Turn a Photo Into a Line-Art Sketch
A photo converted badly is worse than no reference at all — you end up copying noise. Getting a clean conversion is mostly about choosing the right photo and the right intensity, not about the app.
Which photos convert well
- Strong, directional light. Shadows create the edges the converter finds.
- A plain background. Busy backgrounds turn into scribble.
- One clear subject, filling a good part of the frame.
- Sharp focus. A blurred photo produces broken, wandering lines.
Photos that convert badly: night shots, heavy bokeh, flat overcast light, crowds, and anything where the subject is the same tone as what is behind it.
Pencil or Line Art?
- Line Art gives flat outlines. Pick this when you are going to trace the result, or colour it in.
- Pencil keeps some tonal shading. Pick this when the converted picture is the final artwork rather than a guide.
Setting the intensity
Start in the middle. If details are vanishing, raise it. If the image is filling up with speckles and short broken strokes, lower it. It is worth trying two or three settings on the same photo — the difference between a usable guide and an unusable one is often one notch.
What to do with the result
- Trace it — use the screen as a guide under thin paper.
- Draw it — overlay it on paper through the camera and copy it at full size.
- Colour it — fill the closed areas in the built-in colouring mode.
Portraits are the hardest case. Convert at a lower intensity than feels right, trace only the structural lines — jaw, hairline, eye sockets — and draw the features by hand. Traced eyelashes always look traced.
Free limits
Photo conversion is free with a daily limit; you can watch a short ad to continue, or upgrade to Pro for unlimited conversions and no ads. The gallery of ready-made sketches has its own free daily unlocks.