How rough can the sketch be?

Quite rough — a few confident lines that establish the composition are enough. The clearer the silhouette and proportions, the more faithfully the render follows them; scribbled shading is ignored in favour of proper lighting.

Will it change my composition?

It is instructed to stay faithful to the sketch's composition, subject, poses and proportions and to use the lines as the underlying structure. Use Image to Image instead if you want it to reinterpret freely.

Can I render a sketch photorealistically?

Yes — choose photorealistic and describe the materials and lighting in the direction field. It works well for product forms, furniture and vehicles drawn in clean line.

Does it work with a photo of a paper sketch?

Yes. Shoot it flat in even light so the lines read clearly; a slight paper tint is fine. Cropping to the drawing before uploading gives the model less to guess about.

Is Sketch to Image free?

New accounts start with 4 free credits — enough for one Standard render of Sketch to Image — without adding a card. After that, credits come from a monthly plan or a one-time pack.

Transform a photo

Sketch to Image

Rough sketch in, finished painting, render or illustration out — 8 finishes

Open in the Studio Pricing

4 free credits — one Standard render of any tool. No card needed.

01Upload the sketch — pencil, marker, tablet or whiteboard
02Choose a finish and add optional direction for colour, light and materials
03Render, compare with the sketch, and refine in another tool

BeforeAfter

Drag the handle — the source on the left, the render on the right.

A sketch already holds the hard decisions — composition, pose, proportion. Sketch to Image keeps every one of them and adds what a sketch cannot: colour, lighting, materials and detail. Upload a pencil drawing, a marker layout, a whiteboard doodle or a tablet line drawing, choose a finish, add optional direction, and the result is a fully rendered artwork built on your lines. Illustrators use it to skip the colouring stage, product designers to see a form in a real material, architects and interior designers to turn a plan into a client-ready visual, and teachers to show what a diagram could look like.

Eight finishes cover the usual destinations. Digital painting gives smooth blended brushwork and dramatic light. Watercolor and oil painting bring traditional media. Comic ink produces an inked, flat-coloured panel. Photorealistic renders true materials, depth of field and natural light — the fastest way from a product doodle to a believable image. Anime gives clean cel shading, concept art adds material definition and atmosphere, and flat vector produces clean shapes with solid colour. The optional direction field is where colour, light and material live; leave it empty and the finish decides, or add a sentence such as "warm sunset colours, mossy stones" to steer the palette without touching the composition.

The optional direction field is where you describe what the sketch cannot show: "warm sunset colours, mossy stones", "brass and leather materials, overcast light". Keep it to materials, palette and lighting — the composition is already decided. Product designers use it to visualise a form, illustrators to colour a thumbnail, architects to render a napkin plan. Send the result on to Style Transfer or Edit With Words for the next pass. Every rendered piece is saved to your library alongside the sketch, so revisiting a drawing in a different finish a week later is a single render rather than a redraw.

Prompts to try

The fields

Your sketch
Extra directione.g. warm sunset colors, mossy stones
Render asDigital paintingWatercolorOil paintingComic inkPhotorealisticAnimeConcept artFlat vector

On the canvas

Send any result into another tool with one click
Standard, Pro and Max quality per render
Upscale to 32 MP or animate into a short clip
Everything saved to your library

Questions about this tool

How rough can the sketch be?: Quite rough — a few confident lines that establish the composition are enough. The clearer the silhouette and proportions, the more faithfully the render follows them; scribbled shading is ignored in favour of proper lighting.
Will it change my composition?: It is instructed to stay faithful to the sketch's composition, subject, poses and proportions and to use the lines as the underlying structure. Use Image to Image instead if you want it to reinterpret freely.
Can I render a sketch photorealistically?: Yes — choose photorealistic and describe the materials and lighting in the direction field. It works well for product forms, furniture and vehicles drawn in clean line.
Does it work with a photo of a paper sketch?: Yes. Shoot it flat in even light so the lines read clearly; a slight paper tint is fine. Cropping to the drawing before uploading gives the model less to guess about.
Is Sketch to Image free?: New accounts start with 4 free credits — enough for one Standard render of Sketch to Image — without adding a card. After that, credits come from a monthly plan or a one-time pack.

Pairs well with

Image to Image

Reimagine any image with a sentence while keeping its layout recognisable

AI Style Transfer

Repaint any image in Van Gogh, ukiyo-e, cyberpunk or a reference image's style

AI Illustration Generator

Editorial, picture-book, flat vector or risograph — finished illustrations

Edit With Words

The universal edit: say what should change and everything else stays put

The canvas is open.

Open Sketch to Image