makemysketch›Oil Painting Effect

Photo to Oil Painting

Transform any photo into a painterly oil painting. Control brush softness, colour richness and contrast. Free, instant, no upload.

Multi-pass blur

200K searches/month

0€ · no account

01 — UploadJPG · PNG · WEBP

Drop photo or click to browse

Choose your photo

Up to 20MB · stays in your browser

🔒 Never uploaded to any server

02 — ResultWaiting for photo

✨

Result appears here

Painting…

How the Oil Painting Effect Works

The oil painting effect applies multiple passes of box blur with decreasing radii, simulating the way a brush blends paint within a colour region without bleeding across strong edges. Colour richness (saturation boost) reproduces the warm, saturated palette of oil pigments. Contrast pushes the tonal range for depth.

Higher brush softness creates loose, impressionist brushwork. Lower values preserve more detail while adding painterly quality.

Style Presets by Hand

Impressionist (Monet): softness 7–8, richness 1.4. Expressionist (Van Gogh): softness 4–5, richness 2.0, contrast 1.6. Renaissance: softness 2–3, richness 1.6, contrast 1.3.

Output is a full-resolution PNG at your original image size, watermark-free.

Other Effects

Try these

Questions

FAQ

What photos work best?+

Photos with strong colours and clear subjects — portraits, landscapes, architecture. Avoid very dark or underexposed images as they can go muddy.

Can I replicate a specific painting style?+

Yes — adjust the three sliders to match any painterly style. Impressionist: high softness + moderate richness. Old Masters: low softness + high contrast.

Is there a size limit?+

Up to 20MB. Large images are scaled to 1200px max on the longest side.

Painting Effect: How to Make a Photo Look Painted

A painting effect makes a photo look hand-painted by smoothing fine detail inside colour areas while keeping the main shapes readable. Here it takes three steps: upload a photo, adjust Brush softness, Colour richness and Contrast, then click Download (PNG). Your photo stays in your browser.

What size will your painted photo be?

Large images are scaled to 1200px on the longest side, and the other side keeps the same proportion. Here are four common sizes:

Original (px)	Scale factor	Result (px)
4000 × 3000	1200 ÷ 4000 = 0.3	1200 × 900
3000 × 2000	1200 ÷ 3000 = 0.4	1200 × 800
1920 × 1080	1200 ÷ 1920 = 0.625	1200 × 675
1080 × 1920	1200 ÷ 1920 = 0.625	675 × 1200

A 1200 × 900 result is fine for a screen or a social post. For a large print, it may look soft.

Tips for a better painted look

Change one slider at a time. The sliders start at Brush softness 4, Colour richness 1.5× and Contrast 1.2×. Move Brush softness first, because it changes the look the most.
Protect faces and small details. If eyes or text become unreadable, lower Brush softness. If the photo still looks like a photo, raise it a little.
Fix flat colours with Colour richness. Raise it before touching Contrast. Too much of both can make skin and skies look harsh.
Use Contrast for depth. A small increase separates the subject from the background. A large one can hide detail in shadows.
Pick a simple photo. One clear subject and a calm background give a cleaner painted result than a busy scene.
Compare versions. Download (PNG) the one you like, then try New photo or new slider values and compare the files.

Why does my painting effect look blurry instead of painted?

Brush softness is probably too high, which blurs detail instead of giving visible brushwork. Lower it, then raise Colour richness or Contrast a little so the colours stay strong and the shapes stay clear.