Canva Brush Edits Designs. Don't Let It Restyle the SKU.

Canva’s newsroom on 29 October 2026 unveiled Brush, a vision-language model for design. It sees a layout, understands how the page is put together, and makes the change you ask for — from one line of copy to every slide in a deck. Canva says Craft, shipped a week earlier on 22 October 2026, generates the image; Brush refines the design around it. That split is the whole job. A Craft JPEG is not MAIN. A Brush restyle that changes the weather, the vibe, or the color of the bottle is not the SKU you ship. Lock catalog and campaign stills from a photograph you already trust. Leave type empty. Overlay real words last. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. Do not stamp Brush or Craft on a GPT Image 2 JPEG, and do not export a restyled cousin bottle as the product.

Draft in FreeGPTImg. Stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the label on the screen. Recrop a feed frame in AI social media ads. Keep materials honest in AI product photography. Keep a simple mark in the AI logo generator. Leave data cells empty in the AI infographic maker. Change only one noun from a locked hero in image to image. Start a net-new concept in text to image only when you do not yet have a photo.

What the job actually is

Brush is an editor for designs. Canva’s own post is blunt about the hard part: the model has to know what you want to change and, just as important, what must stay exactly as it is. Restyle an existing design. Sweep a header across a multi-page deck. Remix a slide into an Instagram graphic. Those are layout and channel jobs. They are not permission to invent a second lid, a new glaze, or a colorway you do not sell.

Craft is Canva Research’s first image-generation model. Canva says it outputs up to 2K, across many aspect ratios, inside Canva and through a public API. That file is a generated image. It is not a photograph of the kettle on the table. If you start the listing from Craft, then ask Brush to “make it warmer and more premium,” you mixed three jobs: invent the object, restyle the object, then pretend the result is the SKU.

OpenAI’s current image guide still splits the work: generate from a prompt, or edit an existing image, including partial edits. The same guide currently points API users at gpt-image-2.5-flare for everyday generation and gpt-image-2.5-sunburst when editing precision matters. FreeGPTImg currently exposes GPT Image 2 on this loop. Write the name on the screen into the filename. Do not relabel a GPT Image 2 still as Craft, Brush, Flare, or Sunburst.

Canva’s own limits matter. As of the 29 October launch, Brush powers supported design edits in Canva AI for Canva Pro subscribers, with wider availability coming later. You pick Brush from the dropdown in Canva AI, or you open an existing design in the editor. Everything it creates stays fully editable — text, imagery, colors, layouts. Brand Kit support, attachment references, and better handling of image-heavy layouts are on the roadmap, not a promise that today’s restyle will honor an unsigned hex code. Recheck the live newsroom. None of that makes the export a product photo.

Amazon’s product image help still treats MAIN as a realistic photo of the item you sell, on a pure white field (RGB 255, 255, 255), without extra graphics or type. A Canva deck thumbnail and a Craft “hero” do not replace MAIN. Meta’s image-ad guide for Facebook Feed currently recommends JPG or PNG, a 4:5 frame, and 1440×1800 as a working resolution, with a 600 px minimum width. That is a crop target, not permission to bake a Brush CTA into pixels.

The cheap failure this week is not “I did not try Brush.” It is “I asked it to restyle the slide for Instagram, it restyled the bottle, and now the grid disagrees with the box.”

Name the still before you generate

Weak sets fail because one Canva prompt tries to be Craft concept art, a restyled SKU, MAIN, a 4:5 ad, and the signed headline. Pick one job.

Job	What you export	Keep	Change one thing	Wrong move
Craft / concept still	A mood board or placeholder inside Canva	One idea	Nothing else	Uploading it as the product photo
Locked catalog still	The SKU you already ship	Shape, color, label, logo, pack size	Nothing, or light only	Starting from a Craft JPEG
White MAIN draft	Same SKU, square, opaque white	The upload	Field only	Canva chrome, extra unit, restyled colorway
4:5 feed still	Same SKU, empty lower or top band	Silhouette, palette	Crop and empty band	Asking Brush to restyle the bottle
9:16 story still	Same SKU, empty lower third	The object	Crop only	Status bars, prices, “Canva AI” badges
Logo / mark concept	Simple raster mark	Silhouette	Nothing	Letting Brush redraw the paths
Infographic still	Layout only, empty stats	Hierarchy, empty cells	Crop	Baking “+47%” into the generate
Channel remix	Same locked still, new frame	The SKU file	Aspect ratio / empty band	Restyle weather, vibe, or product color
Offer overlay	Don’t generate it	Empty type	Editor, last	“SALE”, “$29”, “Shop now” in Brush

A text-to-image pass invents. An image-to-image pass should borrow. If you already paid for a pack shot that matches the listing, that file is truth. Brush does not get to warm the glaze into a cousin SKU because Instagram asked for a new vibe.

