How to turn a photo into a drawing?
We’ve got 15 amazing apps for iOS and Android to turn photo to drawing in just a few clicks.
Are you a great photographer but not as talented at drawing? Or do you like photo retouching and would like to add a drawing effect to share or print? Well, to get a drawing or sketch effect from a photograph, there are applications that do it for you.
The last application that we have updated is very fashionable. Nowadays you have surely seen many whatsapp or instagram profiles with a photo converted to a drawing. Well, the latest app, to make drawing from photo, that we have added, is that.
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If you’ve never tried photo to draw apps… you’re in luck!
For the most part, everything these apps do is automatic. All you have to do is choose a photo you want to turn into a drawing or sketch. Then the program will convert it for you.
Each application has a different method for converting images into sketches. Some draw the lines and digitise the colours of your photos using algorithms. Others rely on artificial intelligence to create better reproductions of your photos.
When you want to do it in a more professional way you can turn photo to draw in Photoshop, but we know that this is not for everyone. Photoshop is a more advanced tool and also not everyone can get it easily, so we show you a few Apps, or, in other words, photo to drawing converter, that will convert your photo to drawing online in a few steps and in a simple way.
Now let’s go through the list and we see which apps are ideal for you.
The order is random, it doesn’t mean that the first one is the best and the last one is the worst. We leave that up to you, try several of them and then you can choose the one you like the most and start turning photo to draw online 🙂
1 Painnt
Painnt is an excellent app that turns pictures into drawings. This app contains over 2000 filters that turn your portraits and landscapes into beautiful masterpieces. Over 90 of these filters are drawing styles, which give your images that popular pencil-drawn look.
Using the free version of this image editor gives you a limited range of filters. To get the full collection, you’ll need to buy a weekly, monthly or yearly subscription.
To use the app, photo to drawing converter, upload your image, scroll through the styles and tap the one you want. It’s that easy.
The only downside to this app for Android and iPhone is that you need an internet connection. The app sends the photos to the company’s servers for processing.
- More than 2000 artistic filters.
- More than 90 drawing filters that can turn your photo into a hand-drawn masterpiece.
- A wide range of editing tools for filter effects;
- Free (with in-app purchases).
Download Painnt on Google Play
2 Clip2Comic
Clip2Comic is an excellent convert photo to line drawing app that can turn photos of your favourite people into caricatures. This app has a very simple user interface, so you are more likely to use it on your portrait photos.
This is for iPhone users only.
Touch an image (the original photo) to open it and quickly transform it into a comic book style drawing.
Convert photo to drawing cartoon, this photo to draw app is one of the best drawing apps for iPhone out there.
- Create cartoon and caricature-style photo effects;
- Easy-to-use interface.
- Editing tools for cropping, colour and brightness.
- Live cartoon camera option.
- Free
3. Lensa and Magic Avatars
4. Toonme
This application has similar features to Clip2Comic, as it can also convert photo to drawing cartoon and caricature.
What makes Toonme different is that it uses artificial intelligence to create realistic effects. It allows you to choose from dozens of styles and even tweak them to create different results.
Unlike Clip2Comic, Toonme is available on both iOS and Android. That means you can use it on pretty much any smartphone you own.
You can download Toonme for free. But you may have to buy some extra features and presets through in-app purchases. You also have the option to subscribe to Toonme Pro for €4.99 per month. It’s a bit pricey for an app, but if you end up using it a lot, you should consider it.
- Apart from cartoon-style photos, it also offers hand-drawn options.
- It includes dozens of layouts that you can use on anything from profile pictures to Instagram Stories.
- Lets you customize your art to make it look more authentic.
- Adds new presets regularly, so you’ll never run out of options.
- The toonme challenge lets you share your work with other Toonme users.
5. VOI Avatar by Wonder
6. Enlight Photofox
This drawing app is perfect for those who want to make simple photo edits. But it’s also an excellent choice for those who want to turn their images into incredible works of art.
Enlight Photofox includes drawing effects, image correction, painting effects and photo filters.
To turn your image into a painting, go to the artistic part of the application and choose Drawing.
The best thing about this app for Android and iPhone is that you can further tweak any of the filter settings, making it fully customisable.
- 16 preset sketch tools.
- Mask your image to apply specific, local effects.
- Combine photo and text to create graphics.
- Allows you to create double exposures.
- Save images in high resolution for the highest quality possible
7. Photolab
Photolab is a great app for Android and iPhone. It’s one of the best options if you want to turn photo into drawing, a painting or even a watercolor image.
In addition to filters, you can also add borders, frames and montages to turn your photos into realistic artwork drawings.
