Turning a photo into a hand-drawn sketch used to be a pro job that required complicated skills, hours of workload, and a lot of patience. But thanks to the AI technology, now it is an easy task for anyone. “But I don’t know any design stuff.”
Well it doesn’t matter. The utilization of the AI is to help human users to do tasks with just a few clicks and prompts. In other words, if you can click a mouse, you can easily turn your ordinary photo into sketch-style image. Even better, you can do it by using plenty of apps that can help.
In this article, we will explore 10 of the best AI apps that can turn photos into sketches in seconds. Each of these steps has its own traits, styles, and features.
But first things first, why AI image editing?
Why Use AI to Turn Photos into Sketches?
Before exploring the AI apps, let’s answer a simple yet important question: why would you want to turn your photo into sketch?
- The Art Style: A sketch is a great art style to enhance your normal photo.
- Perfect for Gifts: Portrait or landscape sketch of the photo can make a great gift for someone you care.
- Cool content: Post and share your sketch photos and engage with your audience. You’ll quickly know that this artistic style works better.
- Any design project: You can use your sketches for any project such as poster, flyers, banners, or digital projects.
- Fun and easy: With the AI image editing apps, you won’t need to hire pro or spend hours doing it yourself.
Now that we know the reasons why we could use AI image sketches software, let’s explore some of the best apps out there.
ImgEdit AI
There are a lot of apps which claim to be the best out there. We’re sure that you’ll find any random app in seconds to turn your photos into sketches. But none of these tools are created equal. And when we were seeking, we found out that ImgEdit AI was the winner. It is easy, versatile, and reliable that it looks like the best pro pieces that come out straight out of professional studio.
Why ImgEdit AI Stands Out
We’ve done various tests and scenarios on ImgEdit AI tool. And the results were consistent. Here are why ImgEdit stands out for us, and why we’d like to recommend it to you.
Realistic Styles
You can say goodbye to filters that look fake or cartoonish when it comes to sketches generation. ImgEdit AI comes with reliable engine which can guarantee the realistic sketches styles. But that’s not it. It comes with various styles that you can choose to achieve any sketching style you want. Some of the popular choices are pencil, charcoal, ink, and watercolored sketches.
Newbie-Friendly Interface
As mentioned, you can use Photo to Sketches AI tool easily in few clicks. Therefore, you don’t need to be a tech-savvy or designer to use the app to make your professional sketches. Using this app is very simple. You just need to upload your photo, pick your favorite style, and hit the button. Then the AI will do its magic in seconds. As you visit ImgEdit home page, you’ll realize on how to use the tool. No confusing features and menus, no complicated editing or whatsoever.
Control and Customization
Just like other AI tools, you must be aware that most of them come with one default sketch effect where the users stop there. But ImgEdit is different. It lets you tweak the thickness, shading, and texture of the sketch. That means you can freely make your sketch output look light, airy, bold, or calm. Depending on your preferences, you will have the total control for your wanted results.
HD Quality Downloads
No matter what the project you are doing, the quality matters. With ImgEdit AI tool, you can download your finished sketch in high resolution. So, you won’t expect bad quality image which has watermark on it. We can vouch that for you. It is a perfect tool to support your gifting agenda. The sketches you generate can be printed out as personalized gifts for someone you care.
Quick Tutorial: How to Turn Your Photo into a Sketch with ImgEdit AI
It is easy and simple to use ImgEdit AI tool. You don’t need to download and install anything. Access the site through your PC, mobile device, tablet, or any other compatible device. Your Photo to Sketch AI tool is ready for you in the home page. You don’t even need to register an account to use it. Here’s how you can make the sketch transformation:
- Upload Your Photo: Choose the picture from your drive. Portraits usually work well for sketching. But you can also try landscapes or particular objects.
- Select the Style: Sketch comes in various styles. There are some styles like ink, pencil, or watercolor. Pick the sketch style that matches your vision. You can always experiment with the styles until you find the right one for you.
- Preview: Preview your sketch. If you’re happy with it, proceed hitting the button.
- Share or Download: After hitting the magic button, you can save your sketch to your device. You can share it, print it, or save it in your device for memories.
There you have it! In less than a minute, you can convert an ordinary photo to a frame-worthy sketch.
FlexClip
FlexClip is popular as online video editing tool. But many don’t realize that the platform also come with AI photo editor. Using that tool, you can turn any photo into creative sketch and use it in your projects.
FlexClip is a web-based platform, so there’s no need to download and install anything in your device. You can use this tool from your favorite browser. So, you can use your laptop, PC, or even mobile device to do your sketching project. FlexClip has dozens of features you can use to make your sketches freely. It is simple, flexible and versatile.
