# Getting started

> The CrowDraw user guide: make a canvas, find your way around the screen, draw, undo and save. Then brushes, layers, colour, selections, adjustments, guides, text, files and export.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/

CrowDraw is a free drawing and painting app for iPad and Apple Pencil. This guide covers everything in the app, starting here: make a canvas, find your way around, draw, undo and save.

## Your first canvas

1. **Make a canvas**

   In the gallery, tap **+**. Pick a size from **New canvas**, or tap **Custom canvas** (the button at the top of the list) to set your own.

2. **Pick a brush**

   Tap the brush button (**Paint**) in the top bar, then tap it again to open the library. Try a pencil from Sketching or an oil brush from Painting.

3. **Pick a colour and draw**

   Tap the colour circle at the top right, choose a colour and draw with Apple Pencil. Pressure and tilt shape the stroke. Your finger draws too, until you first use Apple Pencil: from then on, fingers pan and zoom (see [painting with your finger](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gestures/#finger-painting)).

4. **Undo, zoom and keep going**

   Tap with two fingers to undo and three fingers to redo. Pinch to zoom and rotate. There's no save button: CrowDraw saves as you go. Tap **Gallery** at the top left when you're done.

## Canvas sizes

| Preset | Size | DPI |
|---|---|---|
| Screen size | Your iPad's screen at full resolution, landscape | 264 |
| Square | 2048 × 2048 px | 132 |
| 4K | 3840 × 2160 px | 132 |
| A4 | 2480 × 3508 px | 300 |
| A3 | 3508 × 4961 px | 300 |
| US Letter | 2550 × 3300 px | 300 |
| Comic page | 1988 × 3056 px | 300 |
| Postcard | 1800 × 1200 px | 300 |
| Social portrait | 1080 × 1350 px | 72 |
| Phone wallpaper | 1320 × 2868 px | 460 |

The rotate button at the top of **New canvas** turns every preset the other way round, portrait to landscape. Once you have made a custom canvas, its size is listed too, as **Last custom size**.

**Custom canvas** takes a name, a width and height in pixels, inches, centimetres or millimetres, the DPI (resolution for printing) and a background colour. **Swap width and height** turns it round. It starts at 2400 × 1800 px at 300 DPI, or at the last custom size you made.

How big a canvas can be depends on your iPad's memory: up to 16384 px on the longest side on iPads with 8 GB of memory or more, 8192 px on iPads with 6 GB, and 6144 px on others, with a cap on the total area. The form shows the limits for your iPad. Bigger canvases allow fewer layers (see [the layer limit](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/layers/#limit)).

## Finding your way around

The top bar has the tools; the sidebar has the brush size and opacity. Everything else opens in a panel from the top bar. CrowDraw works in portrait and landscape, and in Split View and Stage Manager windows.

![CrowDraw's editor: the Gallery button and the Actions, Adjustments, Selection and Transform buttons at the top left, Paint, Smudge, Erase, Layers and the colour circle at the top right, and the sidebar on the left](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/02-editor.webp "The editor: tools along the top, size and opacity on the left")

| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gallery | Saves the canvas and goes back to your artworks. It's the only way to close a canvas: strokes, swipes and pinches never close it. |
| Actions (wrench) | Add a photo, file or text; crop and resize, guides, reference and canvas information; share and export; time-lapse; preferences; help. |
| Adjustments (wand) | Colour, blur and effect adjustments, Liquify and Clone. |
| Selection | Select part of a layer, then copy, fill, feather or transform it. |
| Transform | Move, scale, rotate, distort or warp the layer or selection. |
| Paint, Smudge, Erase | The three brush tools. Tap the active one again for its brush library (for Erase, also the choice between erasing pixels and whole strokes). |
| Layers | The Layers panel. |
| Colour circle | The Colours panel. Drag it onto the canvas to fill a shape. |

### The sidebar

- **Size** and **Opacity** sliders for the current tool, each with a small icon above it. While you use Smudge, the second slider is **Strength**: how much each smudge stroke blends the colours (see [Smudge and blending](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/brushes/#smudge-wet)).
- The sliders move relative to where you touch. For finer steps, slide your finger sideways away from the slider as you drag; the value bubble then says **Fine**.
- The square **modify button** between them picks a colour from the canvas: tap it, then touch the canvas. Or hold the button while you touch.
- **Undo** and **Redo**. Hold one to step through many changes quickly.

Left-handed? Turn on **Sidebar on the right** in Actions › Prefs, and use **Sidebar position** to move it up or down. You can also switch to a **Light interface** there.

## Undo and redo

Tap with two fingers to undo and with three fingers to redo, or use the sidebar buttons (⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z on a keyboard). CrowDraw keeps up to 250 steps for the open canvas, fewer if the steps are very large. Each step shows what it undid. The history is cleared when you close the canvas; to take back a single stroke later, use the [stroke eraser](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/brushes/#stroke-eraser).

## Saving

There's no save button. CrowDraw saves your canvas by itself:

- a couple of seconds after you stop drawing or editing;
- at least every 30 seconds while you keep drawing, when you next lift the Pencil (a save never interrupts a stroke);
- when you switch to another app or lock your iPad;
- when you tap **Gallery**.

If a save fails, for example because your iPad is out of storage, CrowDraw says **Couldn't save** with the reason and tries again by itself a little later. If it can't save when you tap **Gallery**, the canvas stays open with **Couldn't save your changes**: free some space and tap **Try again**, or choose **Close without saving** to close it and lose the changes since the last save.

> [!WARNING] Deleting the app deletes your artwork
> Your canvases live inside CrowDraw on your iPad. They are not in iCloud Drive or the Files app, and they don't sync between devices. Your iPad's own backup (iCloud Backup, or a backup to a computer) includes them. To keep a copy you control, or to move artwork to another iPad, export it as a **CrowDraw** file (see [where your artwork is kept](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gallery/#storage)). Before you delete the app or reset your iPad, export anything you want to keep.

## Crop, resize, flip and canvas information

Open Actions › **Canvas**:

- **Crop & resize**: drag the crop box, or drag it past the edges to make the canvas bigger. Or type a width, height and DPI; the lock between width and height keeps the proportions. Turn on **Resample canvas** to scale the artwork with the canvas, and use **Anchor** to choose which side grows or shrinks.
- **Flip canvas horizontally** and **Flip canvas vertically** flip the whole artwork, a quick way to check proportions with fresh eyes.
- **Fit to screen** (or a quick pinch) fits the canvas to the screen.
- **Canvas information** shows the size, print size, resolution, layers used out of the maximum, layer memory, colour profile (sRGB), dates and the time spent on the artwork.

## What you need

- An iPad with iPadOS 26 or later. CrowDraw is made for iPad only.
- Apple Pencil is recommended for pressure and tilt, but not required: you can paint with your finger.
- No account and no internet connection.

- **iPad:** [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6833535927)
- **Requires:** iPadOS 26 or later
- **Price:** Free · no ads, no in-app purchases

Stuck? Actions › **Help** lists the gestures and keyboard shortcuts, opens the welcome guide again (**Gestures and tips**), links to this guide, support and privacy, and shows the CrowDraw version. The [support page](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/support/) has answers to common problems. Or email [hello@crow.sg](mailto:hello@crow.sg).