Photolab has categories of effects to help you find the presets you like much faster. Each one will have several options to browse through, giving you full control over your photos.
In addition to the drawing app’s original features, you can make use of its essential editing functions. Things like colour adjustment, cropping, rotating and retouching are also possible.
- Choose an image from your Gallery or grab one through the app.
- More than 800 pho drawing effects possible.
- E-card templates allow you to create holiday greeting cards.
- Additional photo filters include digital rain and jigsaw puzzles.
- Save your artwork or share it on social media from the drawing app.
Download on Google Play or App Store
8. Prisma
Prisma is a great drawing app that allows you to turn your photos into popular painting styles from some of the world’s best artists.
Want to turn your photos into a Picasso or Van Gogh painting? These filters give you options with exciting patterns.
All you have to do is open your photos and choose from the different filters, and you’re done. They have some of the most creative names for sketch and photo drawing effects, like Curly Hair and Heisenberg.
Prisma also includes some editing tools. You can use your finger to adjust the intensity of the filter applied to your photos.
The only downside to Prisma is that you can’t save images at full resolution. This is a problem for those who want to print at a large size.
- 30 different artistic filters to choose from.
- Download new styles from the shop.
- An easy-to-use app, similar to Instagram.
- Online Prisma community.
- Works with videos and photos.
9. Watercolor Effect
This application is one of the easiest options to use. All you have to do is browse through the dozens of presets and play the one you like
It has about 30 filters that turn your photos into works of art. It doesn’t have a lot of editing tools, but it lets you adjust the amount of photo drawing effect you want to add.
What makes Watercolor Effect unique is that it allows you to paint the photos yourself. You won’t need any filters, as you’ll be tracing the image with your fingers to create digital art. Not many other options on this list have this feature.
The downside to Watercolor Effect is that it only allows a 3-day free trial. After that, you have the option to subscribe weekly for £3.99 a week or £29.99 a year.
- The easy-to-use interface lets you create art faster than other apps.
- It includes oil painting presets if you want to turn photos into drawing and frame-ready artwork.
- Fewer controls mean less time fiddling around. Just choose a preset, and you’re done!
- The presets feature various painting styles, from impressionism to cubism
10. iColorama S
Want the best photo to drawing app Then you should try our top pick, the iColorama S. Not only does it look professional, but it also works as a legitimate editing suite.
The best thing about iColorama S is that you don’t need to convert your photos into a low-resolution file. It allows you to keep the high resolution for better quality.
A simple tap on the Menu brings up all the categories. For the Sketch tool, go to the Style section. Once you’ve chosen your preferred sketch style, you can adjust the intensity using the opacity slider at the bottom.
The adjustment icon allows you to change the border levels and shadows. Note that the exported image will be the same as the imported image, so use large images.
- Various painting styles, including a sketch style for a drawing filter.
- 14 sketch options to choose from.
- Over 300 effects;
- Import and use Photoshop brushes.
- Huge iColorama S community on Facebook.
11. Brushstroke
Brushstroke can turn your photos into a wide variety of painting styles, colour palettes and choice of canvas surfaces.
This app is really pro.
What we like is that you can order a canvas print directly from the app.
This iPhone app doesn’t create sketches or drawing strokes. Instead, it converts your photo into a drawing and then paints the image.
A pencil outline sits on top of the lines of the photograph, making it look hand-drawn.
- Easy-to-use interface.
- Painting styles inspired by famous painters.
- Seven groups of styles.
- A wide range of sub-styles.
- Firm your prints for authenticity.
12. PhotoMania
If you just want to have fun and play with different effects, then PhotoMania is for you.
Apart from the fact that it can convert photo to drawing or sketch, it also allows you to add frames that you can use for your profile pictures. If you like to send e-cards, PhotoMania also offers dozens of options that you can use.
All told, PhotoMania has some 400 presets, including sketch effects and even vintage looks. But perhaps the best thing about this app is that it doubles as an editing tool. It’s even ideal for adjusting exposure settings.
Ah, and did we mention that PhotoMania also has a mask tool? You can use it to apply drawing effects to certain parts of your photos. It’s a very cool feature that many other apps on this list don’t have.
Downloading and using PhotoMania is free. But it does require some in-app purchases for some presets.
- It allows you to adjust the sketch effect to get the best results.
- In addition to the sketch effect, it can also turn your photo into a painting, giving you even more artistic options.
- Includes advanced photo editing tools and presets such as HDR and Lomo.
- Add textures to your photos to create a more realistic look.
- Includes holiday templates that you can use for special occasions.
13. ToonApp
With ToonApp you can turn a photo into a drawing or caricature with just one tap. It has more than 50 million downloads.
