup4573]

you are a hero

[@Thorshammer9]

I love this tutorial, but I'm trying to find a way to have the pallete active and select colors right from the background image while I'm working. How can I do that?

[@PCaggegi]

When you create a color, use the color picker anywhere on any screen. Then hit the + sign in your palette to add it to your collection. I think I have a quick tip and the follow-on tutorial that also explains this.

[@Thorshammer9]

@@PCaggegi thank you Paul that's really nice of you to respond. I'm just this new guy trying to get used to the difference of vertex and material colors and I didn't realize that if you're in material colors it disables the color palette. After a while I ended up figuring it out LOL. I really like your tutorials and will watch all of them!

[@Toebiscuit]

What's the advantage to doing this in Blender?

[@giggsjohn7297]

Thanks for the teach

[@mediafgh9005]

Great tuto, thanks ! however the woman is not since available....

[@MS-il2di]

My background image has disappeared half way through and I dont know how to get it back, it's not switched off in the top right panel, only comes back when i go into 2D full canvas...can someone please help!

[@PCaggegi]

Select you background image in the outliner. Check the properties. Examine which angles it can show/not show. It could be it's only selected to show in a certain view. You can select which views you can see it in - including perspective.

[@MS-il2di]

@@PCaggegi Hi Paul, thank you for the reply and excellent video by the way. Is there a particular photo file type that you use, like JPEG or PNG?

[@MS-il2di]

PS...I literally followed your video step by step so all options and selections were exactly the same as yours. I am using Blender 2.9 but I doubt that should matter. I may reinstall Blender because mine seems a bit glitchy.

[@ժժժվցղ]

Why i cannot change mine to draw mode once i insert my reference picture? Plsss reply i really need this🥺

[@PCaggegi]

You've probably still got your reference selected. Make sure you've selected your grease pencil object - you can do this via the outliner if it's too hard in 3D viewport.

[@ժժժվցղ]

@@PCaggegi thank you very much!!!

[@Mujtabahassan1]

AWESOME.

[@RealTrase]

How do you exit from object mode? Why is so hard to find a way out

[@PCaggegi]

Into another mode? TAB key. Do you wish to deselect? Click anywhere but the selected object.

[@courtenaybes-green110]

fantastic video! I have a question about the proportional bending tool, once i have selected the 'proportional editing' button in 'edit mode' as well as the 'select mode', when i come to 'bending' the lines i do not get the circle surrounding the line, instead my pen produces selection box, am i doing something wrong or is it my software?

[@PCaggegi]

Hit T and change your selection tool to circle.

[@courtenaybes-green110]

@@PCaggegi Thanks! :)

[@pashants]

Hi Paul, how you, hope all's good with you. I do have a question I'm not sure if you have been faced with yet or even done a stream on either and the question is, How do you import a 2D animation into blender properly. aka convert it into a sequenced greace pencil animation? Hope to hear from you soon

[@PCaggegi]

It can be done using Grease Pencil trace image. Now in 2.92, there is an option to trace frames from a sequence. It's not perfect, and it works best with black and white linework animations, and you will still need to do some clean up. Here is a good breakdown kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TNm6CVjayZa6M

[@HalkerVeil]

Is there any plugins that auto trace edges and place lines?

[@PCaggegi]

Probably. But I enjoy drawing. Don't you?

[@HalkerVeil]

@@PCaggegi Sure do. But no time for it. My process needs streamlined work for high output while still keeping decent quality.

[@adamh5075]

Thank you, sir!

[@urchingreaser9182]

what angle position did you do when you uploaded the photo?

[@zentamil]

thanks for sharing

[@Pastaman_art]

After adding the reference image the pen pressure sensitivity is not working.... How can I fix this... Can anyone please help

[@AdrianodeAndradeSilva23]

At 8:56 what commands are you using?

[@PCaggegi]

In edit mode, I have enabled proportional falloff, and am just using G to grab, S to scale, and middle-mouse scrolling to increase/decrease influence of proportional falloff.

[@kevinhouse7143]

Hey Paul, great tut. I especially like the beginning where you go through the basic setup. I was wondering isn't there an eraser for editing out a lot of those cross overs? Or is it too much bother switching tools?

[@PCaggegi]

Do you mean an eraser brush? Sure. There's a whole set. I find I either want to erase a whole stroke - so I use the erase stroke brush - or just a vertex or two - which I find easier just to pop into edit mode and delete. Just a preference, really.

[@kevinhouse7143]

@@PCaggegi Ah gotcha. Yeah that's what I meant an eraser brush. Thanks!

[@jomargalicia]

7:02 im having a hard time my lines strokes are not changing

[@Wolf_D._Furyy]

Sir i don't understand whenever i add reference ,my draw mode disappear

[@PCaggegi]

Set your Grease pencil view object properties to "in front" and maybe work in sketch or material preview mode

[@Wolf_D._Furyy]

@@PCaggegi thank you sir I'll try

[@kdeuler]

Thanks for the vid Paul. What brand of tablet and pen do you use?

