DrawDogChain of custody for creative work

Questions

Before you pay.

Everything an illustrator has asked us before trusting a certificate with a client, including the parts that don’t flatter us.

What it is

What does DrawDog actually prove?
That a piece took shape on your computer, over time, by hand, with no AI tools open. It records how the work was made, never what it looks like, and gives you a signed, timestamped certificate a client can check in their browser. Chain of custody for creative work, not an AI detector.
Is it an AI detector?
No. DrawDog never looks at the image and makes no claim about it. Detectors guess from pixels and are wrong constantly on hand-drawn work. DrawDog watched the process instead, which is a different and much harder thing to fake.
Can it be faked?
One way, and we say so on every certificate: generate an image elsewhere, then reproduce it by hand in a watched folder. The record would be genuine because a genuine process happened. Nothing on earth catches that. What DrawDog does is make faking the work cost about as much as doing the work. The full method and its limits.
Does a certificate have legal weight?
It is evidence, not a verdict. A signed, independently timestamped record of a process is the kind of thing a lawyer can use; it is not a court ruling on authorship. For a real dispute, talk to a lawyer and bring the certificate, your working files, and your contract.

What works with it

Which computers?
Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 12 or later) and Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. No Linux yet.
Which drawing apps?
Any of them. DrawDog watches your folder and your input, not the app, so Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Affinity, Krita, Illustrator, Fresco, Blender, Figma, Rebelle, PaintTool SAI, Aseprite and the rest all work. It recognises about 130 apps by name for the certificate; an app it doesn’t know still counts, it just shows under its own name.
Does it work with a Wacom, Huion, XP-Pen, or Cintiq?
Yes, as-is. The pen is an input to your computer, so DrawDog counts the strokes, and on a Mac it also sees stylus pressure, which the certificate reports as extra evidence of a hand.
Can I use an iPad?
Two ways. As a pen display for a Mac (Sidecar, Astropad) with Photoshop, Affinity, Clip Studio or Krita running on the Mac, it works like any tablet. For Procreate itself, use drawdog.art/seal in Safari: drop the .procreate file and DrawDog seals Procreate’s own record of it (tracked drawing time, strokes, the time-lapse) with a signed, timestamped certificate. Nothing to install. It is labelled a sealed record, not Certified human-made, because nobody watched the session live; iPadOS doesn’t let one app watch another.
I don't want to install anything. Is there a browser version?
Partly. A web page cannot watch other apps, the pen, or your files, so the live witness only exists as the desktop app. What the browser can do is seal a file’s own record: drop a .procreate file on drawdog.art/seal and you get a signed, timestamped certificate over Procreate’s tracked time, strokes, and time-lapse, without installing anything. It is a sealed record, not a witnessed one, and the page says so.
Multiple monitors? Two computers?
Multiple monitors are fine. Two computers are two records: DrawDog only sees the machine it runs on, and a certificate covers one session on one machine. Free registers one computer, Pro two, Studio five; replacing a machine means revoking the old one from the dashboard. If you rough in on a laptop and finish on a desktop, certify the finishing session and mention the rest in your delivery note.

Working with it

Do I have to change how I work?
No. Pick the folder you work in, press Start, and draw. You don’t need to create the file first or save on a schedule. DrawDog counts your strokes as they happen and reads your app’s own autosave folder, so the file is seen changing even between saves.
How much do I have to draw for a certificate?
For Certified human-made: at least 5 minutes of pen or mouse activity inside a drawing app, at least 150 strokes, and a rhythm that rises and falls like a hand’s rather than a script’s. Most real sessions clear this in the first ten minutes. Shorter sessions still get a certificate; it just says Recorded, not certified and why.
Can I take breaks?
Yes. Idle time is simply not counted as drawing. A session can run all day; leave it recording while you get lunch. Pauses under a few seconds count as thinking, longer pauses are breaks, and neither hurts the grade.
What about a piece that takes several days?
Each sitting is a session and each session can be certified. Certify the final one and send that link; it carries the finished file’s fingerprint. If a client wants the whole history, send them the links for each day.
I look at reference in a browser. Does that count against me?
Not by itself. Browser time is shown on the certificate as browser time, never counted as drawing. DrawDog deliberately doesn’t read tabs, so it cannot tell a reference board from a chat window. Under a quarter of the session, that is disclosed as a note; over a quarter, the certificate cannot say Certified human-made, because it cannot rule out a web-based AI tool. Gather reference first, then start recording.
Which apps count as AI?
Desktop AI apps: ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney’s app, Ollama, LM Studio, ComfyUI, Stability Matrix and similar. The full list ships inside the app and is shown before you record anything. Having one of them open for even a second moves the grade to Human-made with AI help, with the percentage shown. Web-based AI tools are handled differently, because DrawDog deliberately doesn’t read browser tabs: all browser time is reported on the certificate, and if more than a quarter of a session was in a browser the grade cannot be Certified human-made at all, since a tab could have been a prompt box. Keep reference lookups to a minority of the session, or do them before you press Start.
What about AI features inside Photoshop, like Generative Fill?
DrawDog cannot see inside an app, so a generative feature used within Photoshop is not detected. Adobe’s own Content Credentials can record that; turn them on if it matters to your client. We’d rather tell you this than pretend otherwise.
Music, Slack, Discord, email?
All fine. They show on the certificate as time in other apps and have no effect on the grade.

