Turn a Photo into an Illustration

Turn a photo into illustration without losing the person

Use the original photo as the reference, identify the face and pose you want to keep, and ask for one change: the drawing medium. A text description alone does not carry the person from your photo into a new image.

The workflow and English template below are starting points. We have not run a controlled photo-to-illustration test for this guide, so they are not demonstrated results or a guarantee of likeness.

Choose a style that fits your preservation goal

• Colored pencil: ask for visible pencil strokes, paper grain, and the source’s existing colors.
• Watercolor: ask for transparent washes and soft pigment edges while keeping the original facial proportions.
• Anime illustration: specify clean linework and restrained cel shading. Exaggerated eyes, a smaller nose, or chibi proportions can conflict with keeping the original face and pose.

Upload the source and change only the rendering

1. Open Generate Image and choose a model that supports image references. Attach a clear photo where the face and pose are visible; confirm the reference is included in this request.
2. When starting with a gallery Use prompt action, upload the original yourself. The action prefills text and, when available and recognized, the model and ratio; it does not carry the example’s original reference photo.
3. Choose one medium from the list above. In the template, replace the bracketed style and describe any source details that are essential to recognition.
4. Keep the source’s aspect ratio and framing where possible. Generate one version, compare face and pose with the original, then change one instruction if needed.

Copy and adapt this English starting template

Replace the bracketed style before generating. “Preserve” expresses your acceptance criteria; it cannot force identical geometry or prevent all changes.

Transform the supplied portrait photo into a [colored-pencil illustration with visible paper grain]. Treat the photo as the source of truth for the person and composition.

PRESERVE:
- The same recognizable person: facial proportions, eye spacing, nose and mouth shape, hairline, expression, and gaze.
- The original head angle, shoulder angle, hand positions, body pose, clothing shapes, crop, and camera perspective.
- The existing colors, light direction, background layout, and number of people.

CHANGE ONLY:
- The rendering medium: replace photographic surfaces with the specified drawing strokes, shading, and paper texture.

DO NOT:
- Beautify or reshape the face, enlarge the eyes, change the hairstyle, invent a new pose, recrop, or add accessories, objects, text, or logos.

If a style choice conflicts with the person's recognizable features or pose, prioritize the original features and pose.

Compare the drawing with the source

• Face: compare the outline, eye spacing, nose, mouth, hairline, expression, and gaze. A pleasant drawing can still look like a different person.
• Pose: check head tilt, shoulder angle, hand position, body proportions, and any visible gesture.
• Composition: check crop, camera perspective, clothing shapes, background objects, and number of people.
• Style: confirm that linework, shading, or pigment changed while the details you listed as fixed remain recognizable.

If the face or pose changes

• Different person: confirm the original is attached, then reduce demands for beautification or exaggerated facial proportions. Return to the source rather than editing the drifted result.
• Different pose or crop: remove requests for a new action or camera angle; restate the original head, shoulder, and hand positions.
• Almost no style change: describe the drawing material, linework, and shading more concretely instead of adding another style name.
• Several references compete: begin with one clear source photo and name the drawing style in words before introducing a separate style reference.
• Repeated drift: simplify the transformation or try another reference-capable model. There is no universal similarity percentage, seed, or strength setting to prescribe across all models in this workflow.

Read the related evidence without mixing up the tasks

Our published editing experiment tests background replacement and relighting on a fixed portrait, not illustration conversion. The text-only comparison tests new fictional portraits. Use those results to understand the difference between a good-looking image and preserving a supplied subject.

• Portrait editing experiment: source, prompts, and visible identity drift
• Original portrait generation with three unchanged prompts
• Keep a photo realistic while changing its background
• What Use prompt copies, and what you must supply