How to make an image look like a painting in Photoshop
Jul 09, 2025 am 12:45 AMUsing Photoshop to convert photos into a natural and textured painting style is the key to using filters reasonably, superimposing textures, and adjusting colors and details. 1. Use artistic effect filters such as "oil painting" and "watercolor" in the "Filter Library" to adjust the parameters appropriately to quickly obtain the style effect; 2. Overlay the canvas or paper texture layers, and enhance the texture of the picture through "Soft Light" or "Overall" blending mode; 3. Adjust the color and contrast through tools such as "Hue/Saturation", "Curve", and "Color Balance" to enhance the overall atmosphere; 4. Finally, use "Intelligent Sharpening", "Liquefaction" and brush tools to enhance the edges and brushstrokes, making the picture more hand-painted. Each step should be kept natural and avoid over-treatment.
Open Photoshop and it is not difficult to turn photos into painting style, but the key is to make the effect natural and textured. The key is to select the right filter and adjust the details to avoid looking too "fake" or like AI images generated with one click. Below I will share a few practical methods that are suitable for most photos.

Use filters: Quickly produce effects
Photoshop comes with many filters that can simulate painting style, such as "oil painting effect", "watercolor", "dry brush", etc. These filters can be found in the "Filter Library".

- Path : Menu Bar → Filter → Stylized → Filter Library
- There are many options under "art effect", such as "oil painting", "watercolor paper", "color pencil", etc., you can try it
- Don't adjust the parameters too hard, just be moderate, otherwise it will be easy to be distorted.
This method is suitable for those who want to see results quickly, especially newbies who are not very familiar with PS.
Manual overlay texture: more textured
If you want the image to be more like a real painting than a simple filter to process it, consider overlaying a canvas or paper texture.

Operation steps:
- Prepare a picture of canvas texture (you can find free resources online)
- Put the texture layer on the original image and adjust the blending mode to "Soft Light" or "Overall"
- Reduce transparency appropriately to make the texture appear and disappear
- You can use a mask to erase locally to preserve the texture of key areas
The advantage of doing this is that the picture is more layered and visually closer to the real painting.
Adjust color and contrast: enhance overall atmosphere
After the photo changes its style, the color often appears "flat". At this time, you need to manually adjust the color to enhance the atmosphere of the picture.
Recommended operations:
- Use Hue/Saturation to adjust the layer to slightly increase saturation
- Add the Curve adjustment layer, pull the S-shaped curve a little bit, and add comparison
- If it is in the oil painting style, you can use "Color Balance" to fine-tune the color tendency of shadows and highlights.
Don’t over-treat this step, keeping it natural is the key.
Detail reinforcement: Don't ignore edges and brushstrokes
The final step is to improve the details, especially edge clarity and simulate the feel of the brushstroke.
You can try:
- Use "Smart Sharpening" to slightly strengthen the edges, don't be too strong, otherwise it will appear dirty
- Use the Liquefaction tool to fine-tune the contours of the character's facials to make the lines smoother
- Use the brush tool to add some handmade brushstrokes (if there is brush material)
This part is icing on the cake, and doing well will make the entire work more "hand-painted".
Basically these are the methods. It is not particularly complicated, but you need to pay attention to your sense of measure every step and don’t be greedy for too much and seek speed. As long as you adjust patiently, ordinary photos can also become artistic painting styles.
The above is the detailed content of How to make an image look like a painting in Photoshop. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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