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One photo in · A pencil drawing out · Free in the browser

AI Sketch Generator

Graphite shading, cross-hatching and a loose paper-edge fade. Your photo comes back redrawn as a hand-drawn pencil portrait in seconds.

Your photo, drawn by handPick the styleFailed runs are refunded
Before / after

One photo, one hand-drawn portrait

A real pencil rendering, drawn by the model behind this page. Drag the divider to compare the plain studio photo with the finished pencil sketch. Every output is AI-generated, so your result varies with your photo, your prompt, and the style you describe — treat this as a preview of what the tool can do, not a fixed result.

Sketch generator — hand-drawn pencil portrait
After — pencil portrait
Sketch to video — the pencil drawing it starts from
Before — plain photo

Drag to compare before and after

AI drawing tool

What is an AI sketch generator?

The tonal shading, the cross-hatching, the confident contour lines, the loose edges that dissolve into the paper — the kind of graphite sketch an artist would spend an afternoon on, redrawn from one ordinary photo.

Image tool

Instead of commissioning a portrait artist or wrestling with a filter that just posterises the pixels, you upload a clear picture, name the drawing style you want, and the model rebuilds the image stroke by stroke while keeping the proportions honest. On Kavel this runs on the Nano Banana image model, so a finished drawing comes back in one generation rather than a week of waiting on a commission.

You start from your uploaded picture — the flow defaults to image-to-image — then set the format, check the credit estimate and generate. A failed run is refunded unless it broke the content policy, so a drawing that never renders is not charged.

Creative engine

How the drawing comes together

Upload a photo, name the style, choose the format and resolution, and the credit estimate updates before you generate.

1 photo
Photo in
Any style
Graphite or line art
Free retries
Failed runs
Graphite photo redraw

Graphite photo redraw

Upload one clear photo and the model reads the face, then redraws the whole frame as graphite marks on paper — the paper grain and the direction of the hatching included, rather than a grey filter laid over the photograph.

Custom drawing style

Custom drawing style

Name the style — soft tonal shading, clean line art, loose charcoal — and the drawing follows that brief. Style is the one word that changes everything downstream, because it decides how much of the tonal range survives.

Set the format, check the credit estimate, and generate; a failed run is refunded (unless it broke the content policy), and the estimate moves with the format so the cost is visible first. A sketch keeps the proportions honest. The caricature deliberately breaks them, and the pet portrait points the same drawn treatment at an animal.

How to use

Turn a photo into a sketch in three steps

From one plain photo to a finished graphite portrait, with the cost shown before you commit.

  1. Redraw me as a sketch

    Add one clear picture with the face visible and evenly lit. Good contrast between light and shadow gives the model the tonal range it needs, and a sharp original keeps the contour lines confident rather than mushy.

    Redraw me as a sketch
  2. Name the style

    Set the brief: soft tonal graphite, tight cross-hatching, clean single-weight line art, loose charcoal with smudged shadows. Specific direction keeps the drawing on-style instead of generic.

    Name the style
  3. Check credits and generate

    Confirm the estimate, generate the drawing, and download it to print or frame. Credits return on a drawing that fails to render, unless the content policy stopped it.

    Check credits and generate
Who it's for

Who turns photos into drawings

Gift prints, tattoo references, a portfolio that needs a hand-drawn page.

Keepsakes & gifts

Keepsakes & gifts

Turn a wedding photo, a pet, or a grandparent's portrait into a graphite piece worth framing — the kind of gift that lands because it was drawn from their own picture.

Avatars & profiles

Avatars & profiles

Get a hand-drawn profile image that stands out against a wall of photos, generated in minutes rather than commissioned and waited on.

Artists & reference

Artists & reference

Block out a tonal study from a reference photo to see where the shadows fall before committing graphite to real paper.

Answers

Drawing FAQ

Common questions about turning a photo into a graphite portrait with Kavel.

No, and the difference shows in the shading. A filter runs an edge-detect over the pixels and leaves you with a grey, flattened photo, not a sketch. This rebuilds the image as marks — the tone follows the bone structure, the strokes follow the hair direction, and the edges fade out the way a real hand stops drawing. That is why it survives being printed, and a filtered photo usually does not.

