Impasto vs. Realist Digital Art Effects – Turn Your Photo Into an Oil Painting
We’ve covered impressionistic art before and showed how you can turn any photo into an Impressionist painting. In the budding years of Impressionism, people were using oil paints in order to create works of art, which is where the Impasto technique entered the art scene. This stylistic approach used heavy applications of paint on a canvas to create a textured effect. Often, the subjects of these pieces were depictions of real life at the time, using people, places, and things to capture the time, versus painting mythology which is what was often depicted before this point.
Before Impressionism became popular, artists mainly focused on capturing realistic depictions of history using Realist painting techniques. These techniques focused on capturing a subjects true shape and texture, whereas the Impasto technique allowed an artist to take liberty in expressing their own creative flair when capturing a subject. Both of these painting techniques were often done with oil paints.
In the past, painting a work of art took days or even years to complete. With oil painting, artists paint up to 2-3 layers on one canvas, which takes weeks in between to dry. With our Oil Painting effects, you can turn any photo into a digital oil painting in minutes, without having to wait for the paint to dry! In this article, we're going to explore the difference between impasto and realist oil painting techniques and how to convert a photo to an oil painting online in seconds!
What Is the Impasto Technique in Oil Painting?
Impasto means “dough” in Italian. Impasto artists apply thick dough-like layers of paint to their canvases to produce a heavy texture – this makes brush and knife strokes more visible. This style of oil painting provides texture and makes it seem like the paint is coming to life by popping off the canvas.
What Is a Realist Oil Painting?
Realist oil painting is an artistic approach that seeks to represent reality as accurately and authentically as possible. This type of art replaced the more idealistic images and literary expressions of Romanticism with real-life events, and because of this, realism is recognized as the first modern movement in art. Realist oil painting techniques seek to portray a subject as true to its natural form, including texture, shadows, and light.
This made everyday life considered suitable art, and since there were many unpleasant moments in the 16th century, realist oil paintings often depicted grim details of people’s lives.
How to Turn a Picture Into a Realistic Oil Painting
Our Oil Painting effects replicate the rich texture, bold colors, and brushstrokes of traditional oil paintings.
First, let's head to the Oil Painting category of the Artsy tab and upload a photo by dragging and dropping it onto the canvas. Note that you can find Impasto and Realist in the GFX Series category as well.
Impasto GFX Effect
Select the Impasto GFX effect to see your photo instantly transform into an impasto-styled oil painting. Select Settings to adjust the fidelity (how closely the effect resembles the original image) or choose from several uniquely generated variations.
I kind of play around with each of these until I get the desired. Take a look at the before and after of this still-life image that transformed from a photo into an oil painting:
Realist GFX Effect
Select Realist GFX. From here, select Settings to adjust the Amount, Fidelity, and Variation. The variations here allow you to see different options with how the AI paints your image. There are different brush strokes and lighting displays. Again, I play around with both Fidelity and Variation here to find the perfect match for each photo.
Here, you can see the difference between both of the styles. The impasto painting has thicker-looking brush strokes, while the realist one creates strokes that mimic the exact texture of the subject portrayed.
Go From Photo to Oil Painting With BeFunky
With BeFunky’s GFX Artsy effects, you can turn any photo into a beautiful oil painting. For creative flair and dynamic movement, try Impasto GFX. Or, if you're looking to showcase a subject closest to its exact form, try Realist GFX. Either way, you're bound to love the results!
urn any photo in your photo album into a work of art in minutes and start transforming your spaces with amazing, personalized art pieces.
