What You Need
Before we start — the full equipment list:
No download, no installation, no account required. AirVA runs entirely in your browser. Open it, allow camera access, and you're drawing in the air within 10 seconds.
What Is Air Drawing?
Air drawing is exactly what it sounds like: drawing strokes in physical space using your hand gestures, captured by your webcam and rendered on a digital canvas in real time. AirVA tracks 21 points on your hand 30 times per second using computer vision. When it detects a pinch between your thumb and index finger, it draws. When you open your hand, it stops.
The result appears on an infinite canvas you can zoom, pan, export as a PNG, or record as a timelapse video — all without touching a single surface.
Getting Started: Step by Step
Open AirVA
Go to getairva.com and click Start Drawing Free. When the browser asks for camera permission, click Allow. You'll see your webcam feed in the background with the AirVA canvas overlaid on top.
Show your hand
Hold your hand up in front of the camera, palm facing it, about 30–50cm away. You'll see a ring cursor appear at your fingertip. This ring follows your index finger and shows AirVA is tracking you. If it doesn't appear, move to a well-lit area — good lighting improves tracking dramatically.
Make your first stroke
Pinch your thumb and index finger together — the ring cursor becomes filled. That means you're drawing. Move your hand while pinching to create a stroke. Open your hand to stop. Your first air drawing stroke is done.
Navigate the infinite canvas
The canvas extends infinitely in every direction. To pan, pinch your thumb, index, and middle fingers together and move your hand. The canvas scrolls with you. To zoom, pinch your thumb and middle finger with your index pointing up — hand up zooms in, hand down zooms out.
Switch brushes
Click TOOLS at the bottom of the screen to open the toolbar. Pick from 6 brush types — each one looks completely different on camera. Neon Glow and Sparks are particularly popular for content creation.
The Full Gesture Vocabulary
AirVA understands six distinct gestures. Once you know them, navigating the whole platform becomes second nature:
Want to see every gesture in action? Watch the live gesture demos →
Pro Tips for Better Air Drawing
What to Do With Your Air Drawings
Once your drawing is done, you have several options:
Export as PNG — click Photo in the toolbar to save a clean image of your canvas. Great for thumbnails, social posts, or printing.
Export as timelapse — if you had recording on, click the timelapse options to export at 2×, 3×, or 5× speed. A 5× timelapse of a 2-minute drawing becomes a 24-second video — perfect for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. This is the most viral format for air drawing content because watching someone draw in the air looks like magic to people who haven't seen it before.
Use as OBS source — for live streams, add getairva.com as a Browser Source in OBS. You can draw in the air live over your camera feed, annotate things in real time, or just use the star pointer to highlight content.
Start drawing right now.
Free, no download, works in any browser. Your webcam is all you need.
Open AirVA →