Shape Keys make it much easier to manipulate any part of your 2D object in Blender. You can set up several different states for a single shape within any part of your 2D character's body and then change it with Shape Keys in seconds, thanks to Bézier curves.

However, the system is not quite complete yet, which is why it has several bugs to watch out for. For instance, when the handles of your shapes are too close to each other, it might be tricky to select the necessary handle – Grease Pencil just won't allow it, assuming that you're trying to access controls for another element.

Also, in Edit Mode, you can only see one Shape Key at a time in your viewport. Mumu Mundo explains that while it's fine in the editing process, it might cause problems later when adding drivers for rigging.

Shape Keys start to truly shine once you activate bones in your rig and see how fast, smooth, and easy tweaking your character's body parts becomes. Note, though, that as soon as you add the armature and drivers, it's harder to adjust the Shape Keys because the values become uneditable. Bézier curves disappear at this point as well, so to access them again, you need to disable the armature.

One more thing the artist warns about is the deformation in the shapes if you move them too far. In his rig, the fill in Peppa Pig's ear could not follow the trajectory of the bone that controls the ear and fell out of the shape, forming empty areas.

Full integration of Shape Keys into Grease Pencil is still in active development. You can keep track of the process or download the rig and try it out yourself here.

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