## In this guide

- [Gestures](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gestures/): Undo, redo, zoom, eyedropper, full screen and copy and paste with your fingers.
- [Apple Pencil & preferences](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/apple-pencil/): Pressure, tilt, hover, double-tap, squeeze, barrel roll, low-latency ink and every setting.
- [Brushes & Brush Studio](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/brushes/): 92 brushes, smudge and blending, the stroke eraser, and making brushes of your own.
- [Layers](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/layers/): Blend modes, groups, masks, clipping masks, alpha lock and reference layers.
- [Colour](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/colour/): Disc, Classic, Harmony, Value and Palettes, and ColorDrop fill.
- [Selection & transform](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/selection-and-transform/): Select, save selections, copy and paste, then move, scale, distort or warp.
- [Adjustments, Liquify & Clone](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/adjustments/): 17 adjustments, nine Liquify modes and the Clone tool.
- [Guides & QuickShape](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/guides/): Grids, perspective, symmetry, drawing assist, perfect shapes and the reference window.
- [Text](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/text/): Editable text layers with fonts, sizes and styles.
- [Gallery & files](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gallery/): Canvases, stacks, importing images and PSDs, and where artwork is kept.
- [Export & time-lapse](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/export/): PSD, PDF, PNG, animated GIF and MP4, and replaying how you painted.

---

# Gestures

> CrowDraw's touch gestures: two-finger tap to undo, three-finger tap to redo, pinch to zoom and rotate, quick pinch to fit, touch and hold for the eyedropper, four-finger tap for full screen, three-finger swipe for copy and paste, the quick menu and keyboard shortcuts.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gestures/

Draw with Apple Pencil and use your fingers for everything else: undo, zoom, pick colours and go full screen without reaching for a button.

## All gestures

| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Two-finger tap | Undo |
| Three-finger tap | Redo |
| Two-finger pinch and twist | Zoom (5% to 6400%), rotate and move the canvas, all at once |
| Quick pinch in | Fit the canvas to the screen |
| Touch and hold with one finger | Eyedropper: pick a colour from the canvas |
| Four-finger tap | Full screen on or off |
| Three-finger swipe down | The Copy & Paste menu |
| One finger | Paint, if finger painting is on (see below) |

The same list is in the app under Actions › **Help**.

## Zoom, rotate and fit

Pinch with two fingers to zoom, twist to rotate and drag to move the canvas. While you do, CrowDraw shows the zoom and angle, such as **150% · 90°**.

The zoom snaps to 100% and to the size that fits the screen, and the rotation snaps to right angles, with a light tap of haptic feedback, so it's easy to get back to straight. A quick pinch in, done in under half a second, fits the canvas to the screen.

## Touch and hold for the eyedropper

Touch and hold the canvas with one finger. A ring appears around your finger: the new colour on top, the previous colour below. Move to sample another spot, and lift to keep the colour. The eyedropper doesn't appear while you use Selection, Transform, a fill or an adjustment.

## Copy and paste

Swipe down with three fingers for the **Copy & paste** menu: **Cut**, **Copy**, **Copy all**, **Duplicate**, **Cut & paste** and **Paste**. With a selection, they work on what's selected; without one, on the whole layer. Pasting adds a new layer and opens Transform so you can place it. See [Selection & transform](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/selection-and-transform/#copy-paste).

## Full screen

A four-finger tap hides the top bar and sidebar so you see only your artwork. Tap with four fingers again, or tap the small button in the corner, to bring them back.

## The quick menu

The quick menu is a ring of six shortcuts that opens where you are working. Squeeze an Apple Pencil Pro to open it (that's the default), or set it for double-tap, or for holding the modify button while you touch the canvas.

Slide towards an action and lift, or tap it. Touch and hold a slot to change what it does. Out of the box it holds New layer, Clear layer, Eyedropper, Eraser, Undo and Flip horizontal, and you can choose from New layer, Clear layer, Duplicate layer, Merge down, Fill layer, Eyedropper, Brush, Smudge, Eraser, Undo, Redo, Flip horizontal, Flip vertical, Drawing guide, Edit guide, Reference, Add text, Fit to screen and Full screen.

Set all six in Actions › Prefs › **Quick menu**, where **Restore defaults** puts them back.

## Painting with your finger

In Actions › Prefs, **Finger painting** has three settings:

- **Automatic** (the default): your finger paints until you first draw with Apple Pencil. CrowDraw then says **Apple Pencil draws, fingers now pan and zoom**: from then on, fingers only move, zoom and use gestures, so your palm can't leave marks. If you drag one finger with a brush later, a short hint says where to change this. If **Only Draw with Apple Pencil** is on in your iPad's Settings › Apple Pencil, fingers don't paint from the start.
- **Always**: fingers always paint, alongside Apple Pencil.
- **Pencil only**: only Apple Pencil paints.

Apple Pencil always draws and cancels a finger stroke in progress. When you start a two- or three-finger gesture, the first finger doesn't leave a mark. Once a finger stroke is under way, a palm or another finger that lands on the screen doesn't stop it or move the canvas. A mouse or trackpad always paints.

## Turning gestures off

Actions › Prefs › **Gesture controls** has a switch for each one: **Two-finger tap**, **Three-finger tap**, **Four-finger tap**, **Quick pinch**, **Snap zoom and rotation**, **Touch and hold** and **QuickShape**, plus the **Touch and hold delay** (0.15 to 1.5 seconds), the **QuickShape delay** and what **Modify button + touch** does: Eyedropper or Quick menu.

### Keyboard shortcuts

With a hardware keyboard attached (hold ⌘ to see the list in the app):

| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z | Undo / redo |
| B, S, E | Paint, smudge, erase. Press the key of the tool you're on to open its brush library. |
| ⇧E | Switch the eraser between pixels and whole strokes |
| I | Eyedropper |
| [ and ] | Smaller and larger brush |
| ⇧[ and ⇧] | Less and more opacity (smudge strength while smudging) |
| ⇧B, L, C | Brush library, Layers, Colours |
| Esc | Close the panel |
| ⌘= / ⌘- | Zoom in / out |
| ⌘0, ⌘1 | Fit to screen, actual size |
| ⌃⌘F | Full screen |
| ⌘C, ⇧⌘C, ⌘X, ⌘V | Copy, Copy all (the whole picture, all layers merged), cut, paste |
| ⌘A, ⌘D, ⇧⌘I | Select all, deselect, invert selection |

Shortcuts without ⌘ don't work while you're typing, for example in a text layer or a name.

---

# Apple Pencil & preferences

> How CrowDraw uses Apple Pencil: pressure, tilt, hover, double-tap, Apple Pencil Pro squeeze and barrel roll, the pressure curve, stroke prediction and the low-latency display, finger painting, and every setting in Preferences.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/apple-pencil/

CrowDraw reads Apple Pencil's pressure, tilt and hover, and on Apple Pencil Pro its squeeze and barrel roll. All of it is set in Actions › **Prefs**, along with how the app looks and which gestures it uses.

## Pressure and tilt

How hard you press and how far you tilt the Pencil change each brush in its own way: a pencil gets darker, an ink pen gets thicker, and charcoal shades with its side when you tilt it. These responses are part of each brush. Change them in Brush Studio under **Apple Pencil**: pressure can change Size, Opacity, Flow and **Bleed (softness)**; tilt can change Size, Opacity and **Shading (flat side)**.

## Your pressure curve

If strokes come out too heavy or too light for how you draw, adjust the pressure curve for every brush at once in Prefs › **Pressure and smoothing**:

- Drag the points on the graph. Tap the curve to add a point (up to eight), and drag a point off the graph to remove it.
- Or start from a preset: **Linear**, **Soft** (full strength with less pressure) or **Firm** (needs a firmer press).
- **Pressure threshold** ignores the lightest pressure: anything below it counts as no pressure at all, so a light touch stays light.
- Try your changes on the **Try it** pad on the same page.