PortraitArt
PortraitArt can easily bring photos to sketch-style arts. The tool comes with charm of pencil drawings. It is a great option for those who love hand-drawn art but no need for waiting weeks for manual works. Its powerful trait lies on its classic pencil look which will turn your photo looks like a sketch that is drawn by the real artist. And it is a free tool. So, be free to try it.
Monica AI
Monica AI has been a banger in the AI editing space. Although it is relatively new, it has gained popularity for its “out-of-the-box” features. It can also accommodate you in turning an ordinary photo into a stylish sketch without much effort on your part.
The modern sketch styles of Monica AI focus on giving your photos on artistic sketch looks. The tool can handle even larger images. So, if you have HD landscape photos or other types of object you want to turn, this tool is ready to help you.
While it might not offer advanced customization like ImgEdit AI, it still works well if your main goal is quick and good result of sketch conversion.
Prome AI
Prome AI has become a long-time favorite tool among various users who are fond of experimenting with different styles and outcomes. Instead of stopping users at one type of sketch filter, the tool gives you plenty of room to play, explore, and idealize. It’s not exaggerating to say that this tool can accommodate various levels of user skills. Here are the traits you won’t want to miss:
- Various vibes: Choose filters like simple sketch, oil painting, watercolor, and others
- Creative freedom: adjust and fine-tune the style until it matches your vision
- Export options: Pick the format you want for your files to download.
With these features, Prome AI is a great choice for anyone who wants to explore more than just basic sketches. It brings a lot of possibilities without compromising friendly user interface.
NewArc AI
NewArc AI is popular choice because of its reliability in delivering realistic sketch effects. While other common tools come out with artificial looking results, it presents the drawing quality that looks coming out straight from the professional studio. The lines are crisp, shading looks natural, and the overall style is realistic and just perfect. Its natural shading is a great trait you can use for sketching portraits. We can say that it is also great for the human face. If you are striving realistic sketches that look like coming from real pencil work on paper, this tool is a go-to option.
Bylo AI
Bylo AI is one of the best tools that helps users to turn photo into sketch-style image. It comes with simple user interface. The good thing is that you can use its sketches filter for free, even without registering an account. Such beginner-friendly user interface is navigable so that you don’t need to waste your time to figure things out. With few clicks, you can upload your photo, pick the style you like, and see the results in few seconds. It also has some sketch options that range from regular pencil to ink outlines. It is also a great option if you’re looking for fast and easy tool.
Fotor
Fotor is one of the most renowned photo editing tools on the net. Most people know it as all-in-one photo editing tool, but what many don’t know is its reliable AI sketch feature. You can also use this feature to turn any photo into something more artistic without spending hours on photo editing.
With Fotor, the process is simple. Upload your photo, pick a filter, and watch it turn in seconds. Fotor sketch feature is free to use for certain limitations. You can also adjust your photo’s brightness, contrast, or add any effect for pumping up your sketch. But as we tested it, it didn’t give as consistent result as we saw in ImgEdit. But still, it is a worth trying tool for your project.
Canva
Who doesn’t know this all-in-one editing tool? Canva has been around for a while. You can use it for presentations, posters, and engaging social media posts. But we also notice that it actuall has an AI-powered sketch filter that can instantly turn your photo into hand-drawn sketch.
Here’s why Canvas’s sketch feature is recommended:
- Easy drag-and-drop: Just upload your photo / drag and drop it to canva, pick the sketch filter from the library, and watch it change in seconds. If you’re familiar with Canva tool, then it should be easy to find sketch filter in the tool.
- Perfect option for any purpose: Canva is so versatile so that you can use it for any purpose including your own social media.
- Free and premium styles: Even the free styles are already great. But you can always pick premium styles unlocked from Canva Pro.
If you are familiar with Canva for your design routine, these sketch filters are nice supplement. They give your content a fresh and artistic look.
LightX
LightX has been known as a photo editor. It is one of the most popular all-around tools with built-in AI that amplifies its editing features. You can easily turn your regular photo into preferred sketch simply by choosing the specific drawing effect. We’d tried some of them such as soft pencil drawing effect, cartoonish arts, and architectural sketches. Although the results were not better than ImgEdit, we were okay with them. It has many filters to try and it is great opportunity for you to explore the options. LightX also has photo editor which you can crop, resize, or retouch the images before or after turning them into sketches. Beside web-based platform, the tool is also available on both Android and iOS.
Final Thoughts
There you have them! Our top 10 Photo to Sketch AI tools have been listed. The days are gone when turning photos into sketches used to require real drawing skills. Now, you can do it yourself using AI apps.
No matter the purpose, there’s an app that can help you with the creative process. To get started, we recommend ImgEdit AI. It checks all of the boxes: quality of results, customization, and easy user interface, making it the best tool for most people. But you may not stop there. You could try few other apps on the list and see which one fits your needs best.
With these AI tools, you can easily turn your photos to wonderful sketches. Why not give them a try today and watch something amazing yourself? Have a good sketch!
