AR Draw
Draw anything, anywhere — guided by your camera.
AR Draw is a native Android app that helps everyday users trace, sketch, and learn drawing through a camera-assisted overlay experience. It removes the friction between a reference image and the drawing surface, so beginners can focus on creating instead of struggling with technique.
A focused mobile product, shipped end-to-end
AR Draw is a native Android application built in Kotlin that turns any image — from the user's gallery, from a built-in template library, or a live preview — into a guided tracing experience using the device camera. The product was designed, architected, and shipped end-to-end as a focused mobile experience for casual creators, hobbyists, and learners who want a simpler way to draw.
Tracing on mobile is harder than it should be
Most people who want to learn drawing or trace a design from a photo are stuck with awkward workarounds — printing references, holding paper against a screen, or wrestling with complicated desktop software. Existing mobile drawing apps are either too advanced for casual users or don't address the real pain point: the constant context switch between a reference image and the drawing surface. Beginners need a guided, mobile-first experience that meets them where they are.
- Beginners struggle to trace or sketch accurately
- Traditional tracing methods feel awkward and manual
- Switching between reference and drawing surface is frustrating
- Most drawing apps are too complex for casual users
Turn the camera into a guided drawing surface
AR Draw solves this by turning the phone's camera into a tracing aid. Users can pick an image from their gallery, choose from built-in templates, or preview a reference, and then sketch over it with a clean set of in-app drawing tools. The flow is intentionally minimal so first-time users can go from "I want to draw this" to actually drawing in just a few taps — no setup, no learning curve, no friction.
Built around what actually matters to users
- Camera-assisted tracing overlay that turns any reference into a guided drawing surface
- Image import from the gallery with a clean preview-before-draw flow
- Curated template and category library for users who don't have a reference handy
- Built-in sketching and drawing tools designed for casual, mobile-first use
- Multi-language support to reach a broader, global audience
- Local persistence so user preferences and state survive across sessions
From a real user pain point to a shipped product
- 01
Problem framing
Started by identifying the real friction: beginners don't lack creativity, they lack a reference workflow that fits on a phone. That insight shaped every product decision that followed.
- 02
Feature planning
Mapped the smallest possible feature set that could deliver the core promise — import, preview, overlay, draw — and deferred everything else until the core loop felt right.
- 03
UI & flow design
Designed an onboarding and navigation flow optimized for first-time users, with as few taps as possible between intent and action.
- 04
Android implementation
Built the app natively in Kotlin using modern Android components — CameraX for the live preview, RecyclerView for browsing templates, ViewBinding for safer UI code, and Glide for fast image loading.
- 05
Integration & monetization
Integrated Firebase for backend services and AdMob for monetization, balancing revenue with a respectful, non-intrusive user experience.
- 06
Testing & iteration
Tested the camera overlay, drawing tools, and persistence flows across screen sizes and Android versions, then iterated on the UI based on real usage feel.
A modern, native Android stack
AR Draw is built natively on Android using a focused, modern stack chosen for performance, maintainability, and a clean user experience.
The decisions that shaped the product
Making the camera overlay feel natural
Aligning a reference image with a live camera feed in a way that feels stable and trustworthy required careful handling of CameraX lifecycle, surface sizing, and overlay compositing. The goal was an overlay users could actually draw against without fighting the UI.
Keeping the UI simple without losing power
Casual users get scared off by toolbars full of icons. I deliberately stripped the drawing tools down to the essentials and hid everything else behind clear, progressive disclosure so the app felt approachable on first launch.
Balancing monetization with user trust
Integrating AdMob without hurting the creative flow meant choosing ad placements that respected the moments users actually cared about — never interrupting an active drawing session.
Persisting state cleanly
Used DataStore for lightweight, modern local persistence so user preferences, language settings, and last-used state survived process death without the overhead of a full database.
Why this project matters
AR Draw demonstrates the full lifecycle of a mobile product owned by a single developer — from spotting a real user pain point, to scoping a focused feature set, to shipping a polished native Android app with camera, persistence, and monetization integrated. It is a working example of how I approach client work: identify the problem clearly, build only what matters, and deliver a clean, user-friendly experience on real devices.
Have a mobile product idea?
I'm available for client work in Android, mobile product development, and end-to-end app delivery. Let's talk about what you're building.