Writing

Does it work for writing, not just drawing?
Yes. Word, Pages, Scrivener, Ulysses, iA Writer, Obsidian, Typora, LibreOffice, Final Draft and similar are recognised as writing apps. A writing session is certified on the document growing through saves and autosaves at a human pace over real time, with no AI apps open. That covers a short story, a thesis, or a whole novel.
Does it count my keystrokes?
No, and it never will. Counting keystrokes on a Mac needs the same Input Monitoring permission a keylogger needs, and DrawDog does not ask for it. Writing is graded on how the file grew, which is visible without touching the keyboard: a typed chapter appears in small steps over an hour; a pasted one appears in a single jump.
Can I use this for Kindle Direct Publishing's AI question?
KDP asks whether a book is AI-generated or AI-assisted and expects an honest answer. A DrawDog certificate for each writing session is a dated, signed record that the manuscript grew by hand with no AI apps open. It is evidence you can attach to that answer or send to an editor or agent; it is not an Amazon-recognised credential, and nothing is.
Google Docs? Notion in the browser?
Google Docs runs in a browser, where DrawDog deliberately doesn’t look, and its file lives on Google’s servers, so there is nothing local to watch. Use a desktop app that saves to a file: Word, Pages, Scrivener, or Obsidian, or the Notion desktop app. Paste into Docs afterwards if that is where the book has to live.
What does a writing certificate show?
How long the session ran, how many saves were seen, how the document grew from its size at the start to its size at the end, which kinds of apps were open, and the grade with its reasons. The client or editor can drop the manuscript file on the page to confirm it is the exact file the record describes. The words themselves are never read or uploaded.

Privacy

Does DrawDog see my artwork?
No. Files are streamed through a fingerprint function and discarded; the contents are never stored, displayed, or uploaded. Quit the app and even DrawDog cannot tell you what your files were called.
Does it log my keystrokes or record my screen?
No, and it never asks for the permissions that would allow either. It counts that the pen moved and when, never where. It notes which app is in front, never window titles or tabs. Exactly what is recorded.
What leaves my computer?
Nothing until you press Certify, and then only a summary: the grade, the numbers, the fingerprints of your files, and a signature. Not the files, not their names, not the folder path.
Who can see a certificate?
Anyone with the link. There is no directory and the links cannot be guessed. You can withdraw a certificate at any time; the page then says it was withdrawn.

The certificate

What does my client see?
One page: how long you drew, how many strokes, how the file grew, which kinds of apps were open, and the grade with its reasons in plain English. They can drag the file you sent onto the page to confirm it is byte-for-byte the one the record describes. No account, nothing to install. See a real one.
Does the client have to trust DrawDog?
No. The signature is checked in their browser, on their device, against a public key. The timestamp comes from an independent timestamp authority, not from us. If DrawDog vanished tomorrow, an existing certificate would still verify.
I edited the file after certifying. Now what?
The file check will say it doesn’t match, because it doesn’t. Record the edit as a session and certify again, or send the client the exact file the certificate describes. A certificate is bound to specific bytes on purpose.
Do certificates expire?
No. They stay valid whether or not you keep a paid plan. A PDF and a portfolio badge come with every one.
What do the three grades mean?
Certified human-made: no AI tools open and DrawDog watched the work being drawn. Human-made with AI help: you used AI and the certificate says how much. Recorded, not certified: the session was recorded but not enough was seen to vouch for it, and it says which condition was missed. Sealed record: a file’s own history (Procreate, from the browser) locked at a moment in time, with nobody watching. The rules are fixed, public, and printed on every certificate; no person decides.

Plans and billing

What's free?
Three certificates a month, forever, with no card. Recording is unlimited on every plan; only certifying counts.
What do Pro and Studio add?
Pro, $19 a month: unlimited certificates and two registered computers. Studio, $39 a month: everything in Pro, your studio’s name, logo, and colour on every certificate page, PDF, and badge, and five registered computers. The evidence and the grade are identical on every plan; paying never changes a grade. Pricing.
Can I cancel?
Any time, yourself, with no email and no chat: Dashboard, Manage billing, Cancel. You keep the plan until the end of the period you paid for, and certificates you already issued stay valid.
Is checking a certificate free for my client or agency?
Always. Checking is free, with no account, and the embed and API for agencies and marketplaces are free too. A certificate nobody can check is worth nothing.
Who is behind DrawDog?
Hive Asset Group, LLC, a small company in Minnesota. Payments are handled by Stripe. The first certificate ever issued was for our own logo, drawn by hand in Affinity.

If something looks wrong

Strokes aren't counting.
Strokes only count while a drawing app is in front. Check the live screen: if it says the pen couldn’t be monitored, quit and reopen DrawDog. If it counts with a mouse but not your tablet, tell us the tablet model at hello@drawdog.art; that is a bug we want.
My app shows up as 'Other'.
It still counts toward the grade only if DrawDog knows it is a drawing app. Email us the app’s name and we add it; the list ships with the app and updates with each release.
macOS says the app is from an unidentified developer. Windows shows SmartScreen.
Early builds are not yet signed with Apple or Microsoft. Mac: right-click the app, choose Open, then Open again; after that it opens normally. Windows: More info, then Run anyway. Signed builds are coming and this note goes away when they do.

Still unsure

Ask a person.

hello@drawdog.art. If the answer belongs on this page, it will be added.