How to Tint Grease Pencil Layers in Blender

This guide provides a straightforward walkthrough on using the Tint modifier to dynamically alter the colors of specific Grease Pencil layers in Blender. By using modifiers instead of manually editing materials or vertex colors, you can non-destructively change stroke and fill colors across your 2D animations in real time.

Step 1: Select the Grease Pencil Object

In the 3D Viewport or Outliner, click on your Grease Pencil object to select it. Ensure you are in Object Mode.

Step 2: Add the Tint Modifier

  1. Navigate to the Properties panel on the right side of the interface.
  2. Click the Modifier Properties tab (represented by a blue wrench icon).
  3. Click the Add Modifier dropdown menu.
  4. Under the Modify or Color category, select Tint.

Step 3: Configure the Tint Settings

Adjust the basic color properties in the modifier panel:

  • Mode: Choose whether the tint applies to Stroke, Fill, or Both.
  • Color: Click the color box to choose the tint color.
  • Factor: Adjust the slider from 0.0 (no effect) to 1.0 (full tint intensity) to control how strongly the new color blends over the original artwork.

Step 4: Restrict the Tint to Specific Layers

By default, the Tint modifier affects all layers on the selected Grease Pencil object. To target a single layer:

  1. In the Tint modifier panel, expand the Influence section.
  2. Find the Layer field and click the drop-down menu.
  3. Select the specific Grease Pencil layer you want to tint.
  4. (Optional) Click the double-arrow icon next to the layer name if you want to invert the selection (applying the tint to all layers except the selected one).

Step 5: (Optional) Further Refine with Masking

Within the Influence panel, you can further restrict the tint effect using additional filters:

  • Material: Limit the tint to strokes or fills using a specific material.
  • Vertex Group: Apply the tint only to assigned vertices.
  • Pass Index: Filter by layer or material pass index for compositing workflows.