Can you Draw on Canva? The How To, the What, & More

Canva is an online graphic design tool. But can you draw on Canva as well?

How do you draw on Canva freehand?

I will answer all these questions in this post, covering all the details of this topic.

Let’s start with the basics of whether drawing in Canva is even possible.

Can you draw in Canva?

Yes, you can draw freehand in Canva with different paint brushes and colors.

You just have to add the Draw app to your Canva account, and then you can start drawing freely.

Draw on Canva – What does it mean?

Canva is an online, cloud-based design tool. Any design you create on Canva has to be done on the computer using your mouse and/ or stylus pen, and this includes freehand drawing.

You can choose a brush type, a color, and other settings, and create sketches, doodles, and basically anything else you like.

It’s relatively easy, too!

You can draw on Canva on a new or existing design. You can draw on top of any image or text, and the drawing element can be used as any other element.

Once you are done drawing, you can move the drawings around just like you would any other object in your Canva design.

See the details and video below on how you can draw in Canva.

How to draw on Canva

You can start drawing any sketch or illustration you would like on Canva with in 3 quick steps:

• Install the Draw app
• Choose your brush and color
• Start drawing

1. Install the Draw app

Canva has many external apps that can be added to increase the tool functionality. The Draw tool is one such app.

Simply go to Apps in the dashboard of your Canva account and type in ‘Draw’.

Choose and click on Draw (Beta).

2. Choose your brush and color

The Canva Drawing Tool gives you four sets of options:

• Brush
• Size of brush
• Color
• Color transparency

2.1. Brush

There are 4 different kinds of brushes:

• Pen
• Marker
• Glow Marker
• Highlighter

Pen

The pen tool in Canva is the simplest, and the thinnest. It has a sharp point by default, but you can increase the thickness, and it almost becomes a marker.

Marker

The marker tool behaves simply like a whiteboard marker, and you can also increase and descrease the length.

Glow Pen

The glow pen in the Canva Draw tool has a white centre and a colored glow as a border.

Highlighter

The highlighter brush works exactly like a highlighter in any physical or digital document. It’s like a transparent color that covers the base color.

Here are the 4 effects of the different brushes in the Canva Draw tool.

2.2. Size of brush

The size of brushes in Canva go from 0 to 100, the default being at 50. You can drag and drop the pointer to the thickness you want for each brush.

2.3. Color

There are 22 colors available in the default setting of the Canva Drawing Tool, but you can choose any color you want.

If you want to see and add the colors from your your Canva Brand Kits, you can click on the ‘+’ tool, just like when you create other designs on Canva.

2.2. Color transparency

The last setting to explore is the color transparency. You can just drag and drop the level to choose the one that works best for your design.

3. Draw in Canva

Now that you are familiar with your drawing options, you can create any kind of freehand drawing.

When you start drawing, you will see an Eraser option added after the Brush collection.

You can use the eraser to erase your whole design or make little edits.

You can also choose the thickness and transparency of the eraser.

The Canva Drawing tool is very handy whether you use Canva for work or for business. It is also great for collaborative work which you can do with Canva for Teams.

Can everyone draw on Canva?

The Canva Drawing tool is currently available both in the free and Pro version of Canva.

All you need to do is to get a Canva account and install the Draw app as mentioned above.

How to draw a shape in Canva?

You can add a shape to your Canva design board by going to the Elements section in your Canva menu and choosing the shape you want. Just click on it, and it will be added to your Canva design.

You can also add a custom shape in Canva by uploading an image of the shape, or by using the freehand draw tool.

However, remember that unless you’re a perfect artist, shapes added with freehand drawing may not look as good as the ones added from the prebuilt design elements.

Canva Pro offers 610K+ design elements including shapes, so if you need a giant collection of beautifully designed shapes, you could consider getting the premium version of Canva.