Checklist before anything leaves Canva

Use this sequence. Do not paste a campaign brief into Canva AI and expect the export to be the SKU.

1. Name the job. Concept still, catalog still, MAIN draft, feed still, story still, mark, infographic, or channel remix. One file, one job.
2. If it is a catalog or ad still, start from a photograph. The locked JPEG of the item you sell. If you do not have that file, stop and photograph it. Do not invent a bottle because Craft is now in the Magic Studio.
3. Write keep / change / do-not in five lines. Keep silhouette, color, label, logo, and pack size. Change only one noun: crop, field, or empty band. Do not add a second SKU, a restyled colorway, a weather pass, or a percent.
4. Name the engine on the screen. If Canva ran Craft, write canva-craft into that filename and keep the file in a concept folder. If it ran Brush on a layout, write canva-brush. If FreeGPTImg shows GPT Image 2, write gpt-image-2. Do not relabel either file brush-approved.
5. Lock the still outside Canva first. Run the keep / change / empty-type loop on GPT Image 2. Only then drop that PNG into a Canva design if you need a deck, a multi-page header sweep, or a channel crop.
6. Tell Brush what must not move. Canva’s own brief for Brush is “what needs to stay exactly as it is.” Put the SKU on that list. Restyle the background, the margins, the empty headline band — not the product.
7. Ask for empty type. Prices, percents, star ratings, “Shop now,” legal lines, and model names never belong in the generator if they must be exact. Overlay them in an editor after a person signs the words.
8. Leave production room. Product in the middle third. Quiet field. Empty band where the headline will sit. Do not fill every edge with Canva UI or Craft chrome.
9. Generate one still. One pass. File names like kettle-4x5-empty-band-gpt-image-2.png. Never kettle-final-brush.png for a listing.
10. Inspect the subject before the overlay. A new spout, a warmer glaze, a floating “2K Craft”, a ribbon that says “SALE”, or a tag that says “4.9” are stop conditions. Hold the still next to the real pack. If a stranger would think this brand shipped a Canva edition, discard it.
11. Only then overlay. In an editor, set the real headline and only the claims a manager signed. Recrop to the live placement size after the pixels match. Do not ask Brush to spell the price.

Prompt formula for the locked still

GPT Image 2 catalog or ad still, not a Canva Craft generate and not MAIN unless named.
Start from the uploaded product photo.
Keep: exact silhouette, color, label, logo, pack size.
Change only: [crop / field / empty headline band].
Empty type. No prices, percents, ratings, model names, watermarks, or Canva chrome.
Do not add: extra SKUs, restyled colorways, weather passes, “Shop now”, celebrity faces, children.

Prompt examples

Locked catalog still. “Image-to-image: keep this exact matte-black kettle, spout curve, handle, and printed mark. Even studio light. Empty type. Not a Canva restyle, not MAIN unless named.”

White MAIN, not a Craft file. “Image-to-image: keep this exact SKU. Change only the field to opaque pure white. No badge, no extra unit, no Canva UI.”

4:5 feed, empty lower band. “Image-to-image: keep this exact kettle. 4:5 crop, product in the upper two thirds, empty lower band for later overlay. Quiet kitchen, even light. No prices, no Brush chrome, no second kettle, no weather change.”

9:16 story, empty lower third. “Image-to-image: keep this exact mug glaze and printed mark. 9:16, empty lower third. No status bar, no ‘Shop now’, no Craft watermark.”

Logo mark, raster only. “Text-to-image: a simple kettle silhouette mark, one color, quiet field, empty type. Not an SVG, not a Brush redraw, not a wordmark with made-up letters.”

Infographic, empty cells. “Text-to-image: a three-row comparison layout, empty number cells, empty labels for later overlay. No percents, no ‘#1’, no fake source.”

Do not generate this. “Restyle this bottle for a warmer premium vibe, sunset lighting, new copper glaze, Instagram CTA Shop now $29, 4.9 stars, Canva Brush, guaranteed Amazon approved, cousin colorway.”

What to tell Brush after the still is locked

If you already have the GPT Image 2 PNG, Brush can still be useful. Keep the instruction short and negative about the product.

Keep the product photograph exactly as placed. Do not restyle, recolor, relight, or redraw the SKU.
Change only: [page size / empty headline box / margins].
Leave all type empty. Do not invent prices, percents, or CTAs.

That is a layout pass. It is not a second generate.

Review the pixels before they leave Canva

Zoom to 400%. A restyle hides a rewritten label. An overlay will not hide it either.