Line smoothing belongs to each brush: set **StreamLine** and **Stabilisation** in Brush Studio under **Stabilisation**.

## Ink that keeps up with the Pencil

Two switches in Prefs make the ink follow the Pencil tip more closely. Both are on by default.

- **Stroke prediction**: while you draw, the end of the stroke is drawn ahead to where the Pencil is about to be, so the ink reaches the tip. The predicted part is only shown, never painted: the finished stroke is exactly the same with prediction on or off. It doesn't apply to smudging or wet paint. Brushes with strong StreamLine or any Stabilisation keep their smooth line a little behind the tip, as they are meant to.
- **Low-latency display**: shows new ink one screen refresh sooner while the Pencil draws, and keeps the display at its full refresh rate during the stroke. iPadOS turns this off by itself when the iPad is busy or saving power.

If you see flicker or a wobbly end on your strokes, turn one or both off and [tell us](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/support/#contact).

## Hover

On an iPad and Apple Pencil that support hover, CrowDraw shows the outline of the brush where the Pencil tip will land before it touches the screen. Turn it off with **Brush cursor** in Prefs.

## Double-tap and squeeze

Choose what happens when you double-tap the Pencil (Apple Pencil 2 and Apple Pencil Pro) and when you squeeze it (Apple Pencil Pro) in Prefs › **Pencil double-tap** and **Pencil squeeze**:

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| System setting | Do what you chose for double-tap in iPadOS Settings (switching to the eraser if that's not available). The default for double-tap. |
| Switch to eraser | Swap between your brush and the eraser. |
| Previous tool | Go back to the tool you used before. |
| Show colours | Open the Colours panel. |
| Show brushes | Open the brush library. |
| Eyedropper | Pick a colour from the canvas. |
| Undo | Undo the last step. |
| Quick menu | Open the quick menu where the Pencil is hovering. The default for squeeze. |
| Off | Do nothing. |

## Barrel roll

With Apple Pencil Pro, rolling the Pencil between your fingers turns brushes whose **Rotation** is set to **Pencil** in Brush Studio (under **Shape**), like turning a real chisel nib or flat brush. Calligraphy and flat brushes are good ones to try it with.

> [!NOTE]
> Brushes whose rotation follows the stroke or stays fixed ignore barrel roll. Change it per brush in Brush Studio › Shape › **Rotation**.

## Fingers and Apple Pencil together

**Finger painting** decides whether your finger paints. **Automatic** (the default) lets your finger paint until you first use Apple Pencil; from then on, fingers pan, zoom and use gestures, so your palm can't leave marks. **Always** lets both paint; **Pencil only** never lets fingers paint. See [Gestures](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gestures/#finger-painting).

## All preferences

Open Actions (the wrench) › **Prefs**. The settings are in three groups.

**Interface**

| Preference | What it does |
|---|---|
| Light interface | A light app interface instead of the default dark one. |
| Sidebar on the right | Move the size and opacity sidebar to the right, for left-handed painting. |
| Sidebar position | Move the sidebar up or down the edge of the screen: from **Top** through **Middle** to **Bottom**. |
| Brush cursor | Show the brush outline where Apple Pencil hovers. On by default. |
| Zoom and rotation display | Show the zoom and angle while you pinch. On by default. |
| Haptics | Light haptic feedback, for example when zoom and rotation snap. On by default. |

**Painting**

| Preference | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dynamic brush scaling | Scale the brush with the zoom, so it keeps the same size on screen. Off by default. |
| Finger painting | Automatic, Always or Pencil only (see [fingers and Apple Pencil](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/apple-pencil/#fingers)). |
| Stroke prediction | Draw the end of the stroke ahead, so the ink reaches the Pencil tip. On by default (see [above](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/apple-pencil/#latency)). |
| Low-latency display | Show new ink a frame sooner while the Pencil draws. On by default. |
| Pressure and smoothing | The pressure curve and pressure threshold, with a pad to try them. |

**Apple Pencil and gestures**

| Preference | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pencil double-tap, Pencil squeeze | What the Pencil's double-tap and squeeze do. |
| Gesture controls | Switch each gesture on or off, the touch-and-hold and QuickShape delays, and what the modify button does. |
| Quick menu | The six actions in the quick menu. |

### Gesture controls

Switches for **Two-finger tap** (undo), **Three-finger tap** (redo), **Four-finger tap** (full screen), **Quick pinch** (fit the canvas), **Snap zoom and rotation** (to 100%, fit and right angles), **Touch and hold** (eyedropper) and **QuickShape**; the **Touch and hold delay** and **QuickShape delay** sliders; and **Modify button + touch** (Eyedropper or Quick menu).

---

# Brushes & Brush Studio

> CrowDraw's 92 brushes in 14 categories, size and opacity, smudge and blending brushes with Strength and Pull, wet paint mixing, the stroke eraser, and Brush Studio: every brush setting, a drawing pad, your own shapes and grains, and .crowbrush files.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/brushes/

CrowDraw has 92 brushes in 14 categories, from pencils with paper grain to oils that mix on the canvas and blenders that push paint around. Every one can be changed in Brush Studio, and you can make, share and import your own.

## Paint, Smudge and Erase

The **Paint**, **Smudge** and **Erase** buttons in the top bar all use the same brush library. Each tool remembers its own brush, size and opacity, so you can paint with an oil brush and erase with a soft airbrush. Paint starts with Studio Pen, Smudge with Blender and Erase with Soft Airbrush.

Tap the active tool's button again to open the library. Its title tells you which tool you are choosing for: **Brush library**, **Smudge** or **Erase**. The Smudge library lists the Blending brushes first and has the **Pull** slider at the top; the Erase library starts with the choice between **Pixels** and **Strokes** (see [the stroke eraser](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/brushes/#stroke-eraser)).

## Size and opacity

The sidebar has two vertical sliders, each with an icon above it: **Size** on top, shown in pixels with a preview dot while you drag, and **Opacity** below it, in per cent. While you use Smudge, the second slider is **Strength** instead. The sliders move relative to where your finger lands, so you can start anywhere on the track. Slide your finger sideways, away from the slider, for finer steps (**Fine**). Between them is the square modify button, which picks up colour (see [picking a colour](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/colour/#pick)).

With a keyboard attached, `[` and `]` make the brush smaller and larger, `⇧[` and `⇧]` change the opacity (or the smudge strength), and `B`, `S` and `E` switch to Paint, Smudge and Erase. Press the same key again to open that tool's library. See [all keyboard shortcuts](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gestures/#keyboard).

## The brush library

Categories are listed on the left. Once you have used a few brushes, a **Recent** category at the top holds the last 12. **Search brushes**, above the list, finds brushes by name or category in every category at once. Tap a brush to use it; tap it again to open it in Brush Studio. A pencil badge marks a brush you have edited, and a drop marks a brush that mixes wet paint.

