Creating a Blank Canvas

A blank canvas is the right starting point when you want to compose something from scratch - a quick diagram, a slide of stamps and arrows, or a backdrop you'll drop other images into.

Open the New Canvas dialog

On the start screen, tap New Canvas. A popover (or sheet on iPhone) appears with size presets, a custom-size entry, and a background-color picker.

Pick a size

Three quick presets cover the common cases:

• Square - 1080 × 1080
• Portrait - 1080 × 1920
• Landscape - 1920 × 1080

Tap Custom to enter exact width and height in pixels. Both fields accept any positive integer; oversized values are automatically clamped to a safe maximum, and Annotate shows a notice with the corrected size if that happens.

iOS device presets

Tap Show device resolutions to expand a list of native iOS screen sizes - iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, various iPad models, etc. Use this when you want a canvas that matches a specific device's screen so the eventual export looks pixel-accurate.

Pick a background color

The color well lets you choose any solid color (or transparent, the default). The color is used both for the initial fill and as the canvas expansion fill - so when you later grow the canvas with the "+" buttons, the new edges fill with the same color rather than transparent.

Create

Tap Create. The popover dismisses and the editor opens with your blank canvas, ready for annotation.