In today’s post: Learn how easy it is to turn your photos into illustrations for about 5 bucks! It only takes a few clicks using an inexpensive app. Illustrated photos make a beautiful gift perfect for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, birthdays, and more.
Recently I found a new app that’s been so much fun! With the BrushStroke app you can turn your photos into beautiful paintings or illustrations in just a few clicks. There are tons of customizable options that are fun to play around with, including paint styles, color options, textures, and more. I’ve found my favorite “formula” for turning photos into illustrations, and I think they turn out so cool:
DIY Illustrated Photos
I want to make one of these for everyone I know! 😂 I think these DIY illustrated photos would make great gifts, especially for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Who doesn’t love a cute picture of their kids, especially when it’s been made even cuter? Here’s my original photo and then a closeup of the illustrated version:
The BrushStroke app costs $3.99 on the app store, and I spent another 99 cents on the Illustration pack. For what it does, I think it’s well worth the five bucks (and no, this post isn’t sponsored – I just thought this was fun!). I especially love how the illustration filter looks on old photos, like this one of my husband and his brothers with their grandpa:
Adorable, right? My husband is the baby 😉
Tips for Success
This is one of the easiest projects I’ve ever done! Here’s what you need to know (printable instructions follow):
You will need to purchase the Brushstroke app from the app store, and if you want to get the same look you see in my photos, you’ll also need the Illustration pack.
You can order photos printed and framed directly from Brushstroke after you have edited them, OR you can save your photos to you phone and print them wherever you like. I got mine printed at Walmart and slid them into some inexpensive frames from IKEA. They look great and only cost about ten bucks each, plus the cost of the app ($5).
Instructions
You don’t really need instructions – this app is pretty user friendly – but I’ll tell you exactly what settings I used in case you want to get a similar result.
DIY Illustrated Photos
Supplies
- Photos
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Equipment
- Brushstroke App + Illustration Pack
Instructions
- Open the Brushstroke app and select whether you'd like to edit a photo that's on your phone already, or take a new photo to edit. If you choose to use a photo on your phone, the next screen will allow you to look through your photo roll to pick a photo OR navigate to a different album to find a photo. Once you've chosen a photo, you can crop it if desired. Click the arrow in the top right to move to the next screen.
- You are now in editing mode, and you'll see five icons under your photo. The first is the paintbrush icon, where you choose the style of painting. To get the Illustration pack, swipe all the way to the right and purchase it. I like style I4 in the Illustration pack best.Tap the next icon to choose a tone for your photo. I like using Fulton. You can also swipe right or left on your photo to adjust the colors.
- Tap the easel icon to add a texture to your photo. Tap the sliders icon to adjust things like brightness and saturation. Tap the "a" to add text to your photo. When you are done editing, hit the arrow in the top right. You'll get to a screen where you can save, share or order your photos.
- I saved my illustrated photos to my phone, then ordered prints locally.
Kai Longford says
And having tried various games, I can say
that the purchased ones are worth the money. Because the developers spend a lot of time and effort to make the perfect.
Lynn Sides says
Is the app just a one time fee of of $3.99 and one time .99 for illustration pack ?
Autumn says
yep!
Kate says
ok, so I have an Apple phone, I can do all the things you listed above. Can you email/send that illustration to your computer? Then I can upload to Cricuit for a print and cut and make it into a pillow! What do you think?
Autumn says
Kate, that sounds like a great idea! I don’t use Cricut much so I can’t say whether that part would work, but when you finish editing your photo in the app you can save it to your phone – it just ends up in photos on your phone. So you can then send it your computer. Good luck!
Elizabety Tyler says
I hardly ever use my cell phone and don’t know much about how to do things on it and I don’t really want to know. Can this entire process be done on my computer?.
Autumn says
Sorry, it looks like this is only available as a phone app!
Beckie Loflin says
Aaarrrggghhh! Only for Apple products! What about us PC/Android folks? Any suggestions?
Autumn says
Oh darn, that’s frustrating! I also like an app called Waterlogue – maybe that’s available for Android?