Paint Filters with FotoSketcher

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I just discovered a desktop program, FotoSketcher, that runs images through an automated process to add a paint-like effect to them. The result is similar to Photoshop filters (at least as I remember them existing probably a couple decades ago when I last used PS), but FotoSketcher is free, even for commercial use. It works primarily on Windows, but via a Wine overlay called Whisky, it can work on M-series MacOS (Wine/Whisky is basically a Windows emulator, and is also free).

Enough exposition, here are some results:

Side by Side images. The left is an original photo of a calm lake, surrounded by pine trees. The second is the same image, but run through a paint filter to make it appear like a watercolor.
A side by side comparison of images. The first is a photo of some 4 person bike carts in a well shaded park. The second image is a copy, but with a paint filter applied to make it look like it is painted with a brush.
A side by side comparison image. The first is a photo of a roosters head. It is a black rooster standing against a yellow stucco background. The second image is the same, except run through a paint filter to make it appear painted with a brush.

It has a handful of textures as well including some canvas and paper textures, and some frame effects (as shown in the last example with the rooster).

To download, head to the downloads page and grab the latest complete version (at time of writing that was 3.95), or go to the “News” section where more recent release candidates, beta, and alpha versions may be available. The above images were generated with the latest release candidate 3.96, released on Sept 9 2024.

If you are on Mac, like me, you will also need Whiskey. It’s an easy install– do that first, allow it to install any dependencies, and it will be all set without further setup. Then you can just open the .exe file for FotoSketcher and it should automatically start in Whisky (it might take a minute).

I can see using this to generate more “painterly” graphics for TTRPG books. In particular, using it to generate just grayscale textures and borders that can then be used back in Affinity Publisher to create better edges along images (to fade into the page texture).

I’d love to have similar effects and tools available in the Serif Affinity bundle of programs, but alas, they do not have any capabilities for plugins or scripting. If there are other tools like this out there, I’d love to hear about it if you can find me on Discord or Reddit.

PS. I heard about FotoSketcher from this blog post I stumbled on during an unrelated web search: Lindsey Bonnette RPG Publishing – How I Plan Write, Illustrate, and Publish a TTRPG Adventure Module which is a semi-recent post that goes into TTRPG creation from ideation to publishing.