GPSketch is adding a whole new layer of possibilities to Grease Pencil

Why did I make GPSketch?

Because I LOVE Grease Pencil and I am very excited for its development!! 
And I've always wanted to use it in my design and illustration process BUT ever felt frustrated that...

Grease Pencil don't cast shadows?
You can't convert your drawings to mesh? 
You have to click everywhere and it breaks your flow?
The GP strokes are not really into 3D space?
You can't use more complex materials on your strokes?

Those are part of the reasons why I have been working on this system that is using all the amazing features of Grease Pencil, but adding so many more possibilities to it.

What does GPSketch do? 

It starts with a Geometry Nodes modifier called GPSketch that takes your strokes and convert them to mesh, with several options for the shapes and style of lines.
The settings are based on the Grease Pencil ones to take full advantage of the development of Grease Pencil and add this layer of awesomeness to it.

Then there is the automation that deals with the conversion of the Grease Pencil brushes and materials into Object materials (which can be applied to meshes contrary to GP materials).

The best part ? You don't need to do anything. And it works with any Grease Pencil material that you have or create

So the only thing you have to do is draw, sketch, design.

You're done drawing and want to convert into mesh ? 

No problem, I added a feature in the right click menu that converts your GPSketch objects into mesh (which you can't do in Blender by default yet).

I don't like going into menus and submenus

So I added some Gizmos to give a quick access to settings that are we might change often but require too many clicks around like the Stroke Placement type, Auto-lock of the inactive layers, showing the Canvas grid, change View orientation of the canvas. 

Main tools of GPSketch 

GPSketch 

Either use the GPSketch object from the library, or add the modifier to any Grease Pencil object or drawing you have. 

Additionally there's a button in the Gizmo toolbar to automatically setup any Grease Pencil object for you.

Choose your Strokes Style

Line for an extruded Shape. 
Points for instancing the Shapes on each points of your curve.
Both give different results and are suitable depending on the effect you're looking for!

Choose a Shape to give volume to your strokes

Shapes can be Square, Round, Plane or a Custom Object

Draw on any layers you want but...

If you draw on a layer called Fill, you will start drawing a shape instead of a stroke!!
There's also some options to "Chip" the edges of the fill shape, to give it a more organic and random look.

And if you draw on a layer called Boolean, you will start erasing your strokes or shapes ! Perfect for blocking in a design and playing with shapes.

But what if I want to change the colors, or cast shadows?

I added controls to use the Brush Opacity, Cast Shadows on the modifier!
But also a Color you can multiply on top of your vertex color +  Hue, Saturation and Values !
So you can adjust all these values per object without having to tweak the materials or having to recolor your strokes (which would make you loose the color jitter your might have).

HullSketch

For anyone who tried Gravity Sketch and thought WOW! I love being able to draw Convex Hull shapes and do fast blocking with it! 
Then this one is for you my friends. 
I've been wanting a tool like that for a while as well.
This also takes in account the vertex color of your brush so it's very fun to play with !

Loft

Sometimes designing something with flowing changes in its shape is complicated and time consuming. But with this tool you can easily loft different brushstrokes, curves or meshes together to get a cool result!

There is an option to smartly sort your strokes or curves, so you are not constrained by the drawing order or drawing on one axis! 
The only thing to take in account is that it will try to sort logically based on the proximity of each elements.

Screw

Designing a revolving shape with a few strokes is a really good tool. So I added a setup that help you with that.

What else ?

Capture Color from another object's texture

This modifier will sample a texture on the selected object to match their color on your strokes. 
This works very well to add details to an object, or if you scatter your strokes on a surface and want to match the color of the ground or a wall for example ! 

Paint Brush texture pack !

I also include my Paint brush pack that is built from the same brushes stamps as the Grease Pencil library I provide, so you can have a similar style in texture painting and Grease Pencil sketching! 
These are the brushes I use in my painting and concept art. Take good care of them! 

And next ?

I am planning on adding some assets made with GPSketch to the library so you can either look how they are made, or use them in your projects!