![The brush library with the Watercolour set open beside a botanical ink-and-wash study](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/03-brushes.webp "The Watercolour set in the brush library")

| Category | Brushes | Including |
|---|---|---|
| Sketching | 7 | HB Pencil, 6B Pencil, Mechanical Pencil, Coloured Pencil |
| Inking | 8 | Studio Pen, Technical Pen, Fine Liner, Dip Pen, Ink Bleed |
| Calligraphy | 7 | Monoline, Script, Brush Pen, Pointed Pen, Chisel Nib |
| Painting | 9 | Round Brush, Flat Brush, Oil Paint, Gouache, Palette Knife, Wet Blender |
| Blending | 5 | Blender, Soft Blender, Bristle Blender, Knife Blender, Smear |
| Watercolour | 6 | Watercolour Round, Wet Wash, Bloom, Granulation |
| Airbrushing | 6 | Soft Airbrush, Hard Airbrush, Soft Glow, Grainy Airbrush |
| Charcoal | 6 | Vine Charcoal, Compressed Charcoal, Willow |
| Textures | 8 | Halftone, Crosshatch, Canvas, Concrete, Wood Grain |
| Markers | 6 | Felt Marker, Highlighter, Alcohol Marker, Paint Marker |
| Spray paints | 5 | Fine Nozzle, Medium Nozzle, Fat Cap, Splatter, Flicks |
| Elements | 8 | Leaves, Grass, Clouds, Smoke, Snowflakes, Bokeh |
| Artistic | 7 | Soft Pastel, Oil Pastel, Conté, Stipple, Hatching |
| Pixel | 4 | Pixel Pen, Pixel Round, Pixel Dither, Pixel Spray |

### Brush options

Touch and hold a brush in the library for:

- **Edit**: open it in Brush Studio.
- **Duplicate**: make a copy ("Studio Pen Copy") to change without touching the original.
- **Rename**: give it another name.
- **Smudge with this brush** and **Erase with this brush**: give the brush to the Smudge or Erase tool, so you can smudge or erase with its shape and texture. The other tools keep their own brushes.
- **Share**: export it as a `.crowbrush` file.
- **Reset**: put an edited built-in brush back to how it shipped.
- **Delete**: remove a brush you made or imported. Built-in brushes can't be deleted, only reset.

The **+** button (**New brush**) at the top of the library makes a new brush called "New Brush" in a **Custom** category and opens it in Brush Studio. To move a brush to another category, open it in Brush Studio and use **Properties**.

## Smudge and blending

**Smudge** (the finger next to the brush) blends the paint that's already on the layer. It picks up colour under the brush, carries it along the stroke and mixes it where colours meet, keeping the brush's texture. Press harder to blend harder.

Two controls set how it blends:

- **Strength**, the sidebar's second slider while you smudge: how much each smudge stroke blends the colours.
- **Pull**, at the top of the Smudge library: how far and how hard the smudge drags colour, from **Mix where colours meet** (low) to **Push paint far** (high), like a palette knife. Pull belongs to each brush and is saved with it. It's also in Brush Studio under **Wet mix and smudge**.

The **Blending** brushes are made for smudging:

| Brush | What it does |
|---|---|
| Blender | A firm round that mixes colours where they meet, with a clean edge. The default Smudge brush. |
| Soft Blender | A soft round for gradients, skin and skies, without hard edges. |
| Bristle Blender | Bristles that drag paint in streaks. |
| Knife Blender | A flat, hard blade that pushes paint a long way. |
| Smear | A soft fingertip that drags paint and leaves the paper's tooth in it. |

Any brush can smudge: touch and hold it in the library and choose **Smudge with this brush**, so a textured brush smudges with its texture.

### Wet paint

Brushes with **Wet mix** on blend with the paint already on the layer as you paint, like real wet paint. Oil Paint, Gouache, Palette Knife, Wet Blender, Wet Wash and Water Pen work this way, and you can switch it on for any brush in Brush Studio (**Paint mixes with the canvas**).

Smudge and wet paint respect alpha lock and the current selection, and each stroke is one undo step. Smudge doesn't work on layer masks.

## The stroke eraser

The eraser can take away whole strokes instead of rubbing out pixels. What's under and over the stroke stays as it is.

1. **Choose Strokes**

   Tap **Erase**, then tap it again to open the Erase library, and choose **Strokes** at the top. Or press `⇧E` on a keyboard. The eraser's icon changes to a dashed eraser.

2. **Touch the strokes**

   Drag across the canvas. Every stroke you touch on the active layer is removed, whole. The **Size** slider sets how far the eraser reaches.

3. **Undo if you need to**

   One drag is one undo step: undo brings back every stroke it removed.

Choose **Pixels** (or press `⇧E` again) to go back to the ordinary eraser. CrowDraw remembers your choice.

- It works on strokes you paint in CrowDraw, including smudges and wet paint. The panel says how many strokes on the active layer can be removed.
- Fills, adjustments, Liquify, Clone, transforms, pastes, merges and canvas changes turn the strokes painted on that layer before them into ordinary pixels. Imported images and photos are pixels too. Erase those in **Pixels** mode; if you touch only pixels, CrowDraw says so.
- Each layer keeps its latest strokes removable, up to about 1,500 (fewer when a big canvas has many layers with long histories). Older ones become pixels.
- With a selection, only strokes you touch inside it are removed. Strokes are removed from the layer itself, not from its mask.
- The strokes stay removable after you close the canvas, and in a **CrowDraw** export.

## Brush Studio

Tap the selected brush again, or touch and hold it and choose **Edit**. Brush Studio opens full screen: the list of sections, the settings for the section you pick, and a **Drawing pad**. Try the brush on the pad as you change it: switch between Paint and Smudge, change the size, choose a light or dark background, and **Clear** it whenever you like.

**Done** keeps your changes; **Cancel** throws them away (after **Discard your changes?** if you changed anything). The reset button asks **Reset this brush?**: a built-in brush goes back to its original settings, and your own brushes go back to how they were when you opened Brush Studio. Opened from the Smudge library, Brush Studio starts at **Wet mix and smudge**, with the pad set to Smudge.

![Brush Studio for Oil Paint: the drawing pad on top, the section list and the Shape settings below](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/06-studio.webp "Brush Studio, with the drawing pad")

| Section | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Stroke path | Spacing, Jitter, Scatter and Fall off, and how many stamps each dab lays down. |
| Stabilisation | StreamLine and Stabilisation, for smoother lines. |
| Taper | How strokes thin at the start and end, separately for Apple Pencil and for touch, and how much size and opacity taper. |
| Shape | The brush tip (round, square or a texture, or your own image), Hardness, Roundness, Angle, Rotation, jitter, flipping and inverting. |
| Grain | The paper texture inside the stroke: Texturised or Moving, Scale, Depth, Multiply or Paper height, Contrast and Brightness. |
| Rendering | Build up or Even (no build-up), Flow, the brush's own blend mode, pixel snapping for hard edges and the procedural tip. |
| Wet mix and smudge | Wet mix: whether paint mixes with the canvas (**Paint mixes with the canvas**), with Dilution, Charge, Attack, Pull, Grade and Wetness jitter. Smudge: the brush's **Pull** when the Smudge tool uses it. |
| Colour dynamics | Hue, saturation and brightness jitter, per dab or per stroke. |
| Dynamics | How speed and random jitter change size and opacity. |
| Apple Pencil | How pressure changes size, opacity, flow and softness, the pressure **Response**, and how tilt changes size, opacity and shading with the flat side. |
| Properties | Name, Category, minimum and maximum size, and the default size and opacity. |
| About this brush | A preview, author, notes, its textures, and Share brush… |

## Your own shapes and grains

In **Shape** or **Grain**, tap **Import** and choose an image from **Photos** or **Files**. CrowDraw turns it into a square greyscale texture from its brightness, where light areas take paint and dark or transparent areas stay clear. **Invert shape** flips a shape the other way. Imported textures travel inside the brush when you share it.

## Sharing and importing brushes

A brush is shared as a `.crowbrush` file: touch and hold it and choose **Share**, or use **Share brush…** in Brush Studio. Send it with AirDrop, Mail, Messages or save it to Files.

To add brushes, tap **Import brush** at the top of the library and pick one or more `.crowbrush` files, or open a `.crowbrush` file from Files, AirDrop or Mail. Imported brushes go into an **Imported** category.

