How to Paint on Samsung Galaxy

Last Updated: May 24, 2018 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to freehand paint or draw on a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet. Use the Gallery app to paint on an existing photo, or create a from-scratch masterpiece in Samsung Notes or S Note.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:
Painting on an Image

1
Open the Gallery on your Samsung Galaxy. You’ll usually find it on the home screen or in the app drawer.
2
Select an image to paint on. This opens a larger version of the image.
3
Tap Edit. It’s the second icon at the bottom of the screen. Additional icons will appear.
4
Tap Drawing. It’s the forth icon at the bottom of the screen. This opens the Drawing panel.
5
Customize your pen. The pen is your drawing/painting tool.
- Tap the pen type you want to use at the top of the screen. Your options are fountain, calligraphy, ballpoint, pencil, highlighter, and brush. The seventh pen is actually more of an eraser to use to fine-erase drawings.
- Use the slider beneath the pen types to adjust the thickness of the line. Slide left to decrease the size, and right to increase.
- If you choose the highlighter pen, you’ll be able to adjust an opacity slider. Like pen size, you drag the slider left to decrease opacity, or right to increase.
- Tap a color in the palette to select it, or tap the arrow on the right to expand additional colors. You can also use the dropper icon to tap a color on the image to duplicate it.
6
Tap Apply. It’s at the top-right corner of the screen.
7
Use your finger (or stylus, if you have one) to draw on the picture. You can re-open the pen settings at any time to change your preferences.
- If you make a mistake, tap Undo at the bottom of the screen to delete the last action. If you decide it wasn’t a mistake after all, tap Redo.
- Tap Eraser to put your pen tool into erasing mode. You can use your finger as you do with the paintbrush to erase parts of your drawing/painting.
8
Tap Apply. It’s at the top-right corner of the screen.
9
Tap Save. This will save your new image to the gallery.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:
Painting on a Blank Page with Samsung Notes

1
Open Samsung Notes. It’s the orange icon with a sheet of paper outline inside. You’ll usually find it in the app drawer or on the home screen. You can paint or draw using a variety of brushes and colors in a note.
- If you have an app called S Note instead of Samsung Notes, see this method.
2
Tap
. It’s at the bottom-right corner of the screen. This creates a new note.
3
Tap Brush. It’s the third icon (a palette and brush) at the top of the note. You are now in painting mode.
4
Tap the brush. It’s on the left side of the screen. This opens your brush settings.
5
Select a brush shape and size. Tap the desired shape at the top of the menu, then use the slider to increase or decrease its size. A preview appears beneath the brushes.
6
Select a color. Tap the rainbow-colored cylinder near the top-right corner of the screen, drag the cursor to the desired color, and tap Done.
7
Drag your finger on the note to paint. Now that you’ve selected your preferences, you can paint the picture to your liking. You can change the brush attributes, such as the size, shape, or color, at any time.
8
Tap Save. It’s at the top of the screen. Your painting is now saved in the note.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:
Painting on a Blank Page with S Note

1
Open S Note on your Samsung Galaxy. It’s an orange icon with a white “S” inside. S Note is an older version of Samsung Notes that may be installed on some phones and tablets.
2
Tap
. It’s an orange circle with a white “+” inside. This creates a new note.
3
Tap Pen. It’s the first icon at the top of the screen. This opens the Pen Settings menu.
4
Customize your pen. The pen is your drawing/painting tool.
- Tap the pen type you want to use at the top of the screen. Your options are fountain, calligraphy, ballpoint, pencil, highlighter, and brush. The seventh pen is actually more of an eraser to use to fine-erase drawings.
- Use the slider beneath the pen types to adjust the thickness of the line. Slide left to decrease the size, and right to increase.
- If you choose the highlighter pen, you’ll be able to adjust an opacity slider. Like pen size, you drag the slider left to decrease opacity, or right to increase.
- Tap a color in the palette to select it, or tap the arrow on the right to expand additional colors. You can also use the dropper icon to tap a color on the image to duplicate it.
- Tap Close when you’ve made your selections.
5
Drag your finger on the note to paint. Now that you’ve selected your preferences, you can paint the picture to your liking. You can change the brush attributes, such as the size, shape, or color, at any time.
- If you make a mistake, tap Undo at the bottom of the screen to delete the last action. If you decide it wasn’t a mistake after all, tap Redo.
- Tap Eraser to put your pen tool into erasing mode. You can use your finger as you do with the paintbrush to erase parts of your drawing/painting.
- Tap Text at the top of the screen if you’d like to type on the note as well.
6
Tap SAVE. It’s at the top-right corner of the screen. This saves your artwork to S Note.