How do I draw on an image in Swift?

All you need to do is create and get an Image Context object and access all its powerful drawing methods. You can learn more about the CGContext object features here.

This function draws a line and a circle on an UIImage and returns the modified image:

Swift 4

func drawOnImage(_ image: UIImage) -> UIImage {
     
     // Create a context of the starting image size and set it as the current one
     UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(image.size)
     
     // Draw the starting image in the current context as background       
     image.draw(at: CGPoint.zero)

     // Get the current context
     let context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!

     // Draw a red line
     context.setLineWidth(2.0)
     context.setStrokeColor(UIColor.red.cgColor)
     context.move(to: CGPoint(x: 100, y: 100))
     context.addLine(to: CGPoint(x: 200, y: 200))
     context.strokePath()
     
     // Draw a transparent green Circle
     context.setStrokeColor(UIColor.green.cgColor)
     context.setAlpha(0.5)
     context.setLineWidth(10.0)
     context.addEllipse(in: CGRect(x: 100, y: 100, width: 100, height: 100))
     context.drawPath(using: .stroke) // or .fillStroke if need filling
     
     // Save the context as a new UIImage
     let myImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()
     UIGraphicsEndImageContext()
     
     // Return modified image
     return myImage
}

It's simple:

1. Make an image graphics context. (Before iOS 10, you would do this by calling UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions. In iOS 10 there's another way, UIGraphicsImageRenderer, but you don't have to use it if you don't want to.)

2. Draw (i.e. copy) the image into the context. (UIImage actually has draw... methods for this very purpose.)

3. Draw your line into the context. (There are CGContext functions for this.)

4. Extract the resulting image from the context. (For example, if you used UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions, you would use UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext.) Then close the context.