Lifecraft makes writing in your journal very easy. But there's something magical about a journal written by hand. Now you can have the best of both worlds: use the Drawing feature to insert handwriting or sketches anywhere in your journal entries. Or add a photo to your entry and doodle on top of it.

What you’ll need

You can create drawings in Lifecraft on your iPhone or iPad. An iPad with an Apple Pencil provides the most flexibility. Drawings can be viewed in the Mac version of Lifecraft.

This feature requires Lifecraft Premium.

Create a Drawing

1. Create a new journal entry or select an existing entry.
2. Place the cursor in the entry text where you want the drawing to be inserted.
3. Tap the More button (···) above the journal entry.
4. Tap the Insert button in the More view, then select Drawing:

Drawing View

Canvas

• Zoom the canvas: pinch the canvas to zoom in/out.
• Grow the canvas: the canvas will automatically grow vertically when you draw near the bottom of the screen.
• Scroll the canvas: swipe with two fingers to scroll the canvas.

Toolbar

On the iPad, the drawing toolbar can be moved or minimized. On the iPhone, the toolbar is fixed at the bottom of the screen.

• Move the toolbar: Drag the toolbar to any edge of the screen. (Drag from the middle edge of the toolbar closest to the center of the screen.)
• Automatically minimize the toolbar when you’re drawing: Tap the (···) button in the toolbar, then turn on Auto-minimize. To show the full toolbar again, tap the minimized version.

Background photo

You can add a background photo to a drawing. You can then draw on top of the photo using the drawing tools. To add a photo:

1. Tap the photo button at the top of the screen to insert a photo.
2. Tap the photo button again to change or delete the photo.

To draw on a photo that has already been added to a journal entry:

1. Tap the photo in the entry text to open the photo viewer.
2. Tap the Draw button at the top of the photo viewer to switch to the drawing tools.

Drawing Tools

Tap the pen, marker, or pencil tool, then write or draw with your finger or Apple Pencil.

While writing or drawing, do any of the following:

• Change the line weight: Tap the drawing tool in the toolbar, then choose an option.
• Change the opacity: Tap the drawing tool in the toolbar, then drag the slider.
• Change the color: Choose a color from the color picker in the toolbar.
• Undo a mistake: Tap the Undo button at the left side of the toolbar.
• Draw a straight line: Tap the ruler tool in the toolbar, then draw a line along the edge of the ruler.
  • To change the angle of the ruler, touch and hold the ruler with two fingers, then rotate your fingers.
  • To move the ruler without changing its angle, drag it with one finger.
  • To make the ruler disappear, tap the ruler tool again.

Erase a mistake

Double-tap the eraser tool in the toolbar, then do one of the following:

• Erase pixels: Choose Pixel Eraser, then scrub over the mistake with your finger or Apple Pencil.
• Erase an object: Choose Object Eraser, then touch the object with your finger or Apple Pencil.
• Switch between the pixel and the object erasers: Tap the eraser tool again, then choose Pixel Eraser or Object Eraser.

Save/Edit a Drawing

When you're finished drawing, tap the Done button in the top-right corner of the screen to save it. The drawing will be inserted in your journal entry text at the cursor position.

• Edit a drawing: tap the drawing in your journal entry.
• Resize a drawing: touch and hold the drawing in the entry text, then choose Resize from the menu that appears.
• Delete a drawing: touch and hold the drawing, then choose Delete from the menu that appears.

Note: drawings can be edited in the iOS version of Lifecraft. They can only be viewed  in the macOS version.

Drawings & Themes

Drawings automatically adjust to the selected theme. If a light theme is selected (like Frost), pen strokes will appear black on the white background. If a dark theme is selected (like Conrad), pen strokes will appear light on the dark background. Colored strokes (blue, red, etc.) will not change color when the theme changes.

Note: if a background photo has been added to a drawing, the drawing colors won't change when the theme changes.

Learn more

Entry View

More Button