Turning a photo into a painted scene comes down to one sentence pattern and a handful of style words. This page shows the pattern, eight real examples with the exact prompt for each, and the places where the model drifts from your photo. It also covers the part people skip: what to do about named studios and artists in a prompt.
Art-style prompts at a glance
| Style | Style words in the prompt | What the result showed |
|---|---|---|
| Ghibli-style | hand-painted animation, pastel watercolor skies, warm golden light | Keeps the scene; pushes colours saturated |
| Pixar-style | 3D animated film, big eyes, subsurface skin scattering | Turns a cat into a character; keeps the window |
| Anime | clean ink line art, cel-shaded, dramatic lighting | Very graphic; hair and jacket simplified |
| Pop art | Ben-Day halftone dots, flat vivid colours, black outlines | Loses fine detail in the scene |
| Oil painting | impasto, chiaroscuro, palette knife strokes | Warm, dark, museum feel |
| Ukiyo-e | woodblock print, flat colour planes, washi paper | Flattens depth into layers |
| Watercolor | translucent washes, cold-press paper texture | Subtle here: the photo stayed mostly photographic |
The sentence pattern
Every prompt below starts the same way: "Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition:" followed by style words. The first half protects your photo. The second half is the only part you change.
Ghibli-style
This is a photo of a mountain lake cabin and its Ghibli-style redraw, made with FLUX Kontext Fast.
Prompt: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: Studio Ghibli hand-painted animation, soft pastel watercolor skies, lush green environments with visible brushstrokes, warm golden light filtering through foliage, Miyazaki-style whimsical detail, cel-shaded characters with gentle expressions
The cabin, the pine on the left and the mountain shape all survive. The colours move towards saturated greens and blues, and the fine rock detail is simplified into flat painted planes.
A photo with a person is harder, because faces have to hold. This one used Nano Banana 2 Lite.
Prompt: Redraw this photo as a Studio Ghibli hand-painted animation frame: soft watercolor tones, gentle warm light and a dreamy painted background. Keep the same person, face, pose and composition. Do not add any text, letters, logos or signage.
The face, pose and laptop held. The model also added a small plant on the desk that the prompt never asked for, so run the same drift check here as on any edit: compare the after image with the before image, object by object.
Six more styles
Pixar-style: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: Pixar 3D animated film style, expressive rounded character design with big eyes, vibrant saturated colors, smooth subsurface skin scattering, Renderman cinematic lighting, playful and polished
Anime: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: high-quality anime art, vibrant saturated colors, clean bold ink line art, expressive character design with dynamic poses, modern shonen production quality, cel-shaded with dramatic lighting
Pop art: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: pop art style, bold primary color blocks with high graphic contrast, Ben-Day halftone dot patterns, screen print registration marks, Warhol silk-screen aesthetic, flat vivid colors with black outlines
Oil painting: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: classical oil painting on canvas, thick impasto texture with visible palette knife strokes, rich color mixing, dramatic chiaroscuro lighting, Rembrandt-style warm golden tones, museum-quality fine art
Ukiyo-e: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print, flat color planes with no gradients, bold black outlines, flowing calligraphic lines, Hokusai and Hiroshige composition style, traditional washi paper texture Do not add any text, letters, logos or signage.
Watercolor: Redraw this photo in this style, keeping the same scene, subject and composition: watercolor painting, translucent pigment washes bleeding into wet paper, organic soft edges where colors blend, layered transparent glazes, visible Arches cold-press paper texture, loose expressive brushwork Do not add any text, letters, logos or signage.
Write your own style clause
A clause that works has four parts, in any order: the medium (oil painting, woodblock print), the technique (visible brushstrokes, halftone dots), the palette (pastel, flat vivid) and a lighting or texture note. Ukiyo-e and watercolor both end with "Do not add any text, letters, logos or signage", which asks the model not to invent lettering of its own. The watercolor result is a reminder that a weak clause gives a weak change: the taxi photo stayed almost photographic, with only a pale wash and a paper edge. Stronger words such as loose brushwork are the obvious next thing to try.
Named studios and artists in a prompt
The prompts above use names as shorthand: a studio, an animation house, two woodblock masters, a pop artist, a painter. That is a style reference, not a licence. Three cautions:
- Ask for a look, not a character. Do not prompt for a specific film character or scene.
- For client or commercial work, swap the names for descriptions. "Hand-painted animation with soft pastel skies" carries most of the effect.
- Read the model provider's terms and the platform's rules before you sell or advertise with the result.
This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Keep your photo recognisable
- Start from a sharp photo with one clear subject. Busy scenes give the model more to reinterpret.
- Keep the protective half of the sentence, "keeping the same scene, subject and composition", in every prompt.
- Change one thing per run. If you want a new style and a new background, do them as two edits.
- Compare before and after object by object, as with the plant on the desk above.
- Only restyle photos of people who agreed. Uploads are processed by third-party AI providers.
What it costs
The Cartoon Filter tool costs 2 credits per image, and the free plan's 3 daily credits (signup required) cover one run. Style Transfer starts at 3 credits and needs paid credits. In the Studio you can also pick a model directly: FLUX.2 Klein is 1 credit, FLUX Kontext Fast is 2 credits. Free-plan downloads are watermarked.
Keep going
For the full walkthrough see Ghibli and Pixar cartoon filters, the AI style transfer guide and turning a photo into anime. Looks that stay photographic are in Instagram photo prompts, and instructions that change one thing are in AI photo editing prompts.
