Demo art, saved assets, and templates

Summary

Uploads offers three ways to bring content into a design without starting from your own file: Try demo artwork (a labeled sample image), Library (reusable assets, sign-in required), and Templates (procedural alignment guides). None of the three are meant to appear in a finished, ordered print.

Use it when

• You want to explore placement, layers, or export without your own file ready yet.
• You're aligning repeating or edge-sensitive artwork and want a visual reference for the perforation grid.
• You're deciding whether you need an account before you start designing.

Before you begin

Nothing — all three are available to guests on a fresh artboard, in Uploads on desktop or the Uploads sheet on mobile.

Steps

Demo artwork

1. In Uploads, select Try demo artwork.
2. A card for Demo artwork (non-production).jpg (2048×2048 px, 4.98 MB) appears, labeled Demo only — not for production.
3. Use its ⋯ menu exactly as you would any upload — Place image, Fill canvas, Remove background, or Delete (see Place vs. Fill canvas).
4. Selecting Try demo artwork again adds another, separate copy of the same file as a new card — it does not detect or skip the duplicate.

Library

5. Look at Library, below Uploads. As a guest, it shows only: Sign in to save reusable artwork and place it in any design. There is no guest-accessible asset list — reusable, cross-design assets require an account.

Templates

6. In Templates, choose one of three procedural guides and select Apply:
   • Grid anchor dots — a dot at every perforation intersection.
   • Center crosshair — a short cross at the artboard center, one grid cell wide.
   • Inset frame — a dashed rectangle one grid cell in from the outer edges.
7. If the artboard is empty, the template is applied immediately.
8. If the artboard has any content — placed artwork, paint, shapes, or another template — an Apply template? dialog appears first: Applying a template will clear placed artwork from the canvas. Check I understand my current design will be cleared., then select Proceed to continue or Cancel to back out.

What changes

• A template creates a single layer named Template (Template only — not for production), sized and centered to exactly match the current artboard, with the same Adjust controls (Crop, Contrast, Black point, White point, Gamma) as an image layer.
• Applying any template — including a second, different template — clears every existing layer on the artboard first and replaces it with just the new template layer. Templates do not stack with prior content or with each other the way Place image/Fill canvas do.
• Try demo artwork only adds an upload card; it does not place anything on the artboard by itself (see Place vs. Fill canvas).
• None of these three actions requires an account, but Library cannot be used at all without signing in.

Print note

Demo artwork and templates are both explicitly labeled as non-production content in the interface itself (Demo only — not for production and Template only — not for production). Neither is intended to reach an ordered print — replace them with your own artwork before exporting or checking out.

Warnings and limits

• Applying a template is a destructive action whenever the canvas has content: it clears every layer, not just a previously applied template. The confirmation checkbox is required before Proceed is selectable, matching the pattern used by Classic, Wide, and Hexagon formats.
• Cancel in the Apply template? dialog leaves the canvas exactly as it was.
• Demo artwork can be added repeatedly with no de-duplication — if you clicked Try demo artwork more than once, check Uploads for duplicate cards before assuming an upload failed.
• Library shows no way to browse or preview saved assets as a guest; the sign-in requirement is absolute for this feature, unlike demo artwork and templates which are fully guest-accessible.

Desktop and mobile

Uploads, Library, and Templates are in the same section on both layouts — the left rail on desktop, the Uploads sheet on mobile, per The editor at a glance. The three template buttons were confirmed present and reachable at 390 × 844; the Apply template? dialog was not re-verified on mobile for this article.

Troubleshooting

Related topics

• Place vs. Fill canvas
• Supported files and upload limits
• Background removal
• Cloud drafts & accounts

Verification note

Verified against Blotter Builder on 2026-07-20.

Source notes

Primary observations — all from the live application at https://blotterbuilder.tdl.fyi, 2026-07-20:

• Observed — Try demo artwork added a card for Demo artwork (non-production).jpg, 2048×2048px · 4.98 MB, labeled Demo only — not for production. Selecting it a second time added a second, separate card with identical details.
• Observed — Library as a guest showed only the sign-in prompt text, with no interactive elements beyond it.
• Observed — applying Grid anchor dots to an empty artboard created a layer named Template (Template only — not for production) immediately, sized W 7.50in, H 7.50in (exactly matching a 7.5×7.5 in Classic square artboard) and centered, with Crop/Contrast/Black point/White point/Gamma available in Adjust.
• Observed — applying Center crosshair immediately afterward (still on an artboard whose only content was the prior template) triggered the Apply template? dialog rather than applying instantly, and after confirming, the Layers list still showed exactly one Template row — the prior template layer was replaced, not stacked.
• Observed — placed the demo artwork on the artboard, then applied Grid anchor dots: the same Apply template? dialog appeared; confirming cleared the placed image layer entirely, leaving only the new Template layer in Layers.
• Observed — applying Inset frame to a freshly reloaded, empty artboard applied immediately with no dialog.
• Observed — at 390 × 844, the Uploads sheet listed the same three template buttons with the same accessible labels as desktop.

Verification log