Artistic effects are available only for documents in RGB color mode. They are raster-based and use the document’s raster effects settings whenever you apply the effect to a vector object.

Colored Pencil

Draws an image using colored pencils on a solid background. Important edges are retained and given a rough crosshatch appearance; the solid background color shows through the smoother areas.

Cutout

Portrays an image as though it were made from roughly cut-out pieces of colored paper. High-contrast images appear as if in silhouette; colored images are built up as if from several layers of colored paper.

Dry Brush

Paints the edges of the image using a dry-brush technique (between oil and watercolor). The filter simplifies an image by reducing its range of colors.

Film Grain

Applies an even pattern to the shadow tones and midtones of an image. A smoother, more saturated pattern is added to the image’s lighter areas. This filter is useful for eliminating banding in blends and visually unifying elements from various sources.

Fresco

Paints an image in a coarse manner using short, rounded strokes as if hastily applied.

Neon Glow

Adds various types of glows to the objects in an image. This filter is useful for colorizing an image while softening its look. To select a glow color, click the glow box and select a color from the color picker.

Paint Daubs

Lets you choose from various brush sizes (from 1 to 50) and types for a painterly effect. Brush types include simple, light rough, light dark, wide sharp, wide blurry, and sparkle.

Palette Knife

Reduces detail in an image to give the effect of a thinly painted canvas that reveals the texture underneath.

Plastic Wrap

Coats the image as if in shiny plastic, accentuating the surface detail.

Poster Edges

Reduces the number of colors in an image according to the Posterization value you set, then finds the edges of the image and draws black lines on them. Broader areas of the image have simple shading, while fine, dark detail is distributed throughout the image.

Rough Pastels

Makes an image appear as if stroked with colored pastel chalk on a textured background. In areas of bright color, the chalk appears thick with little texture; in darker areas, the chalk appears scraped off to reveal the texture.

Smudge Stick

Softens an image using short diagonal strokes to smudge or smear the darker areas of the images. Lighter areas become brighter and lose detail.

Sponge

Creates images with highly textured areas of contrasting color as if painted with a sponge.

Underpainting

Paints the image on a textured background, and then paints the final image over it.

Watercolor

Paints the image in a watercolor style, simplifying details and using a medium brush loaded with water and color. Where significant tonal changes occur at edges, the filter saturates the color.