How to Turn any Photo into a Watercolor (no art skills required)!

See how easy it is to turn any photo into a watercolor! Absolutely no art skills are needed and it takes only seconds to completely transform the look of your photographs.

UPDATE: Don’t miss my latest post – How to Turn any Photo into an Oil Painting HERE.

How to turn any photo into a watercolor - no art skills required! kellyelko.com

I’m obsessed.

I took watercolor in art class and my works of “art” always turned into a runny mess.

Now I can give Georgia O’Keeffe a run for her watercolor making money.

From this before photo …

Vintage glider kellyelko.com

to this watercolor art …

Waterlogue - how to turn any photo into a watercolor kellyelko.com

How to Turn any Photo into a Watercolor

1) Download the Waterlogue app (it’s only available for iPhone)

2) Go into Waterlogue app and upload a photo from your camera

Note:  If your photo isn’t on your phone, you can email a photo to yourself and then take a screenshot by pressing the home and sleep button at the same time.  If you take a screenshot, your photo will probably need to be cropped after you create your Waterlogue photo – use a free online editing site like PicMonkey for that.

3) Choose the setting you want (you can experiment to see which effect you love most)

4) Click the heart icon to share or email the photo to yourself where you can print it out on any paper (watercolor paper would be fun)!  You can even enlarge it – how fun would a giant poster be?

From this photo …

100 Year old home renovation! kellyelko.com

to this beautiful watercolor …

Waterlogue - how to turn any photo into a beautiful watercolor kellyelko.com

Let’s paint the town with Waterlogue!

Waterlogue - turn any photo into a watercolor kellyelko.com

If you like this, you’ll love my latest discovery …

How to Turn any Photo into an Oil Painting here.

How to Turn any Photo into an Oil Painting kellyelko.com #art #artist #photography #tipsandtricks #apps #painting

What do you think of these quick and easy ways to jazz up your photos? I think it would be fun to create a gallery wall of “painted” family portraits or vacation memories.

Enjoy playing around with the different ways to make your photos really pop!

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107 Comments

    1. DarnI wish I had a IPHONE . I am going to try and research this issue I’ post anything I find out wish me luck

  1. I know I’m ridiculously behind the times but I don’t even have a cell phone! I love this watercolor app but not enough to give in and get one. Wish it was available on a laptop. 🙂

    1. Well ”no art skills required” but you need a lot of teck skills. Too many for me! I thought you just took a picture & turned it into a watercolor! Too bad.

    2. Hello Jane – I have the same problem and found a program called FotoSketcher. You upload a picture and play with varying techniques from watercolour, oils, sketches and stuff in between. Hope this helps.

  2. This is beautiful! Do you know if you can do this without a cell phone – maybe on a home computer? I don’t own a cell.

    1. Yes. Photoshop does this and has nearly a hundred filters to use. I’ve been teaching both digital and traditional fine and commercial art for 30 years. And it’s amazing the tools available now. Check out fractal painter too it’s got a quick anamation option. The filters in photoshop can also be combined for very interesting textures. I taught a 100 step channel procedure to create pewter. That was way back Photoshop 2.0. And then when layers were introduced so so much more to create images etc. Good Luck

  3. Love it! I don’t have an i phone so I will need to try the Paint.net or wait until this is available on computers. Thank you so much.

    1. MK I don’t have an I Phone either. I sure hope they have it soon for pcs. It is so pretty. We can wait it out together.

  4. You can do this also in Corel Draw if you don’t have an iphone. Another use is to print it out on transfer paper and heat press on a shirt or a house on a pillow would be cool.

  5. Waterlogued will also take photos from dropbox, so you can load pictures from your computer to your dropbox. Then you can save the pictures on your phone via dropbox so you can upload them to a photo printing website (kinda long process, but gets real pics to prints!)

  6. Perhaps someone has already said as much, but the watercolor effect can be done in any photo altering software, PS for instance. It’s a fun effect to use once in a while.

  7. I downloaded this app about a week ago and I cannot wait to print some of the watercolors I “created” and frame and hang up on the wall! Each photo turned out so unique! Love this app!

  8. sooooooooooooooo disappointed, I don’t have an iphone, and I can’t download this to my computer? I’d do that in a heartbeat if I could. I don’t have a Mac, either, just an old XP
    boohoooooooooooooooooo

  9. My printer won’t let me print on the watercolor paper – I’m guessing because it’s so thick? Anyone else have this problem? I called kinkos to see if they could print it for me and they said no. I’m stuck!

    1. I don’t think regular printers will work with the thick watercolor paper – you may need to google printers for this purpose – or try to find an online source that can print on the thick paper. Good luck Mandy!

      1. I can’t use this app, either, but could textured cardstock work in your printers? It seens to me that watercolor paper comes in various thicknesses. Check out watercolor tablets or better quality artist papers.

  10. Oh I love this ~ thank you! I’ve been playing around with it on my iPad and love the results. Can’t wait to print a few out. Such a great way to use travel photos as art in different spots!

  11. FYI The pictures look really good on regular computer paper. Can always make a copy on a heavier paper;
    Also, there are very similar APPS for smart phones other than Apple products. Search Photo in the app store. This is my favorite but I have both apple (ipad) and another brand smart phone.

  12. I am a watercolour artist and have to say, this is a great app. My style is slightly different that the choices but the look is very effective. Thanks for sharing. I might never have come across this.

  13. I have been able to print directly from my iphone to a wireless printer. I am still working on higher quality paper. I have some heavy “resume” linen stock paper and I’m going to give that one a try. Really fun app with excellent personal product. I like my pets and kids in watercolour.

  14. Your watercolors are beautiful! I love this app. After my parents passed away we sold the home they had lived in for over 45 years. I took some pictures and used this app to make some really pretty watercolors for my siblings and all the grandchildren.

  15. Technology is replacing everything in our lives that’s real and has worth. I’m an artist , and I believe in the”real” thing.

  16. Well, this is a disappointment! I actually paint watercolor, but not the best. No Iphone, etc. Looks like cheating to me!

  17. Es curioso que sólo pueda disfrutarse con un IPhone. A los que no tenemos esas “máquinas”…que nos den “morcillas”!!! Gracias!!

  18. That doesn’t mean there aren’t downsides, though.
    I think you have a really good viewpoint however and I like the angl you came
    from oon this.

  19. Is this app still available? Is there a way this technique can be used with a digital camera and a laptop? I don’t have an I Phone, just a simple flip phone. Your help would be greatly appreciated. I do original water colors but the ability to turn personal photos into WC look-a-likes would be handy.

  20. Omg I love this app! Thanks for sharing. Now if I could figure out how to print them on cards, it would be the best!

  21. As a watercolor artist who has spent a lifetime learning my craft seeing the photos you changed on Waterlogue depresses me. I love the results but hate the means.
    What do advise me?

  22. Waterlogue is now available for Mac iOS, and iPad. Go to your Apple App Store to learn more.

  23. Had heard this watercolor app was no longer available. Is there anything similar that can be done on a laptop? I do watercolors but this is such a neat look and would be great thing to do for a quick project or multiples from one’s own photos. If you have any info would love to hear.

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