Draw on Video

If you use Kapwing on a Free account, then all exports — including from Draw on Video — contain a watermark. Once you upgrade to a Pro account, the watermark is completely removed from your creations.

To draw on your videos online, start by uploading video to a new project in the Kapwing Studio. In the left sidebar, click "Visuals," then scroll down to the "Draw" tool. In the drawing studio, you can choose from three different brush styles: Marker (rounded edges), Highlighter (rounded edges with glow effect), and Pencil (square edges). Choose your color, including saved brand colors, then use the sliders to adjust brush size and opacity. For example, you can use the Highlighter brush with reduced opacity to create a classic highlight look. When you're done drawing, click "Done" to return to the main Studio.

In the general Kapwing Studio, you can change the position, rotation, and size of your drawings, as well adjust their duration on the video timeline. If you want to add more drawings to your video, just click "Draw" again in the "Visuals" section of the sidebar. When you're ready, export your video with the drawings overlaid.

Yes, you can create as many drawings as you want for each video. To create multiple drawings, save your first drawing, return to the Studio canvas, and then click on "Draw" again. Each of your individual drawings can then be rotated and resized individually.

Absolutely, you can download your video with the drawing mark up by click "Export project," or download individual drawings as PNGs with transparent backgrounds by finding them in the Media Library and clicking the download icon.

Annotated videos are commonly used for tutorials, product demos, educational content, sports analysis, team feedback, social media videos, presentations, and video reviews. Drawings help highlight important details and make complex information easier to understand.

Yes, you can use the eraser tool to remove parts of a drawing before you add it to the timeline. Drawings remain editable in the timeline, so you can update their position, size, and duration at any time. You can also remove drawings and doodles from the timeline by deleting them.

Choose colors that contrast with the video content behind them. Bright colors like yellow, red, or cyan are often easy to see on darker footage, while darker colors can stand out better on light backgrounds. If your video contains lots of colors or movement, adding an underlying highlight or using a thicker brush can help keep your drawings visible.

It's also useful to assign meaning to different colors. For example, you might use one color to highlight key details and another to show movement or areas of focus. Keeping your color choices consistent throughout a video can make annotations easier for viewers to follow.

Drawing works especially well on videos where you want to direct attention, explain a process, or highlight specific details. Tutorials, product demos, presentations, gameplay clips, sports footage, educational videos, and screen recordings are all common use cases because annotations can help viewers follow along more easily.

For the best results, use videos with clear visuals and enough space around important subjects. Fast-moving or highly cluttered footage can make drawings harder to see, so simple annotations and high-contrast colors often work best in those situations.