AI Style Transfer

Example prompts for Style Transfer

The same prompts are behind the “Try an example” button in the input box; each click loads the next one.

• Oil painting

  Thick oil paint on canvas, visible brush strokes, warm Rembrandt lighting, muted earth tones

• 1970s film

  Shot on expired 35mm film, heavy grain, faded reds, soft halation around the highlights

• Watercolor

  Loose watercolor wash on rough paper, colors bleeding at the edges, lots of white space left bare

Real results from Style Transfer

A real result from this tool. Drag the handle to compare.

After

Before

Drag to Compare Before & After

Photo to painting: getting the look you want

Turning a photo into a painting is the most common thing people use style transfer for. The model repaints the whole image in the medium you describe, so the words you choose matter more than any setting.

• Oil painting

  Ask for thick paint, visible brush strokes and a lighting style: "thick oil paint on canvas, visible brush strokes, warm Rembrandt lighting, muted earth tones". Portraits and pets suit it best.

• Watercolor

  Watercolor reads as watercolor when the paper shows: "loose watercolor wash on rough paper, colors bleeding at the edges, lots of white left bare". Landscapes, houses and flowers work especially well.

• Pencil or charcoal sketch

  "Graphite pencil sketch on cream paper, cross-hatched shading, unfinished edges". Strong light and shadow in the original photo give the sketch more to work with.

• Pet, couple and house portraits as gifts

  These are the photos people most often turn into paintings. Pick a photo where the subject is sharp and fills the frame; the style can be changed later, but missing detail can't be added back.

• A digital painting, not a hand-painted one

  Some of the results you will see when searching photo to painting are artists who paint your photo by hand on real canvas. This is not that: you get a digital image in a painted style, in about 25 seconds. If you want it on the wall, run it through the Image Upscaler first; one pass gives roughly 2,000 pixels on the long side, enough for a sharp print of about 7 inches at 300 dpi.

Why Style Transfer on AI Image Tools

• Describe the style in words

  Thick oil paint with visible strokes, expired 35mm film, loose watercolor with bare paper. If you can describe it, the model can paint it.

• Composition survives

  The subject, pose and framing of your photo are kept; only the medium changes.

• Four models to taste

  Kontext is fast and faithful; Nano Banana follows long style descriptions closely; GPT Image 2.5 and Seedream 5 Pro bring the most texture.

• Example prompts to start from

  Three ready-made styles sit above the prompt box. Click one, tweak a word, run.

Every image model in one place

Pick any of these from the Model menu above; the price is shown before you generate. Each name links to what that model is good at. Compare every tier.

• Z-Image Turbo

  Alibaba · cheapest and fastest, text-to-image only

  1 credits per image

• Seedream 5 Pro · 1K

  ByteDance · same model as 2K at half the price

  9 credits per image

• GPT Image 2.5 Flare · 2K

  OpenAI · same price as Sunburst, tuned for speed and volume

  13 credits per image

• Qwen Image 3 · 2K

  Alibaba · strong at readable text inside the image

  6 credits per image

• Nano Banana

  Google Gemini 2.5 Flash · fastest, cheapest

  5 credits per image

• Nano Banana 2.1 · 1K

  Google · newest Nano Banana, sharper text, banner ratios

  10 credits per image

• Nano Banana 2.1 · 2K

  Google · same model at 2K

  15 credits per image

• Nano Banana 2.1 · 4K

  Google · for print or heavy cropping

  23 credits per image

• Ideogram V3 · Turbo

  Ideogram · text inside the image, fastest tier

  5 credits per image

• Ideogram V3 · Balanced

  Ideogram · text inside the image, posters and logos

  9 credits per image

• Ideogram V3 · Quality

  Ideogram · text inside the image, highest detail

  13 credits per image

• FLUX.1 Kontext

  Black Forest Labs · fastest, about 5s per image

  5 credits per image

• Seedream 5 Lite

  ByteDance · good at Chinese text and posters

  7 credits per image

• Seedream 5 Pro · 2K

  ByteDance · most photorealistic, highest detail

  18 credits per image

• GPT Image 2 · 2K

  OpenAI · good with text in images, half the price of 2.5

  7 credits per image

• GPT Image 2 · 4K

  OpenAI · for print or heavy cropping

  10 credits per image

• GPT Image 2.5 · 2K

  OpenAI · newest, better instruction following

  13 credits per image

• GPT Image 2.5 · 4K

  OpenAI · newest, highest resolution

  20 credits per image

Style Transfer specifications

Input

One JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC up to 10 MB

Prompt

Describe the medium, palette and light; strongly recommended

Models

FLUX.1 Kontext by default; Nano Banana, Nano Banana 2.1, Seedream 5 Lite / Pro, GPT Image 2 / 2.5 and Ideogram V3 selectable

Sizes

Same as input, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9

Output

PNG or JPEG depending on the model, saved to My Creations

Cost

5 to 20 credits per image, depending on the model

Time

About 25 seconds with FLUX.1 Kontext; Seedream around 50 seconds, GPT Image about a minute

Free plan

10 credits on sign-in — 10 images on the default model; free downloads carry a small watermark

How to use Style Transfer

1. Step 1

   Upload the photo

   Portraits, pets, streets and landscapes all work. A clear subject gives the strongest result.

2. Step 2

   Describe the style

   Name the medium and two or three characteristics. Click an example chip if you want a starting point.

3. Step 3

   Generate and compare

   Try the same prompt on two models; they interpret "oil painting" differently, and one will suit the photo better.

Get a better result

A few choices before you upload change the output more than any setting on this page.

• Start from a sharp photo

  The model repaints what it can see. A soft or noisy source gives a soft, muddy painting, because there are no clear edges for brush strokes to follow.

• A clear subject beats a busy scene

  One person, one building, one object. Crowded frames lose their subject once the medium changes.

• Upscale afterwards if it is going to print

  Style transfer returns roughly a 1K image. Double it once the look is right. Image Upscaler

How to write a prompt for Style Transfer

• Name the medium

  Oil on canvas, watercolor, charcoal, risograph print, cel animation. The medium does most of the work.

• Add two characteristics

  "Visible brush strokes, warm Rembrandt lighting" or "heavy grain, faded reds, soft halation".

• Describe technique, not living artists

  "Swirling impasto strokes" beats naming a painter, and it avoids imitating a living artist's signature style.

• Say what to keep

  "Keep the face recognizable and the composition unchanged" when the subject matters.