Anyone can try digital art using the apps you already use: Here’s how

Digital art is a loose definition without rules of what directly constitutes art. Most of us have access to great apps that allow us to easily create digital art that we may not even realize.

1 Digital scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a traditional arts and crafts method that many people do to collect memories, create mood boards, journal entries like bullet journals, or as an internal art form for self-reflection.

Traditional scrapbooking is messy, takes up space, and can get expensive if you’re buying premium materials; digital scrapbooking eliminates all these problems. Using apps like Canva, Photoshop, Hypic (available for Android and iOS), or many others you probably already use, you can create scrapbooks completely mess-free and at no cost or cheap.

You can create an animated album effect using Photoshop or other tools with clipping and animation functions. Some may not think of animation as digital art, but if you’ve already created digital cutouts, animation just adds to the fun.

Choose an app with layer options, image libraries – for regular images or uploading your own – and great text options. Canva is my favorite digital scrapbooking app, and the image and text libraries it offers make every digital album I create as unique as the next. Play with Canva’s built-in apps like ChoppyCrop to add texture and shape to your scrapbook elements.

2 Add illustrative elements and create drawings

A fun way to turn your photos into digital art is to add illustrative elements to them. Of course, you can also draw an entire image from scratch using an app with a drawing function—best done using a tablet and a stylus like the Apple Pencil.

If you want to elevate your photos and turn them into digital art, then doodling on top or around them is a fun way to add something new.

Most art apps (and some photo editing apps too) have drawing tools, although depending on which one you choose, they may not be comprehensive enough to give you great results. For high-quality illustration effects, it’s worth paying to get Procreate on iPad.

Scribbling around your photo elements allows you to use contextual illustrations, add your brand in drawn form, or just elevate your image to artistic heights.

3 Photo editing effects

Whether you’re using filters from Instagram, your own photo library, or using a specific app like Canva or Photoshop, whatever app you already own will likely have a variety of photo editing effects available.

Most image editing tools provide color overlays with blending modes, even a simple use of the editing panel can turn your basic photos into works of art. For editing photos with artistic effects, apps like Snapseed or Lightroom for mobile offer great free options that can really push your photos into artistic space.

Keep it simple when using these filters – there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Use filters or overlays sparingly unless you’re aiming for abstract art. In that case, go crazy; add filters, overlays, colors, high contrast, adjust exposure, change it to black and white, or transform with posterization or threshold settings. Photoshop has great options for creating abstract portraits from basic photos.

4 Artificial digital painting

If you lack the skills to draw a portrait from scratch or paint a vibrant landscape with watercolors, there are plenty of artificial art techniques at the click of a button from most apps you already use. You’ll likely see the results of these artistic effects on the profile pictures of family and friends’ Facebook pages—they’ve been popular options for years.

The art app Prisma (available for Android and iOS) provides great, realistic filters of many popular art techniques. You can turn your photo into a Picasso-style painting without the skills or time required to paint from scratch.

Picsart (available for Android and iOS) also has some artistic effects like watercolor, sketch and halftone dots. These quick action tools allow you to quickly apply traditional art techniques and are often free in most applications.

5 AI effects

There are many AI apps that you can use to apply artistic effects to your images, and many AI art generators that allow you to create art from scratch.

Nowadays, most apps include AI tools, so there is a chance that you already own or use some apps with AI features that allow you to transform your images. As you update your apps, watch for new AI features and see what you can create with them.

I like to use Hypic’s AI effects to turn photos of my cat into artistic portraits, or to turn myself into a 3D Claymation figure because I don’t have the skills or materials to make my own real clay figures.

AI effects can be used in a variety of ways, whether you’re using them to apply abstract or art deco styles, or to transform an image into something that looks painted or generally crafted rather than a photograph. AI tools and effects can turn your image into art in any way you wish.

Canva offers great AI tools for both your phone and desktop, and Hypic is great for phone-based artwork.

6 Artistic animation

Motion graphics and animation are a fun way to turn images into works of art. Whether you’re using Procreate Dreams or the original Procreate app to create animations, or taking time-lapse photos to create stop-motion animations, there are plenty of animation effects tools that deliver great artistic results.

Adobe Express and Canva have animation and video features to add movement to your images. You can animate your illustrative doodles and feel like a character in Netflix’s Heartstopper with floating illustrated leaves around your portrait.

Your animated art can be used in many ways. Whether you want to turn it into an animated phone background, use it as an Instagram sticker, or share surprising animations with friends online, the possibilities are endless.

You don’t have to be an artist to create art, and you don’t have to buy or subscribe to complex and expensive software. Most of us have tons of photo editing apps on our phones, and plenty of them are available in your computer’s browser. Whether you want to make dramatic artwork or make subtle changes to your images, there are tons of tools available that you probably already use.