How to draw arrows and shapes on an image

Arrows direct a reader's eye to a specific part of an image. Shapes highlight regions — a control panel, a safety zone, a grouped set of components. Together they give your annotated image a clear visual hierarchy without cluttering it with text.

This article continues with the toaster example. Arrows will point to the browning dial and the lever. A shape will frame the control panel area on the right side of the toaster.

Drawing an arrow

Step 1: Select the Line tool

Click the Line tab in the sidebar, or press L.

The Line panel showing stroke colour, stroke weight, line style, and opacity controls.

Step 2: Draw the arrow

Click and drag on the canvas to draw an arrow. Release the mouse button to commit it.

1. Position your cursor at the point where the arrow should start — for example, in the empty space beside the toaster.
2. Click and drag toward the component you want to point to, such as the browning dial.
3. Release to place the arrow. An arrowhead appears at the end point by default.

An arrow drawn from open canvas space to the browning dial.

Styling an arrow

Select an arrow to display its properties in the sidebar. The Line panel offers the following controls:

Arrowhead styles

Eight marker styles are available for each end of an arrow. The same options apply to both the start and end markers.

Changing line style

To change the line style of an existing arrow:

1. Press V or Escape to switch to the Select tool.
2. Click the arrow to select it.
3. In the Line style row of the sidebar, click the style you want to apply.

The same arrow with a dashed line style applied — useful for indicating an indirect or secondary relationship.

Repositioning arrow endpoints

After placing an arrow, you can adjust either endpoint independently without redrawing the arrow.

1. Press V or Escape to switch to the Select tool.
2. Click the arrow to select it.
3. Hover near either endpoint. The cursor changes to a grab handle when you are close enough.
4. Drag the endpoint to its new position.

Hold Shift while dragging an endpoint to constrain it to horizontal or vertical.

Drawing a shape

Step 1: Select the Shape tool

Click the Shape tab in the sidebar, or press S.

The Shape panel showing Shape Type, Fill colour, and Border colour controls.

Step 2: Choose a shape type

Under Shape Type, click the style you want to draw:

For the toaster example, select Square to draw a rectangle around the control panel on the right side of the toaster.

Step 3: Draw the shape

Click and drag on the canvas to draw the shape. Release to commit it.

1. Position your cursor at the top-left corner of the area you want to highlight — for example, above and to the left of the toaster's browning dial.
2. Drag to the bottom-right corner of the control panel area.
3. Release to place the shape.

A square shape drawn to highlight the control panel area of the toaster.

Styling a shape

Select a shape to display its properties in the sidebar. You can adjust the following:

Switching shape type to Circle updates the selected shape on the canvas immediately.

Deleting arrows and shapes

1. Press V or Escape to switch to the Select tool.
2. Click the arrow or shape to select it. Hold Alt and click to add more to the selection.
3. Press Delete or Backspace.

To remove all annotations from the canvas at once, click the trash icon in the sidebar bottom bar.

Save your work

Click Save in the sidebar when you have finished drawing and styling arrows and shapes. The editor exports a full-resolution PNG with all annotations rendered and saves the annotation state for future editing.

Related articles

• Asset Annotation Editor overview
• How to mark up a product image with callouts
• How to add text annotations
• How to arrange, copy, and delete annotations
• Annotation properties reference
• Keyboard shortcuts for the Asset Annotation Editor