> [!NOTE] Brushes from other apps
> CrowDraw reads its own `.crowbrush` format only. Brush sets from other painting apps can't be imported, but you can rebuild a favourite in Brush Studio, using your own images as its shape and grain.

---

# Layers

> Layers in CrowDraw: 26 blend modes, opacity, groups, layer masks, clipping masks, alpha lock, reference layers, drawing assist, selecting several layers, merging, flattening and the layer limit.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/layers/

Keep line art, colour and shading apart so you can change one without touching the others. CrowDraw's layers have 26 blend modes, groups, masks and clipping masks.

## The Layers panel

Open **Layers** from the top bar. The panel header shows how many layers the canvas has out of its limit (for example **3/120**), a button to add a layer (**+**), a button to group the selected layers, and a **…** menu with **Flatten**, **Expand groups** and **Collapse groups**.

![The Layers panel with groups, clipping masks, blend modes and hidden sketch layers](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/04-layers.webp "Groups, clipping masks, blend modes and hidden sketch layers")

- Tap a layer to make it the active layer: that's where you paint.
- Tap the active layer again for its options.
- Tap the checkbox to hide or show a layer. Touch and hold the checkbox to show only that layer.
- Touch and hold a layer, then drag it to reorder. Drop it onto a group to move it into the group. The list scrolls when you drag near its edges.
- Swipe left on a layer for **Delete**, **Duplicate** and **Lock**.
- Under a layer's name, small icons and words show what's set: a lock, alpha lock, reference, **Mask** when you're painting on its mask, **Assisted** for drawing assist, and its blend mode and opacity.

The last row is the **Background colour**. Tap its colour to change it, or untick it for a transparent background (handy for PNG exports).

## Opacity and blend modes

Each layer shows a letter for its blend mode: N for Normal, M for Multiply and so on. Tap it for the layer's **Opacity** slider and the blend modes:

| Group | Blend modes |
|---|---|
| Normal | Normal |
| Darken | Multiply, Darken, Colour Burn, Linear Burn, Darker Colour |
| Lighten | Lighten, Screen, Colour Dodge, Add, Lighter Colour |
| Contrast | Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix |
| Difference | Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Divide |
| Colour | Hue, Saturation, Colour, Luminosity |

Brushes have a blend mode of their own too, in Brush Studio under **Rendering**.

## Layer options

Tap the active layer again to open its options:

- **Rename**, **Duplicate**, **Delete**.
- **Fill layer** fills it with the current colour; **Clear** empties it; **Invert** inverts its colours. With a selection active, Fill layer and Invert only change what's selected.
- **Alpha lock**: paint only where the layer already has paint. Good for shading inside a shape without going over the edge.
- **Clipping mask**: clip the layer to the layer below it, so it only shows where the layer below has paint.
- **Lock**: protect the layer from changes.
- **Reference**: use this layer's outlines for ColorDrop fills and automatic selections on other layers. Draw line art on a reference layer and fill colour on the layer underneath.
- **Drawing assist**: make strokes on this layer follow the drawing guide (see [Guides](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/guides/#assist)).
- **Select** makes a selection from the layer's contents; **Copy** copies them.
- **Merge down** merges the layer into the one below. **Combine down** groups it with the layer below, or moves it into the group below.
- **Group** puts it in a new group. On a group, **Flatten** merges the group into one layer and **Ungroup** takes the layers out.
- Text layers also have **Edit text** and **Rasterise**.

## Layer masks

A mask hides parts of a layer or group without erasing them. Choose **Add mask** in the layer's options: the new mask is white, so the whole layer shows. If a selection is active, the mask is made from it.

Tap the mask thumbnail (or choose **Paint mask**) to paint on the mask; CrowDraw shows **Painting on the mask**. Paint with black to hide, white to reveal and greys for anything in between, or use Erase to reveal again. Tap the layer thumbnail (or choose **Paint layer**) to go back to painting the layer itself.

The mask options are **Invert mask**, **Disable mask** (or **Enable mask**), **Apply mask**, which makes the hiding permanent (layers only, not groups), and **Delete mask**.

## Working with several layers

Swipe right on a layer that isn't active to add it to the selection; swipe right again to take it out. With more than one layer selected, a bar shows how many, with **Group**, **Merge**, **Duplicate** and **Delete**. Drag any selected layer and the others move with it.

### Groups

Groups keep related layers together. Tap the arrow on a group to open or close it; the group row shows how many layers it holds. Hide a group to hide everything in it, and use **Flatten** in its options to merge it into one layer.

## How many layers can I have?

The limit depends on the canvas size and your iPad's memory: smaller canvases and iPads with more memory allow more layers, up to 999. Groups don't count. The Layers header shows the limit for the open canvas, and so does the canvas information in Actions. When you reach it, CrowDraw says **Layer limit reached for this canvas size**; merge some layers, or crop or resize the canvas to make room.

> [!NOTE]
> Every canvas keeps at least one layer, so the last layer can't be deleted.

---

# Colour

> Choosing colours in CrowDraw: the Disc, Classic, Harmony and Value pickers, palettes (including a palette from a photo and .swatches files), recent colours, the secondary colour, picking colour from the canvas and ColorDrop fill.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/colour/

Tap the colour circle in the top bar to open **Colours**. Pick by eye, by harmony or by the numbers, keep palettes, and drop colour straight onto the canvas to fill a shape.

## The Colours panel

The header of the panel always shows:

- the hex code of the current colour, such as `#5C4AFA`;
- the previous and the current colour side by side. Tap the previous one to go back to the colour you had when you opened the panel;
- the **secondary colour**, white to begin with. Tap it to swap it with the current colour, for flicking between two colours as you paint.

![The Colours panel on the Disc tab, with the default palette and recent colours under it](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/05-colours.webp "The Disc, with your default palette and recent colours")

The panel has five tabs and remembers the one you used last:

| Tab | What it does |
|---|---|
| Disc | A hue ring around a saturation and brightness disc. Double-tap to snap to the nearest hue or point on the disc. |
| Classic | A saturation and brightness square, with Hue, Saturation and Brightness sliders. |
| Harmony | A colour wheel that suggests matching colours: Complementary, Split complementary, Analogous, Triadic or Tetradic, with a Brightness slider. Tap a suggested swatch to use it. |
| Value | Exact numbers: Hue (°), Saturation and Brightness (%), Red, Green and Blue (0–255), and a Hex field. Tap a number to type it. |
| Palettes | Your palettes. See below. |

Under the Disc, Classic, Harmony and Value pickers are two strips: your default palette and **Recent**, the last 20 colours you used. Touch and hold a recent colour to add it to your default palette.

## Palettes

CrowDraw comes with eight palettes: Crow Iridescent (the default), Skin Tones, Earth, Pastel, Vivid, Greys, Sunset and Ocean. Each palette holds 30 colours.

- Tap a swatch to use its colour.
- Tap an empty slot to store the current colour there.
- Touch and hold a swatch for **Set to current colour** or **Delete swatch**.
- The **…** menu on a palette has **Set as default** (the default palette is the one shown under the other pickers), **Rename**, **Duplicate**, **Move up** and **Move down**, **Export .swatches** and **Delete palette**.

### New palettes

- **New palette** (**+**) makes an empty "Untitled Palette".
- **New palette from photo** lets you pick a photo and makes a 15-colour "Photo Palette" from it.
- **Import swatches file** imports one or more `.swatches` files, the palette format Procreate uses, so palettes you already have come straight across.