[@PCaggegi]

I'm pretty conventional. Wacom intuos 4 medium. :) now watch everyone get triggered about the non-wacom tablets they use lol!

[@30ftunder39]

Great tutorial. But can anyone help me to find the Layer List in Grease Pencil ? it is not visible in 2.83.3. The View Layer window has only the mention 'Use for Rendering' (activated) and 'Render Single Layer' (deactivated) and that's it. There is no list of any layer that i created using the icon 'Add /New Layer'

[@PCaggegi]

Are you confusing the Grease Pencil Layers with render/view layers? The Grease Pencil Layers are accessed by viewing the Grease Pencil's properties tab (the icon with the sqiggly line under the properties section) which is visible when a grease pencil object is selected. The View Layers are different. Right up the very top right hand corner of the entire Blender interface, you can add/select your view layers. Here you can create separate render inputs to render different selections of collections - this is beyond the scope of this tutorial of course.

[@30ftunder39]

@@PCaggegi hm thanks. Yes I see it now. I was looking under the 'view layer properties' where frankly it should have been. Thanks again

[@30ftunder39]

@@PCaggegi think that I spent an entire day trying to figure that out. I am over 50, it doesn't help. But it's a proof that for a total beginner like me, nothing is obvious and taken for granted. The helper file linked to blender doesn't even mention 'where' is this layer list. Hopefully I will improve. Thanks for your great videos.

[@PCaggegi]

@@30ftunder39 that's totally ok! Please ask anytime, mate! I think it's awesome. If I am make things easier I'll certainly try in future.

[@bjs1984]

How to animate it.

[@smepable]

Why would you use Blender over Krita or inkscape for this task?

[@PCaggegi]

Several reasons, including the integration of 3D tools to further enhance the work; easy rendering; negates the need to import files into Blender when you can create them right in the application - and many more. But i you prefer to work in Krita or Inkscape, nobody is stopping you.

[@MelvilleG]

Thanks for another great video, Paul. Looking forward to the coloring session. BTW, did you make a comparison between the time for creating a grease pencil sequence and a stylized 3d? I mean if you want to animate that lady, will it make sense to do everything in grease pencil or rather model that and do shapekey animation? Which would be faster?

[@PCaggegi]

I am not likely to tackle this for a number of reasons, primarily because animation is not my focus - comic style illustration is, so I apologize in advance.

[@DrRachelRApe]

I like how to make someone more attractive is you make their features more white.

[@精彩美丽]

U use mouse drawing or digital pen!?

[@finalflash5152]

Shift A isn't working what must have gone wrong??

[@PCaggegi]

That's the default shortcut for your add menu. Maybe you reassigned it to something else? You can always just use the dropdown Add menu along the top of the viewport.

[@finalflash5152]

@@PCaggegi Thanks a lot sir! 😭😭😭 I got depressed

[@harshinik3485]

I can't go to edit mode, draw mode, and other features except for object mode when I add a reference and a background picture.

[@PCaggegi]

Make sure your grease pencil object is selected (if you can'tfind it in the viewport, use the outliner). You can then use the dropdown menu, or hold down TAB to select the various modes.

[@harshinik3485]

@@PCaggegi I don't get it what do you mean?

[@PCaggegi]

Your background reference is just an object - you can't draw on it. You must add a grease pencil object to create the drawing. That object allows you to go into those modes, but it must be selected. There is a free demo file you can download from the link in the video notes.

[@harshinik3485]

@@PCaggegi you can change from object mode to edit mode, draw mode, and other modes but I can't do that there is only 1 mode and that is object mode when you add a reference picture or a background picture.

[@PCaggegi]

@@harshinik3485 this is why I am assuming you still have your background image selected. There is no draw mode on a reference object. Select a GREASE PENCIL object (or create one - as shown in the video) and you will be able to switch modes.

[@clipers.]

well i cant go back to draw mode after placing a reference image so am just gonna drink and then cry my self to sleep

[@maxwellbrake237]

make sure the stroke is selected in the scene selection on the right , then you will be able to go back to the drop down menu on the left corner of your view that says 'object mode' and change it to draw

[@Orlybrown]

The Best

[@narciliocosta]

Great great video! Awesome! Do you think is possible do this without a graphics tablet, with only a mice? Peace!

[@PCaggegi]

Yes it's possible but you'll be tearing your hair out.

[@enigmaticloremaster1700]

This would have to be the most over complicated user unfriendly program I have ever used. None of what you do even comes up on my PC and simple tasks like touching up a photo or drawing an object in a photo does your head in because simple functions are so over complicated it is a joke.