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Charcoal Atelier Support

Need help with Charcoal Atelier? Start with the answers below. If you don't find what you need, email us at raphael@skyleafdesign.com — we read every message.

Requirements

  • An iPad running iPadOS 15 or later.
  • Apple Pencil, to draw. Your fingers are for smudging and moving around the canvas.

Drawing basics

Drawing and smudging. Draw with Apple Pencil. Rub the paper with a finger to smudge charcoal, just as you would on real paper. For controlled blending, choose the blending stump from the tool rack.

Moving around. Drag with two fingers to pan and pinch to zoom.

Switching to the eraser quickly. Double-tap the side of your Apple Pencil — or squeeze Apple Pencil Pro — to toggle between charcoal and the eraser.

Is there undo? Charcoal Atelier doesn't have an undo command. Use the eraser to lift charcoal, or Clear Canvas to start the drawing over. Clearing can't be reversed.

Paper and tools. Each drawing has its own paper — choose one of the paper presets in the canvas settings. The charcoal and the eraser come in presets too, each with its own feel.

Duplicating. To try a variation without risking the original, duplicate the drawing from its canvas settings: Duplicate Drawing Only copies the charcoal onto a fresh canvas with your Default Canvas setup; Duplicate Entire Canvas copies the paper, references, and settings as well.

Your library

Organizing drawings. Your drawings are grouped by day. Press and drag a drawing to reorder it. Drop a drawing onto another drawing to put them together in a stack, or onto an existing stack to add it there. To take a drawing back out, choose Remove from Stack.

Default Canvas. The Default Canvas at the bottom of the library holds the starting setup for new drawings — change it once, and every new drawing begins that way.

Where are my drawings stored? Only on your iPad, inside the app. They're included in your normal iCloud or computer backups of the device, and you can export any drawing whenever you like (see below). Deleting the app deletes its drawings, so export anything you want to keep first.

Reference images

Adding a reference. Open a drawing's canvas settings and choose a reference image from your photo library or from Files. It appears beneath your drawing as an underlay you can trace or work from.

Automation (exercise sequences). A recipe steps through your photos to load the next reference for each new drawing — useful for daily studies. Recipes need access to All Photos; if you've chosen Limited Access, go to Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos › Charcoal Atelier and select Full Access. Picking individual reference images works without it.

Exporting and importing

Exporting. From a drawing's canvas settings, you can share, copy, or save it as:

  • PNG or JPEG — a flat image for sharing, printing, or posting;
  • Drawing Only (.dkdr) — just the charcoal, to bring into another Charcoal Atelier canvas;
  • Entire Canvas (.dkar) — the drawing together with its paper, references, and settings, for a complete backup or to move it to another iPad.

Saving to Photos. Export as PNG or JPEG, then choose Save Image in the share sheet. The first time, iOS asks for permission to add to your photo library.

Importing. Tap a .dkdr or .dkar file in the Files app, Mail, or Messages and open it with Charcoal Atelier — it arrives as a new drawing, so nothing you're working on is overwritten. You can also import from the canvas settings with Import Drawing Only or Import Entire Canvas.

Moving drawings to a new iPad. Restoring your iPad from a backup brings your drawings with it. To move individual drawings, export them as Entire Canvas (.dkar) files and open them on the other iPad.

Troubleshooting

The app won't load my photos. Check Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos › Charcoal Atelier. Automation needs Full Access; single reference images work with any setting.

The app quit when I tried to save to Photos. Update to the latest version of Charcoal Atelier from the App Store.

Something else isn't working. Force-quit the app (swipe up from the bottom and pause, then swipe the app away) and reopen it. If the problem continues, email raphael@skyleafdesign.com with your iPad model, your iPadOS version (Settings › General › About), and what you were doing when it happened. A screenshot or screen recording helps a lot.

Privacy

Charcoal Atelier collects no personal data and doesn't connect to any server. Read the full privacy policy.

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