Sketching is one of the essential art of expressing our portraits and objects on paper. However, not everyone can sketch. People often need a long time of deliberate training and long-term practice to draw a standard sketch. However, now we have a lot of web tools that can help us with sketching and painting. You can upload your portrait photos to a photo to sketch converter, and this tool can quickly and ideally complete a sketch for you in a few seconds.
You can also check out more creative AI tools from our previous post: Selfie to Anime with Best Anime Selfie Apps 2023.
Top 10 Tools to Turn Photo to Sketch 2023
If you think using photoshop is a little bit challenging and want to find some easier tools to convert photo to sketch for free, please read on and we list the 10 best online photo to sketch converters for you. They're really good alternatives to photoshop. Easy-to-use and no software involved.
1. VansPortrait
Driven by deep learning and AI technology, VansPortrait can not only transform your portrait into sketch but also the entire photo into a sketch. Photos with multiple portraits can also be converted quite accurately thanks to advanced algorithms. Also, it allows you to turn photo into anime portrait. If you have some memorable photos shot during a birthday party or journey, try this AI to convert them into sketches or anime syle images before you share them on social media.
This anime AI has been launched on ProductHunt. If you like it, give it an upvote by clicking on >>>
Features
- Convert portrait or entire photo into sketch or anime portrait 100% automatically
- Deliver more accurate results than conventional tools
- Turn photo into sketch or anime portrait in seconds
Limitations
- Lack editing feature
- Upload image less than 5MB
Here's a video that teaches you how to use VansPortrait to convert photo to line drawing online.
Photo to Sketch Result
As you can see here, VansPortrait outlines the overall shape of the portrait, and the figure's posture and clothing are also well reflected in the sketch. The blurring of the background is just fine.
Also read: Top 10 AI Stencil Maker Review 2023.
2. Funny.photo.to
Funny.pho.to allows uploading images from the computer, by URL, or from Facebook. If you don't have a proper photo and just want to test if this web tool works well, you can pick one image from their listed images. When your image is done, you can choose to download directly, get links, share with social media accounts, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or save to Dropbox. On the result page, you'll notice that there are some additional features available, like frames, stickers, and custom text. But when you click these features, you'll be redirected to an editing panel which is also an online tool of funny.pho.to.
Features
- Easy & fast process
- Upload image through several methods
- Support share with social media & cloud drive
- Other tools available
Limitations
- Can't make an adjustment to the output
Comparison
3. aiportraits.online
aiportraits.online is a newly released AI photo to sketch converter I came across a few days ago. This is an amazing tool you can use to convert portraits, pets, products or any photos into sketches. Trained on millions of real world photos, AI Portraits Online is more intelligent in detecting the lines in photos and turning them into sketches. Read our full tutorial: How to Convert Photo to Line Drawing & Sketches with aiportraits.online?
Features
- Free to use
- Automatic sketch converter
- Turn any photo into sketch effortlessly
Limitations
- Can't make adjustments to the result pencil sketch
Comparison
4. Lunapic
Lunapic is another free online photo to pencil sketch converter. You may find a great number of editing features through its navigation bar. For converting a photo to pencil sketch, just upload a photo and adjust to get the result you want. Then you can save to your device or share with social media. A lot of editing features are available if you want to edit the result to get a more custom photo.
Features
- Upload images from device, Facebook, its stock, or through URL
- Share the result to Facebook, Imgur, Pinterest, Twitter, Google photos
- Able to adjust the result
Limitations
- The output is not very closed to a pencil sketch
Comparison
5. Image Online
Image online lists a large number of tools on the left hand of its web page which is quite overwhelming. Although not many options are provided during your use of this free photo to pencil sketch converter, for example, you can only upload an image from device and download to it, the output is really not bad.
Features
- Able to adjust pencil shadow before processing
Limitations
- Can't make adjustments to the result pencil sketch
- Upload images only from the device
- The tools of the left column are a bit overwhelming
Comparison
6. Photofunia
Photofunia, a free photo to pencil sketch converter, is able to sketch a person from a photo in an easy and quick way. Though no additional features are offered here, this free photo to sketch converter is worthy of a try because of its good performance. Some excellent examples are listed on its homepage and you can have a look before you use this web tool.
Features
- The produced pencil sketch looks not bad
- Easy steps & quick process
Limitations
- Not able to adjust or edit the output
- Can't upload from or share with social media
- The area for upload is too small
Comparison
6. Convertimage.net
Besides converting images to various formats, Convertimage.net also serves as a free online photo to sketch converter. Every time you process a photo through this web tool, you have to click to agree with its terms of use, which is a little bit troublesome. The processing speed is as fast as previous web tools.
Features
- Many additional tools available
Limitations
- The interface is a bit confusing
- Can't adjust or edit the result
- Only upload from the device
Comparison
7. Snapstouch
The interface of Snapstouch is a little bit confusing because you have to click the button UPLOAD after clicking the button Choose File and selecting an image. Then you can make some adjustments and click PENCIL IT. A couple of seconds later, you'll get your custom pencil sketch.
Features
- Able to adjust pencil color from black, red, green, and blue
Limitations
- Not very easy-to-use
- Only upload image from the device
Comparison
8. Tuxpi
Upload an image and you can get the result within seconds. This free photo to sketch converter allows you to make adjustments to the result pencil sketch, like adding text, changing color and contrast, rotating, resizing, and cropping.
Features
- The preview is available while adjusting color and contrast
- Able to download and share the output
Limitations
- Not very closed to pencil sketch
- You can only upload an image from the device
9. photofunny.net
Photo funny supports photo to sketch online for free. After you upload an image, it will produce the result almost in a flash. Upon the pencil sketch, you can add stickers, text, comment, and crop or rotate the image.
Features
- Allow to add text, automatically adjust and add a filter
- You can choose to download or share the results.
- Editing features included
Limitations
- Can only upload image from device
Comparison
10. Online photo converter
When you use this free photo to sketch converter, it may confuse you after you upload an image from device because you don't know whether the image is uploaded successfully or not. Besides, there is no preview of the finished pencil sketch.
Features
- Quick process
Limitations
- The interface is a little confusing
- No preview while making adjustments
Comparison
Conclusion
Online photo to sketch converters are quite easy to find now and most of them are free. Most of them are designed just for fun so the output pencil sketch perhaps looks not very real. Well for me, I don't need to sit down for a long time to get a sketch of myself. More importantly, it's totally free. Then why not? Also read: How to Convert Photo to Line Drawing & Sketches with aiportraits.online?
FAQ
1.How to convert photo to sketch in Photoshop?
Speaking of editing images, the first tool that comes to your mind is probably Photoshop. It's no doubt that Photoshop provides a feature for converting photo to sketch. Check out this clip for quick tutorial:
You can also follow the step-to-step instruction listed below.
Method1:
Step1: Import an image and make a copy of it
Step2: Click on the Adjustment layer button and choose Hue/Saturation
Step3: Reduce Saturation to -100
Step4: Click on the thumbnail to make it active
Step5: Change the blend mode to Color Dodge
Step6: Invert it and go to Filter and choose Blur - Gaussian Blur
Step7: Slide the Radius to adjust
Method2:
Step1: Import an image and make a copy of it
Step2: Click Filter and choose Filter Gallery
Step3: Choose graph pen under the Sketch category
Step4: Adjust stroke length and other elements