## Picking a colour from the canvas

There are four ways to sample a colour from your artwork:

- **Touch and hold** the canvas with a finger. You can change the delay or turn this off in Preferences.
- Tap the square **modify button** in the sidebar, then touch the canvas. Or hold the button while you touch.
- **Eyedropper** in the quick menu.
- Set Apple Pencil's double-tap or squeeze to **Eyedropper** (see [Apple Pencil & preferences](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/apple-pencil/)).

## ColorDrop fill

Drag the colour circle from the top bar and drop it inside a shape on the canvas: the area fills with the current colour on the active layer, up to the lines around it.

To control how far the fill spreads, hold still for a moment before you let go. The fill previews, and sliding left or right changes the **ColorDrop threshold**. Lift to fill.

After a fill, a **Continue filling** button appears for a few seconds. Tap it to fill more areas with a tap each, with a **Threshold** control, a choice between sampling the **Layer** or the whole **Canvas**, and **Done**. Fills respect the selection and alpha lock.

To fill on a separate layer under your line art, set the line art layer to **Reference** in its layer options. ColorDrop and automatic selection then follow the reference layer's lines while filling the layer you are on.

> [!TIP]
> Small gaps in line art let the fill leak out. Close them, or lower the threshold by sliding left before you lift.

To fill a whole layer, use **Fill layer** in its layer options; to fill a selection, use **Colour fill** in Selection.

---

# Selection & transform

> Selecting in CrowDraw (Automatic, Freehand, Rectangle and Ellipse, with add, subtract, invert, feather and saved selections), copy and paste, and Transform: Freeform, Uniform, Distort and Warp with Magnetics, flips and rotation.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/selection-and-transform/

Select part of a layer to paint inside it, fill it, copy it or move it. Then use Transform to move, scale, rotate, distort or warp the layer or the selection.

## Making a selection

Tap **Selection** in the top bar. Pick a mode in the bar at the bottom:

| Mode | How it works |
|---|---|
| Automatic | Tap an area to select it by colour, like a magic wand. Keep holding and slide left or right to change the threshold. |
| Freehand | Draw around what you want, or tap to place points and tap the first point to close the shape. Undo removes the last point. The default. |
| Rectangle | Drag a rectangle. |
| Ellipse | Drag an ellipse. |

While a selection is active, painting, smudging, erasing, fills and adjustments only change what's inside it. The area outside is dimmed; turn off **Dim outside selection** in the Selection panel if you prefer.

### Automatic selection

In the Selection panel, use **Sample** to choose whether Automatic looks at the active **Layer** or the whole **Canvas** (the default), and set a starting **Threshold**. If a layer is set to **Reference**, automatic selection follows its lines.

## Adding, subtracting and more

The combine menu in the bottom bar decides what a new shape does to the selection you already have: **New**, **Add** (the default), **Subtract** or **Intersect**.

- **Invert** selects everything that wasn't selected.
- **Feather** softens the edge: set the **Amount** (up to 120 px) and tap **Apply**.
- **Save & load** keeps selections to reuse later (see [saved selections](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/selection-and-transform/#saved)).
- **Colour fill** fills the selection with the current colour.
- **Clear** removes the selection.

The Selection panel also has **Dim outside selection**, **Select all**, **Select layer content** (everything painted on the active layer), **Invert** and **Clear selection**.

### Saved selections

Tap **Save & load** in the bottom bar, then **+** to save the current selection. Saved selections are kept with the artwork, so they are still there after you close and reopen it, and they travel inside a **CrowDraw** export.

- Tap a saved selection to load it.
- Touch and hold it for **Rename**, **Move earlier**, **Move later** and **Delete**.
- New ones are called Selection 1, Selection 2 and so on. Saving, renaming, moving and deleting can each be undone.

## Copy and paste

Tap **Copy & paste** in the Selection bar, or swipe down with three fingers anywhere:

- **Cut** and **Copy** take the selection from the active layer (or the whole layer, if nothing is selected).
- **Copy all** copies the whole picture, all layers merged.
- **Duplicate** copies the selection to a new layer right above.
- **Cut & paste** moves the selection to a new layer in one step.
- **Paste** adds what you copied as a new layer, in its original position, and opens Transform so you can place it.

What you copy is shared with other apps too, and you can paste images copied in other apps: they arrive centred and scaled down to fit if needed. Copies also carry between your CrowDraw canvases.

## Transform

Tap **Transform** in the top bar. It moves the selection if there is one, or everything on the active layer. Drag inside the box to move, drag the corner and edge handles to scale, and use the handle above the box to rotate. Pick a mode in the bottom bar:

- **Uniform** (the default) keeps the proportions as you scale.
- **Freeform** stretches width and height separately.
- **Distort** moves each corner on its own, for perspective.
- **Warp** bends the content with a mesh, like fabric.

The rest of the bar:

| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Magnetics | Snap rotation to 15° steps and edges to the canvas. On by default. |
| Flip H, Flip V | Flip horizontally or vertically. |
| Rotate 45° | Turn by 45°. |
| Fit | Scale and centre the content to fit the canvas. |
| Interpolation | Nearest (crisp pixels, good for pixel art), Bilinear (the default) or Bicubic (smoothest). |
| Reset | Start the transform again. |
| Cancel, Done | Throw the transform away, or apply it. |

The panel shows the size in pixels and the angle as you go.

If **Magnetics** is on, the box shows guide lines as it snaps to the canvas's edges and centre. The Transform panel (tap **Transform** again) has **Magnetics** and **Interpolation** too.

> [!NOTE]
> Inserted photos and pasted images open in Transform straight away. Text layers stay editable in Transform: you can move, rotate and scale them evenly (Uniform). To distort, warp or flip text, or to select inside it or fill it, rasterise it first (layer options › **Rasterise**).

---

# Adjustments, Liquify & Clone

> CrowDraw's 17 adjustments (hue, saturation and brightness, colour balance, curves, gradient map, blurs, sharpen, noise, bloom, glitch, halftone, chromatic aberration, invert, posterise, threshold, vignette), Layer and Pencil modes, the nine Liquify modes and the Clone tool.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/adjustments/

Change colours, blur, sharpen and add effects to a layer, push paint around with Liquify, or copy one part of a painting onto another with Clone. Everything here lives under the wand in the top bar.

## The adjustments

Tap **Adjustments** (the wand) and pick one. Adjustments change the active layer, or only the selection if there is one.

![A Sunset gradient map previewing live over a painting of misty pines](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/07-adjustments.webp "Gradient map, previewed live as you slide")

| Group | Adjustments |
|---|---|
| Colour | Hue, saturation, brightness · Colour balance · Curves · Gradient map |
| Blur | Gaussian blur · Motion blur · Perspective blur |
| Effects | Sharpen · Noise · Bloom · Glitch · Halftone · Chromatic aberration |
| Tone | Invert · Posterise · Threshold · Vignette |
| Tools | Liquify · Clone |

## Changing the amount

- Most adjustments have one amount: **slide left or right on the canvas** to set it. A large percentage shows the value (Posterise shows the number of levels).
- Hue, saturation, brightness, Colour balance and Curves use sliders and a graph in their panel. Colour balance has **Shadows**, **Midtones** and **Highlights**, with **Keep brightness**; Curves has a curve for **Master**, **Red**, **Green** and **Blue**.
- **Motion blur**: drag on the canvas in the direction of the movement.
- **Perspective blur** and **Chromatic aberration** have a centre point you can drag on the canvas.

