Short answer: Attach the photo and describe the paint, not just the style: "visible directional brushwork, thick impasto in the highlights, thin glazed shadows, warm underpainting showing through at the edges". Ask for the same face and features "reinterpreted entirely in paint rather than photography", say "no photographic skin texture", and end with "no signature, no text".
"Make this a painting" usually gives a photo with a filter: smooth skin from the photograph under some brush marks. A picture that looks painted needs the things a painter leaves behind: the direction of the strokes, thick paint where the light hits, thin paint in the shadows, the canvas showing through.
How do you keep the likeness in a painting?
Say that only the medium changes. The gallery's oil portrait puts it like this:
And rule out the halfway result in so many words: "Not a digital illustration, not a filter, no photographic skin texture inside the canvas."
Photo-to-painting prompts to copy
All of these are in Prompt Gallery, written for a reference photo. The short ones end with Midjourney's --ar; in ChatGPT or Gemini, write the ratio in words instead.
Museum oil portrait (Midjourney, Flux, DALL·E). The trick: ask for a photograph of a painting on a museum wall, so the frame, the light and the aged varnish make it believable:
An oil painting portrait of the subject from the reference photo painted in a seventeenth-century Dutch Golden Age manner, photographed hanging on a museum wall.
The likeness is faithful: the same face, the same bone structure, the same distinguishing features as the reference image, but reinterpreted entirely in paint rather than photography. The subject wears a dark velvet doublet with a white lace collar, in period rather than modern dress.
Painting technique: visible directional brushwork, thick impasto in the highlights of the skin and fabric, thin glazed shadows, warm underpainting showing through at the edges. Chiaroscuro lighting, a single soft light source from the upper left, the background falling away into deep transparent shadow. Muted earth palette of umber, ochre, bone white, and a single saturated accent in the clothing.
Age the surface honestly: a fine craquelure across the paint, slightly yellowed varnish, faint darkening toward the edges of the canvas.
The painting sits in a heavy carved gilt wood frame and hangs on a muted gallery wall, lit from above by a picture light that falls off toward the bottom of the canvas. A small engraved museum label is visible on the wall beneath it, too small to read clearly.
Photorealistic photograph OF a painting: the canvas weave and the frame are real, the image inside them is paint. Not a digital illustration, not a filter, no photographic skin texture inside the canvas.
Vertical 4:5, gallery lighting, museum photography.
Keep it original: do not depict any celebrity or real public figure other than the subject of the reference photo, and do not copy any existing painting, artwork, film or game character, mascot, logo or trademarked design.Impressionist:
An Impressionist painting of the subject from the reference photo, loose visible brushstrokes, soft blended colours, dappled natural light, plein-air atmosphere. Keep it original: do not depict any celebrity or real public figure other than the subject of the reference photo, and do not copy any existing painting, artwork, film or game character, mascot, logo or trademarked design. --ar 4:5Watercolour storybook:
Soft watercolour children's storybook illustration of the subject from the reference photo in a knitted scarf reading a book, visible paper texture, transparent washes, warm autumn palette, gentle and whimsical mood. Keep it original: do not depict any celebrity or real public figure other than the subject of the reference photo, and do not copy any existing painting, artwork, film or game character, mascot, logo or trademarked design. --ar 1:1Gouache storybook:
A gouache storybook illustration of the subject from the reference photo, matte opaque gouache, soft rounded forms, gentle flat shading, warm cosy palette, visible paint texture, charming and warm. Keep it original: do not depict any celebrity or real public figure other than the subject of the reference photo, and do not copy any existing painting, artwork, film or game character, mascot, logo or trademarked design. --ar 1:1The gallery also has a classical oil painting, Baroque, a Renaissance fresco, Cubism, Surrealism, a ukiyo-e woodblock print and a sumi-e ink wash, each with its result.
Why does the AI add a signature or text to my painting?
Because real paintings often have one. The model has seen thousands of signed canvases and lettered prints, so it adds what usually comes with them: the Impressionist result above signed itself in the corner, the watercolour printed a made-up title on the man's book, and the gallery's ukiyo-e and sumi-e results added seals and characters. None of it was in the prompt.
Add "no signature, no text, no lettering, no seals" when you want a clean picture. And never keep an invented signature on something you share: it looks like an artist's name that is not there.
Watercolour, gouache or oil: what is the difference?
| Medium | Looks like | Words that get it |
|---|---|---|
| Oil | Rich, deep colour; thick paint in the light, thin in the shadows | "visible brushwork, impasto highlights, glazed shadows, canvas weave" |
| Watercolour | Light and see-through, the paper shows through the colour | "transparent washes, visible paper texture, soft bleeding edges" |
| Gouache | Flat, matte and opaque, like a picture book | "matte opaque gouache, flat shading, visible paint texture" |
| Impressionist | Small loose strokes of pure colour, outdoor light | "loose visible brushstrokes, dappled natural light, plein-air" |
Can you turn someone else's photo into a painting?
With their permission. A portrait in paint is still that person. For a gift, a painted portrait of a partner, parent or pet is lovely; just ask first, and keep it to people who would be happy to see it.
Where can you check this?
Where can you find more painting prompts?
Prompt Gallery has 13 painting styles with their results, from Dutch oil portraits to sumi-e and gold leaf, and Modern & Abstract has cubism, colour field and abstract expressionism. Open one and use Customize to add your details and pick one of five aspect ratios before you copy it.