A sharp picture with the face evenly lit and real contrast between light and shadow. Graphite is entirely tone, so a flat, evenly-lit snapshot gives the model nothing to shade with, and a dim or blurry original makes the contour lines uncertain. Front-facing portraits with a plain background work best.

Yes. Describe it and the artwork follows — soft tonal graphite, tight cross-hatching, clean single-weight line art, loose charcoal with smudged shadows, or a quick gesture study. A clearer, more specific brief gives a closer result than a vague one, so it helps to name the medium and the level of detail rather than leaving them to chance. If the first pass is close but not quite there, adjust one detail and generate again.

That is the whole reason for starting from a real photo — the model keeps the face, the hair and the expression while it redraws them in graphite. A clear, well-lit original holds the likeness best; a dark or low-resolution one gives it less to work from, so the closer the input, the closer the drawing.

It depends on the resolution you pick and how many versions you generate, and the estimate is on screen before you press the button. Free credits arrive with the account, and a failed run is refunded automatically (unless it broke the content policy) — so you can try tonal graphite, then line art, then charcoal, without watching a meter tick up on every attempt.

Yes, and it is worth generating at a higher resolution first if you plan to. Graphite detail lives in fine strokes, and a 1K file will look fine on a phone but will lose the cross-hatching once it is enlarged to frame size. Pick the largest resolution the estimate offers, download the file, and print it on a matte or textured stock — the paper grain does a lot of the work.

Kavel pricing — you pay per generation, never per seat

Credits are shared across everything Kavel runs. You see the cost before each run, and a failed job is never charged.

50% OFFYour first purchase is half price
No sign-up

Free

Start generating before you pay anything, and keep earning credits every day you come back. No card, no account needed.
Incl. tax
$0
Start generating

What's included

  • 15 credits before you sign up
  • +40 when you create an account
  • +100 a week from daily check-ins
  • = 488 a month — 97 images or 12 videos
  • No card, no account
  • Free engine every day Grok Imagine
  • Photo editing Nano Banana 2 Lite

Secure checkout by Stripe. Card details never touch our servers.

Start here

Starter

A monthly balance that keeps a steady run of clips and images going — on every model Kavel carries.
Incl. tax
$59.80
$29.90 / month
The whole shelf is open from day one.
Need more each month?1x · $29.90
Total: 3,150 credits per month
630 images or 78 videos

What's included

  • 3,150 credits per month
  • Up to 630 images or 78 videos Grok Imagine Nano Banana
  • Clean downloads, no watermark
  • Every model unlocked Veo 3.1 Seedance Nano Banana
  • Cost shown before you generate

Secure checkout by Stripe. Card details never touch our servers.

Popular

Creator

For regularly making Kavel drafts, final clips, and the image assets that go with them.
Popular
$119.80
$59.90 / month
The best pick if you create on a regular basis.
Need more each month?1x · $59.90
Total: 7,200 credits per month
1,440 images or 180 videos

What's included

  • 7,200 credits per month
  • Up to 1,440 images or 180 videos Grok Imagine Nano Banana
  • Clean downloads, no watermark
  • Every model unlocked Veo 3.1 Seedance 2 Nano Banana 2
  • No shared queue

Secure checkout by Stripe. Card details never touch our servers.

Scale

Studio

For more output, high-resolution testing, and larger batches.
Incl. tax
$199.80
$99.90 / month
Ideal when several campaigns share one pool.
Need more each month?1x · $99.90
Total: 13,200 credits per month
2,640 images or 330 videos

What's included

  • 13,200 credits per month
  • Up to 2,640 images or 330 videos Grok Imagine Nano Banana
  • Clean downloads, no watermark
  • Every model unlocked Seedance 2.5 Kling 3.0 Veo 3.1
  • No shared queue

Secure checkout by Stripe. Card details never touch our servers.

Pay safely and securely with

Payments are processed by Stripe over an encrypted checkout. Your card details are handled by Stripe and are never stored by Kavel.

Not sure which to choose? Contact us

Charges appear as “KAVEL AI” on your card statement. You can cancel any time from Settings → Billing; cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you already paid for. Operator details, the full model list, and the refund window are on the about page.

Turn your photo into a pencil drawing

The drawing comes back in seconds, and if the graphite reads too soft or too hard, the next style is one word away.