Some adjustments have more settings in their panel:

| Adjustment | Settings |
|---|---|
| Gradient map | The gradient: tap it to add a colour stop, and pick each stop's colour. |
| Motion blur | Amount and Angle. |
| Perspective blur | Positional or Directional (with an Angle). |
| Noise | Clouds, Billows or Ridges; Scale, Octaves, Turbulence and Colour noise. |
| Bloom | Transition, Size and Burn. |
| Glitch | Artifact, Wave, Signal or Diverge, and Shuffle for a new pattern. |
| Halftone | Full colour, Screen print or Newspaper, and the Dot size. |
| Chromatic aberration | Perspective (with Falloff) or Displace (with an Angle). |
| Vignette | Size and Softness. |

The bar at the bottom has undo for your changes inside the adjustment, **Reset**, an eye button to hold for a look at the original, **Cancel** and **Apply**. Once applied, the whole adjustment is one undo step.

## Layer or Pencil

Each adjustment has two modes, **Layer** and **Pencil**, at the top of the Adjustments panel and in the bar at the bottom:

- **Layer**: adjust the whole layer or selection.
- **Pencil**: paint the adjustment in with your current brush, only where you want it. Blur a background, brighten a highlight or add noise to one area.

## Liquify

Liquify moves paint around as if it were wet, without painting anything new. Pick **Liquify** from Adjustments, choose a mode and brush over the layer.

| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Push | Push the paint along with your stroke. |
| Twirl right, Twirl left | Twist the paint clockwise or anticlockwise. |
| Pinch | Pull the paint in towards the brush centre. |
| Expand | Push the paint out from the brush centre. |
| Crystals | Break the paint into shards. |
| Edge | Pull the paint towards a line along your stroke. |
| Reconstruct | Gradually undo the distortion under the brush. |
| Adjust | Move the distortion you've already made to a new spot. |

Push and Adjust follow your movement. The other modes keep working while you hold the brush still, so the longer you hold, the stronger the effect.

### Liquify settings

- **Size**: how big the Liquify brush is.
- **Pressure**: how strong it is. Apple Pencil pressure adds to it.
- **Distortion**: adds randomness, for a rougher, more natural effect.
- **Momentum**: keeps the effect going for a moment (up to a second and a half) after you lift.

CrowDraw remembers these settings. The bar has **Undo**, **Redo**, **Reset** (start again from the original), **Cancel** and **Apply**.

## Clone

Clone paints with a copy of another part of your artwork, for repeating texture or covering a mistake. Pick **Clone** from Adjustments, drag the circle onto the area you want to copy from, then paint somewhere else. The source moves with your brush. Clone uses your current Paint brush, so a soft brush blends and a textured brush clones with texture. Tap **Done** when you finish.

> [!NOTE]
> Adjustments, Liquify and Clone work on paint layers that are visible and unlocked. Rasterise a text layer first to adjust it.

---

# Guides & QuickShape

> Drawing guides in CrowDraw (2D grid, isometric, one-, two- and three-point perspective, and vertical, horizontal, quadrant and radial symmetry) with drawing assist for the layers you choose, QuickShape for perfect lines and shapes, and the reference window.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/guides/

Grids and perspective lines to draw against, symmetry that mirrors every stroke on the layers you choose, and QuickShape, which turns a wobbly line or circle into a perfect one when you hold at the end of the stroke.

## Drawing guides

Open Actions › **Canvas** and turn on **Drawing guide**, then tap **Edit drawing guide** to choose one. The quick menu has **Drawing guide** and **Edit guide** too. In the editor, the bar at the top has the four guide types, **Reset**, **Cancel** and **Done**. On a grid, isometric or symmetry guide, drag the blue node to move it and the green node to rotate it.

| Guide | Settings |
|---|---|
| 2D grid | A square grid. Set the Grid size. |
| Isometric | An isometric grid for technical and game art. |
| Perspective | One-point, Two-point or Three-point. Tap the canvas to add vanishing points and drag them into place; Delete point removes one. Horizon shows the horizon line. Line spacing sets how dense the lines are. |
| Symmetry | Vertical, Horizontal, Quadrant or Radial (2 to 24 segments). Turn on Rotational to rotate the copies instead of mirroring them. |

Every guide has a colour (tap the colour bar, or the white and black swatches), **Opacity** and **Thickness**. **Reset** starts the guide again, **Cancel** leaves the editor without your changes, and **Done** keeps them and goes back to drawing. Guides are saved with each canvas, and they don't appear in exports.

![A radial symmetry guide over a mandala: one segment drawn, mirrored around the centre](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/08-symmetry.webp "Radial symmetry: draw one segment, the rest follows")

## Drawing assist

With **Drawing assist** on, your strokes on that layer follow the guide: they snap along the grid lines, towards the vanishing points, or are mirrored across the symmetry lines. Drawing assist is a setting of each layer, so you can mirror the line art layer while you shade freely on another, with the same guide showing.

- Turn it on or off for a layer in its layer options (tap the active layer again in Layers) › **Drawing assist**.
- Or use the **Drawing assist** switch in the guide editor: it's for the active layer, and says which one.
- Choosing Symmetry turns it on for the active layer, because symmetry works by assisting the strokes.
- Layers with drawing assist on say **Assisted** in the Layers panel.

> [!NOTE]
> Drawing assist only works while the drawing guide is on: turn on **Drawing guide** in Actions › Canvas. Groups and text layers don't use it. Without drawing assist, the guide is only something to draw against: strokes don't snap and aren't mirrored.

## QuickShape

Draw a line, curve or shape and keep the Pencil (or your finger) on the screen at the end of the stroke. After a moment it snaps into a clean shape: a line, arc, ellipse, rectangle, triangle, polygon or polyline.

- Still holding, move the Pencil to resize and rotate the shape.
- Put a finger of your other hand on the screen to make it perfect: an ellipse becomes a circle, a rectangle a square, a polygon a regular one, and lines snap to 15° steps.
- After you lift, tap **Edit shape** to drag its points, or use **Make circle**, **Make square**, **Make regular** or **Snap angles**. Tap **Done** to finish.

Change how long you hold with **QuickShape delay** (0.2 to 1.5 seconds), or turn QuickShape off, in Actions › Prefs › **Gesture controls**.

## The reference window

Actions › Canvas › **Reference** opens a small floating window. Drag its title bar to move it and its corner to resize it. Show the whole **Canvas** in it, to see the full picture while you work zoomed in, or an **Image** from your photos to draw from.

Touch and hold the picture in the reference window to pick a colour from it.

---

# Text

> Adding text in CrowDraw: editable text layers with system and installed fonts, size, bold and italic, alignment, tracking and line height, moving the text box, editing later and rasterising.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/text/

Text in CrowDraw lives on its own layer and stays editable: change the words, font or size at any time, then rasterise it when you want to paint on it.

## Adding text

Choose **Add text** in Actions › **Add**, or in the quick menu. CrowDraw adds a text layer above the current one with the word "Text" selected, in bold, in your current colour. Type to replace it.

- Drag the move handle on the text box to place it.
- Drag the handle on its side to change how wide the box is; the text wraps to fit.
- Pick another colour while editing and the text changes with it.

![A hand-lettered poster with a text layer being edited: the text box with its move handle, and the bar with font, size, bold, italic, alignment, spacing and Done](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/09-text.webp "Editable text with any font, size, weight and alignment")

## Fonts and style

While you edit, the bar at the bottom has:

| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Font | System, Rounded, Serif or Monospaced, a list of font families, or More fonts… for any font installed on your iPad. |
| Size | Step the size up or down. |
| Bold, Italic | Style the whole text. |
| Alignment | Left, centre or right. |
| Spacing | Size (4 to 2000 px), Tracking (space between letters) and Line height, with Reset spacing. |
| Done | Finish editing. |

The whole editing session, from adding or opening the text to tapping Done, is one undo step.