• Subject honesty. Same silhouette, color, label, and pack size. If a stranger would think this brand shipped a Canva edition, discard the still.
• Job honesty. A Craft mood board stays in the concept folder. A Brush remix is a crop and empty band, not a new bottle. MAIN stays white, one unit, no graphics.
• Engine honesty. Write the model you used into the file name. A Craft still is Craft. A Brush layout is Brush. A GPT Image 2 still is GPT Image 2. Do not stamp 2K Craft on the FreeGPTImg JPEG.
• Empty type. Prices, percents, ratings, store chrome, and model names stay empty of anything you need people to read.
• Restyle honesty. Color scheme, weather, and vibe are Brush’s demo verbs. They are legal on a background. They are a stop condition on the SKU.
• People and file. No recognizable generated faces you cannot clear. No children. PNG or JPEG, RGB, quiet field, no QR. Preview at feed size and at the size the deck actually renders.
• Provenance. A Canva Pro preview is not a license, not a marketplace approval, and not a signed offer. Recheck Amazon’s product image help and Meta’s ads guide before you tell a teammate the file is ready.

Limitations you should not skip

A Brush export is not a signed discount, not a commercial-rights grant, and not MAIN. FreeGPTImg does not run Canva Brush, Canva Craft, ChatGPT Images 2.5 Flare, or Sunburst. The default loop here is GPT Image 2 stills. Do not generate medical seals, “#1 2026,” store logos, or sale badges unless those claims are already on the real label and a manager signed them.

Canva’s 29 October post says Brush is up to 69% faster and 46% lower cost per edit task than its previous design agent, in Canva’s own testing. Treat that as Canva’s claim about edit speed inside Canva AI, not as a quality grade on your kettle. Brand Kit support is coming; it is not a live lock on hex codes today. Recheck the newsroom.

OpenAI’s image guide is explicit about the two jobs: generate from a prompt, or edit an existing image. Edits can be partial or entire. Treat that as a keep-subject loop, not as a promise any model will honor an unsigned price. Quality tiers, background modes, and model IDs move. Recheck the live docs.

Models invent letters, digits, and product cousins when you mention Instagram, a dollar figure, “warmer,” “more premium,” or “make it look shipped.” Shorten the brief. One SKU. One crop. Empty type. A new paragraph in Canva AI is not a backup of the PNG you already had. If the locked raster is honest, recrop that. If it is not honest, rephotograph. Do not ask a restyle to remember a pack you never locked.

FAQ

What did Canva ship on 29 October 2026?

Brush, a vision-language model for design. It powers supported design edits in Canva AI for Canva Pro subscribers at launch, with wider availability coming later. Canva says it restyles designs, updates multi-page decks, and remixes assets for other channels, and that every element stays editable. Recheck the live newsroom.

What is Canva Craft in this workflow?

Craft is Canva Research’s first image-generation model, unveiled 22 October 2026, a week before Brush. Canva’s line is: Craft generates the image, Brush refines the design around it. Treat a Craft file as a concept still. Do not upload it as MAIN.

Does FreeGPTImg run Canva Brush or Craft?

No. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. Use it to lock the still. Write the name on the screen into the filename.

Can I use a Brush restyle as Amazon MAIN or a Meta ad?

Not if it changed the product. MAIN is a realistic photo of the item you sell, usually on pure white, without extra graphics or type. A restyled colorway, a weather pass, or baked “Shop now” type fails that job. Lock the SKU first. Empty type. Overlay last. Recheck Amazon’s product image help and Meta’s ads guide.

Why did Brush change the bottle when I asked for an Instagram crop?

The prompt used restyle language: warmer, premium, vibe, weather, new color scheme. Those verbs move the SKU. Shorten it. Upload the locked photo. Name one crop. Say the product must stay exactly as placed. Empty type. Generate again.

Should I lock stills in Canva or outside it?

Outside it, if the file might ship as catalog, MAIN, or an ad. Photograph the item. Run the keep / change / empty-type loop on GPT Image 2. Then, if you need a deck or a channel remix, drop that PNG into Canva and tell Brush not to touch the SKU.

Sources

• Canva Newsroom: Introducing Canva Brush, a vision-language model for design
• Canva Newsroom: Introducing Canva Craft
• OpenAI: Image generation
• Amazon: Product image requirements
• Meta: Image ads guide

Lock the still before you restyle the page

Pick the PNG that already matches the item you sell, not the JPEG Craft invented and not the restyle Brush applied to the bottle. Write five lines: keep, one crop or field change, empty type, overlay later. Open FreeGPTImg, stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the label on the screen, recrop a feed frame in AI social media ads, keep materials honest in AI product photography, keep a simple mark in the AI logo generator, leave stats empty in the AI infographic maker, run the edit in image to image, start a net-new concept in text to image only when there is no photo, and only then overlay the signed words — or drop the locked PNG into Canva and tell Brush not to touch the SKU.