With this app you can choose from different filters that will give your photo a cartoon or drawing look. In addition to the portrait caricature filters, you will find available many photo effects, symbols and doodles, oil painting fillers, sketches and much more.
Another interesting thing you can do with this app is to remove the background of your photo automatically and choose a different background from the ones shown, there is a great variety.
Remember that if you want to impress others with your profile picture in drawing, you should choose a vibrant and eye-catching background colour, such as yellow, red or blue.
According to some reviews it only works with photos of people, not animals or objects.
- It allows you to use multiple filters to convert to drawing and caraturise photos.
- It has camera effects directly for your selfies.
- Compatible with IOS and Android
- It’s free with the possibility of making purchases.
14. Comica (photos to comic drawing)
With more than 10 million downloads this app has very good reviews. In this case it’s about turning a photo into a comic drawing. You can also add different vignette effects and comic stickers.
You take an image from your gallery, add the cartoon or comic effects and then you can incorporate text bubbles or thought balloons like in a comic book. It is ideal to have a funny profile picture, to create funny memes or simply to share with your friends and have a good time.
- At the moment it is only available for Android.
- You can turn your photos into comics and include text bubbles and “BOOM!, WOW!” stickers.
- The app is free.
Download app on Google Play Store
15. NewProfilePic
The latest trend to turn photo into drawing and show them on your whatsapp profile or social networks. We love it. It has free version and PRO version (of the latter you can opt for a 3-day free trial).
As you will see, it has a high rating from users, no more and no less than 4.8 out of 5!
- Available for Android and Iphone.
- It has a free version.
- Ideal for converting your profile picture to a drawing.
- Choose your favorite drawing filter, it has several in its free version.
Original ideas to convert photos into drawings
If you are looking for original ideas when converting your photo into a drawing, here are some styles that you can apply to achieve spectacular and different results:
Comic style drawing: Turn into a comic style drawing, with strong lines and vibrant colors. You can highlight the outlines and add shading effects to achieve a striking and dynamic look.
Realistic pencil : Use pencil drawing techniques to recreate a photo with a realistic look. You can work on details, shadows and tones to capture the essence of the original image.
Digital Illustration: You can use graphic design software to apply different styles and effects, such as watercolor, oil painting or cartoon style. Experiment with different tools and layers to achieve unique results.
Black and white drawing: Turn a photo into a black and white drawing to create a classic and timeless effect. With contrasts and gray levels to bring out the details and texture of the image.
Drawing Collage: You can divide it into several parts and recreate each section as an individual drawing, you can combine the drawings into an artistic and unique collage.
Mosaic style: Using small geometric shapes or strokes you can experiment with different colors and patterns to create a visually interesting effect.
Surrealistic: Transform a photo into a surrealistic drawing using abstract and fantastic elements. You can distort facial features, combine different unexpected objects or play with perspective to create a striking and unusual image.
Pop Art Drawing: Take inspiration from pop art and turn a photo into a vibrant, colorful drawing. Use bold colors, repetitive patterns and bold outlines for a visually striking, modern effect.
Drawing in etching: Create a drawing that looks like an engraving using fine, detailed lines. You can mimic the look of engraved lines on wood or metal to give the image a handcrafted, classic look.
India ink: Use India ink to create a black and white drawing with lines and ink smudges. You can play with the intensity of the lines and contrasts for an expressive and sophisticated effect.
Minimalist: Simplify a photo and turn it into a minimalist drawing, using simple geometric shapes and neutral colors. This style focuses on simplicity and highlighting the key elements of the image.
Pointillism effect drawing: Uses the pointillism technique to create a detailed, textured drawing from a photo. This style is based on the application of small colored dots that, when viewed from a distance, create a complete image.
Remember that you don’t need to stick to just one app. Feel free to use a combination of these options to achieve the effect you want don’t be afraid to experiment and turn your photos into beautiful works of art! And as we said at the beginning, if you want to do it in a more detailed and professional way you can turn picture into drawing with PhotoShop.
Ah! If you know or discover any more don’t forget to comment below and we’ll add them to the list so others can try them out 🙂
I am looking an App that can turn a drawing of a person into a real photo? Do you know?
At the moment I don’t know of any app that can convert a drawing into a real photo but if one day I find out I’ll let you know 🙂
This is awesome, thank you for sharing this apps, awesome.
We are glad you like our blog!
Once I had very similar project. We have to process photo and get cartoon image.
It was implemented by using set of digital filters and combination of several graphic layers into one single image.
Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
Hi, in your blog post, “how to turn a photograph into a drawing“, what app did you use for the main image of the woman?