## Editing text later

With the text tool active, tap a text layer on the canvas to edit it. Or open the layer's options in the Layers panel and choose **Edit text**. If you remove all the words from a new text box, it disappears when you finish.

## Rasterising

A text layer is redrawn from its words whenever you change them, so it can't be painted on, filled, adjusted or selected inside. You can still move, rotate and scale it evenly with Transform, and it stays editable. Choose **Rasterise** in its layer options to turn it into an ordinary paint layer, for painting on it, distorting, warping or flipping it. It looks exactly the same, but the words are no longer editable.

> [!TIP]
> To keep an editable copy, duplicate the text layer first, hide the copy and rasterise the other.

---

# Gallery & files

> The CrowDraw gallery: new canvases, stacks, sorting, previews and artwork info; importing PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, layered PSD and .crowdraw files; inserting photos and camera pictures; and where your artwork is kept.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/gallery/

The gallery is where your artworks live. Make new canvases, group them into stacks, bring in images and Photoshop files, and keep everything in the order you like.

## The gallery

Across the top of the gallery:

- **Select**: choose several artworks to stack, preview, share, duplicate or delete at once.
- **Import**: bring in files (see below).
- **Photo**: make canvases from up to 20 photos at a time.
- Sort: **Manual**, **Date modified**, **Date created**, **Name** or **Canvas size**.
- **+**: a new canvas (see [canvas sizes](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/#canvas-sizes)).

In a narrow window, Select, Import, Photo and the sort order are in a **…** menu.

![The gallery with thirteen artworks and a Sketchbook stack, and Select, Import, Photo, sort and + at the top](https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/screens/01-gallery.webp "The gallery, with a Sketchbook stack")

Tap an artwork to open it, and tap **Gallery** in the editor to close it again. Touch and hold an artwork for **Rename** (or tap its title), **Info**, **Preview**, **Share**, **Duplicate** and **Delete**, and in a stack, **Move out of stack**. Touch and hold a stack for **Rename**, **Preview**, **Share**, **Unstack** and **Delete**. Deleting can't be undone.

If an artwork's file is damaged, its card shows a warning and it can't be opened; touch and hold it to delete it.

**Info** shows the size, resolution, print size, number of layers, time spent, dates, the storage it uses and the length of its time-lapse. **Preview** shows artworks full screen: swipe between them, tap to hide the controls, and tap **Open** to start drawing.

## Stacks and order

- Drag an artwork onto the middle of another to make a stack, or onto a stack to add it.
- Drop it before or after another artwork to change the order. This switches the sort to Manual.
- In Select mode, **Stack** puts the selected artworks in a stack and **Unstack** takes them out.

Stacks hold artworks, not other stacks.

## Importing

Bring work in from other apps in any of these ways:

- Tap **Import** in the gallery and pick one or more files.
- Drag files from Files or another app and drop them on the gallery.
- Share or open a file in CrowDraw from another app. A single file opens straight away.
- Tap **Photo** to pick photos from your library.

| File | What you get |
|---|---|
| .crowdraw | CrowDraw's own format, with every layer and the time-lapse. |
| PSD, PSB | Photoshop documents, with their layers, groups, masks, opacity, visibility and blend modes (RGB, 8 bits per channel). Other colour modes and bit depths come in flattened. |
| PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, GIF, WebP, BMP | A new canvas the same size as the image. |

Very large images are scaled down to the biggest canvas your iPad can handle. `.crowbrush` files go to the brush library, and `.swatches` palettes are imported from the Colours panel.

> [!TIP] Coming from another painting app?
> Export your artwork as a layered PSD and import that: the layers, groups, masks and blend modes come with it. Palettes in the `.swatches` format import directly.

## Adding images to a canvas

In an open canvas, Actions › **Add** has **Insert a file** (PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF or a PSD, flattened), **Insert a photo** and **Take a photo** with the camera. The image arrives on a new layer, centred and scaled to fit, with Transform open so you can place it.

## Where your artwork is kept

Artworks are stored inside CrowDraw on your iPad and saved automatically. They don't appear in the Files app or iCloud Drive, and CrowDraw doesn't upload them anywhere.

- **No iCloud sync.** Your artworks don't sync between your devices, and there's no account or cloud copy.
- **Device backups include them.** Your iPad's own backup (iCloud Backup, or a backup to a computer) includes CrowDraw's artwork, and restoring the backup brings it back.
- **CrowDraw files are your own copies.** To move artwork to another iPad, or to keep a backup you control, share it from the gallery as a **CrowDraw** file and save it to Files (including iCloud Drive), AirDrop it or email it. It keeps every layer, the time-lapse, saved selections and the strokes the stroke eraser can remove. On the other iPad, open it with CrowDraw or use **Import**. Select several artworks to share them together.

> [!WARNING] Deleting CrowDraw deletes your artwork
> Export anything you want to keep before deleting the app or resetting your iPad.

---

# Export & time-lapse

> Exporting from CrowDraw: .crowdraw, layered PSD, PDF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF, every layer as PNG files, animated GIF and MP4. Time-lapse recording, replay and export, and saving to Photos.

Source: https://crow.sg/apps/crowdraw/docs/export/

Share your artwork as a layered PSD, a flat image, a PDF or a short animation, and replay or share a video of how you painted it.

## Exporting artwork

In an open canvas, go to Actions › **Share**. Under **Share artwork**:

| Format | What you get |
|---|---|
| CrowDraw | The full artwork with its layers, time-lapse and saved selections, to open in CrowDraw again or keep as a backup. |
| PSD | A layered Photoshop document, with groups, masks, clipping masks, opacity, visibility and blend modes. |
| PDF | A print-ready page at the canvas's print size. |
| JPEG | Flattened, small file. |
| PNG | Flattened, with transparency if the background colour is hidden. |
| TIFF | Flattened and lossless. |

Then choose where it goes in the share sheet: Save to Files, AirDrop, Mail, Messages, another app, or Save Image to put a JPEG or PNG in Photos.

You can also share from the gallery: touch and hold an artwork and choose **Share**, or select several and share them together.

## Layers and animations

Under **Share layers**:

| Format | What you get |
|---|---|
| PNG files | Every layer as its own PNG image. |
| Animated GIF | Each layer becomes a frame, at 8 frames a second, looping forever. Up to 1280 px. |
| Animated MP4 | Each layer becomes a frame, at 8 frames a second, repeated to about three seconds. Up to 1920 px. |

For animated GIF and MP4, each visible top-level layer or group becomes one frame, from the bottom layer up. Draw each frame of a short loop on its own layer, hide any layers you don't want in it, and export.

## Time-lapse

CrowDraw records a time-lapse of every canvas as you work: after each change it adds a frame to a video stored with the artwork. Recording is on unless you turn off **Record time-lapse** in Actions › **Video**; the setting applies to all canvases.

### Replay

Actions › Video › **Time-lapse replay** plays it back. Drag across the video or the slider to scrub through it, tap to play or pause, and change the speed: ½×, 1×, 2× or 4×.

### Export

- **Full length**: the whole recording as an MP4 video.
- **30 seconds**: sped up to fit 28 seconds, plus two seconds on the finished artwork. Made for sharing.
- **Save to Photos**: the full-length video straight into your photo library. The first time, iPadOS asks whether CrowDraw may add to Photos.

From the gallery, Share › **Time-lapse** offers the same full-length and 30-second videos. Videos are 30 frames a second, up to 1920 px on the longest side.

> [!NOTE]
> The time-lapse is part of the artwork: it travels with a **CrowDraw** export but not with PSD or image exports. Artwork Info in the gallery shows how long it is.