Canva has been able to copy the art style of one graphic and apply it to another for a while, but a recent update expands that significantly. You can now apply a graphic’s art style directly to a photograph, which opens up a new range of creative possibilities for keeping your designs visually consistent.
This is a Canva Pro feature that draws from your monthly AI credits. If you’re not on Canva Pro yet, you can start a free trial here before following along — that way you have full access without hitting a credit limit mid-project.
Transcript
Canva has had the ability to copy the art style of one graphic and apply it to another for a while now, but a new update takes that one step further. You can now apply a graphic’s art style directly to a photograph.
Before we get into the steps, a couple of things worth knowing. Copy art style is an AI-powered feature — you’ll see the crown icon next to it, which means it draws from your monthly AI credits each time you use it.
Free plan users do get a small allotment of AI credits to start, but that pool is shared across every premium AI tool in Canva, so if you’ve been experimenting with other AI features, those credits may already be running low. Once they’re gone, you’ll need Canva Pro to keep using them.
Rather than waiting until you hit that limit mid-project, I’d recommend starting a free Canva Pro trial before you give this a try — that way you have full access from the start without interruption. You can do that at BrendaCadman.com/upgrade and I’ll link to that below.
Applying a graphic style to another graphic
The original version of this feature lets you copy the art style of one graphic and apply it to another. For example, here I have a watercolour floral illustration and an autumn leaf graphic. I’ll click on the floral illustration to select it, then go to Style in the floating toolbar and choose Copy art style. Then I’ll click on the leaf graphic to apply it.
What you get is the leaf rendered in that same watercolour style and you end up with two completely different graphics that now look like they came from the same collection.
Applying a graphic style to a photo
What’s new is that you can now do the same thing with a photo as the target, not just another graphic. Let me show you two examples so you can see the range of what’s possible.
First example: I again have a watercolour floral graphic and a photo of a blue jay. I’ll click the floral graphic, go to Style, choose Copy art style, and then click the blue jay photo. Canva processes it for a moment, and the result is the blue jay rendered in that same soft, painterly watercolour style. It’s still recognizable as the same blue jay, but it looks like an illustration rather than a photograph.
Second example: I have a rough hand-drawn line graphic of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and a group photo taken at the same location during our Canva Verified Experts summit in Sydney in October. I’ll copy the art style from the line drawing and apply it to the photo, and what comes back is the entire group photo converted into that same sketchy, hand-drawn line style. Same composition, same people, completely different look.
The range of results you can get from this feature really does depend on how distinct the source graphic’s style is — the more defined the style, the more dramatic the transformation.
A few things to keep in mind
Because this uses your monthly AI credits, it’s worth being a little intentional about when you use it rather than applying it to every image just to see what happens.
That said, for the right project, this feature lets you bring a photo into the same visual style as your existing graphics so the whole thing feels cohesive rather than patched together. For example, if you’re building a presentation around a set of watercolour botanical illustrations and the one image you need only exists as a photograph, you can apply the illustration style to that photo and drop it in without it looking out of place.
This feature is currently rolling out, so if you don’t see the option in your account yet, it may not have reached you — give it a little time.
If you’re not already on Canva Pro, starting a free trial at BrendaCadman.com/upgrade gets you full access to this feature and the complete suite of AI tools.
