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Turn your photo into a hand-drawn pen sketch
Upload a portrait and get it back drawn in blue ballpoint pen — printable, frameable, no prompt to write
toll ~40 credits per run You'll sign in first — we'll bring you straight back here.
Real output from this flow
Curated examples. Yours will use your own inputs.
A photo of someone you love is worth looking at. A drawing of them is worth hanging on a wall.
Getting that drawing has always been the hard part. A commissioned portrait costs a few hundred and takes time. The one-tap "sketch" filters on your phone don't draw anything — they posterize the photo, and everyone can tell. Doing it properly with an AI image model means choosing the model, writing the prompt, rewriting the prompt, and burning a dozen attempts before something looks made by hand instead of made by a machine.
This flow is those dozen attempts, already done. The model is chosen, the prompt is tuned, the pen style is fixed. You bring a photo and get back a blue ballpoint drawing that looks like someone sat down and made it.
What people use it for
Gift a wedding or anniversary portrait
A photo from the day, redrawn as pen art, becomes a first-anniversary paper gift or a framed piece for the couple. Works well with a clear two-person shot.
Pet portraits
Dogs, cats, horses. The pen style flatters fur and whiskers, and a sketch of a pet reads as art on a wall in a way a phone photo doesn't.
Save-the-dates, invitations and announcements
Sketch the couple, the baby, the house, the venue, and build the card around it. Cheaper and faster than commissioning an illustrator for a one-off print run.
Prints and merch
Put the sketch on a tote, mug, t-shirt or greeting card. You own the output, so print-on-demand is fair game.
A tribute or memorial portrait
Turn a favourite photo of someone you've lost into a piece worth framing. The hand-drawn look softens a low-quality or old snapshot.
How it works
- Pick a photo. A portrait works best — one clear face, good light, not too far away.
- Start the run. Let the flow work.
- Download your sketch. Wait for a moment and download the full-resolution file, yours to keep, print or hand off to a print shop.
What makes a good source photo
- One subject, filling the frame. Group shots get muddy — the pen has to spend its detail somewhere.
- Even, soft light. Harsh shadow across a face turns into a black blot.
- Sharp and reasonably large. The sketch inherits whatever detail the photo has; a blurry crop stays blurry.
- Sunglasses, hats and heavy filters all survive, but they hide the features the style is best at.
What you get back
A single hand-drawn blue ballpoint sketch of your photo, at print quality. Every run is generated fresh, so running the same photo twice gives you two slightly different drawings — worth doing if the first one isn't quite it.
What you'll need to provide
- attach_file Image input
What it costs
You pay in credits, only for the runs you make.
~40 credits per run
- image Image generation ~40 credits
That's about 225 runs a month on the Starter plan.
Questions about this flow
What kind of photo should I upload? expand_more
A portrait — one person, facing the camera, well lit, filling most of the frame. The flow was tuned on faces, so that's what it does best. Group photos, full-body shots and very dark or blurry images still produce a sketch, just a looser one.
Does it work on pets, objects or landscapes? expand_more
It'll draw whatever you give it, and pets in particular come out well. Landscapes and busy scenes are the weakest case: the style spends its detail on a subject, and a wide scene has no single one.
Can I choose a different pen colour or style? expand_more
Not in this flow — it's fixed to blue ballpoint on purpose, because that's the look the examples show. Tell us if you want a specific one added.
What if I don't like the result? expand_more
Run it again. Each run is generated fresh, so the same photo gives a slightly different drawing every time — and a different crop or a better-lit photo usually helps more than a re-run does. Re-runs cost credits like any other run.
How long does a run take? expand_more
A couple of seconds, but you don't have to sit and watch it — the run keeps going if you close the tab, and the result waits for you in your runs.
Can I print the sketch, or put it on a mug? expand_more
Yes. You own what you generate, so framing it, printing it on a card, or sending it to a print-on-demand service is all fine.
Do I need an account? expand_more
Yes — a run is tied to your account so the result is saved for you and the credits come off the right balance. Signing up takes a moment and you can start from this page.
Do you keep my photo? expand_more
Your upload is processed to produce your sketch and nothing else. We don't train models on it. See our Privacy Policy for the details.
Can I use a photo of someone else? expand_more
Legally and practically, only with their say-so. A sketch of a friend as a gift is exactly what this is for; a photo of someone who hasn't agreed to it isn't.
