Need to make your scene wider, taller, or just give your background more room to breathe? You can easily expand your image in Canvas using the Crop Tool and generative fill options. Whether you’re adjusting the framing or building out a full scene, this guide covers the different ways to expand and fill in your canvas.
Step 1: Expand the Canvas
Open your image in Canvas.
Select the Crop Tool from the tool panel towards the bottom of the page.
Drag to expand the canvas in any direction to your desired size.
Once you’re happy with the new canvas size, click Confirm.
Step 2: Fill the Expanded Area
After expanding your canvas, there are a few ways to fill in the new space.
No matter which method you use, the selected style and any content in the prompt box will influence the results, so make sure both are aligned with your creative intent.
Option 1: Use Selection + Prompting to Guide the Fill
After confirming the new canvas size, use the Marquee Tool to select the newly added area.
You can then choose to:
Forge: Regenerates everything within the selected area.
Refill: Only fills the transparent parts of the selection, preserving any existing artwork.
Use the Prompt Box to describe the content you want in the expanded space (e.g. “sunset sky with clouds,” “grassy hill with trees”).
You can also use the Lasso Tool for more irregular shapes — though the Marquee Tool is typically faster for rectangular areas.
Option 2: Use Refill for an Instant Fill
Skip the selection and simply click Refill after resizing your canvas.
This will automatically fill all transparent areas on the expanded canvas.
Refill is useful for quick, automatic background generation with minimal setup — just remember that your selected style and any text in the prompt box will still guide the result, even without a new prompt.
Option 3: Draw on the Canvas and Use It as a Reference
Before drawing, add a new empty layer — this keeps your original artwork safe in case you need to go back.
Use the Brush Tool to make a rough sketch or color pass in the newly expanded area. This gives the AI a visual reference for what kind of content you want to generate.
Use the Color Picker to match surrounding tones, which helps maintain visual consistency.
Once you’re done drawing, use the Marquee or Lasso Tool to select the area you edited.
Click Forge from Selection to generate a new version of that area, guided by your drawing and the selected style and prompt.
This method is great when you want to define the structure or composition of the new area before letting the AI finish the details.