50+ Best Photoshop Cartoon Actions + Plugins (Cartoonize a Photo)
Ever wanted to cartoonize a photo, but wasn’t sure how? Or maybe you just don’t have the time to sit down and work it out! That’s fair enough – to create an authentic and professional-looking cartoon effect on a real-life photo can be tricky, even if you’re well versed in Photoshop and all its settings!
Thankfully, there’s a range of purpose-built Photoshop cartoon plugins out there that can not only help you cartoonize a photo, but will do it all for you in a matter of seconds! It really can be that simple – and to make things even easier, we’ve found a selection of the best Photoshop cartoon actions and plugins out there, including both premium and free options.
Let’s have a look at the best Photoshop actions to help you cartoonize a photo.
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Cartoon Maker Photoshop Effect
If you want to make creative cartoon-like graphic designs and portraits with photos, this Photoshop effect will help get the job done. It features a realistic effect that gives a fun cartoon look to your photos. There’s a video tutorial to guide you through the process too.
Caricartoon Me – Photoshop Action
This is a fun Photoshop action that allows you to easily turn your portrait photos into cartoon characters. It creates a non-destructive effect that you can customize to your preference. However, you’ll need the oil paint plugin for it to work.
Creative Cartoon Creator Photoshop Action
Your photos will look just like a cartoon drawing after running this Photoshop action. It features a cool and fun-looking cartoon effect that works well for portrait photos. The action is very easy to use and it works with just one click.
Portrait Cartoon – Advanced Cartoon PS Plugin
This is a Photoshop plugin that features advanced tools for making more sophisticated cartoon-style effects. It’s most suitable for more experienced designers and Photoshop users.
Vector Art Cartoon Photoshop Action
This Photoshop action transforms your photos into vector art. It also adds a cool cartoon look to your images. It’s ideal for making comic book-style illustrations out of your portrait photos too. The action works with just one-click.
Real Vector Cartoon Painting Photoshop Action
You can use this PS action to instantly create a hand-drawing design out of your photos. It’s a very easy-to-use action that will blend perfectly with various types of graphic designs and photo manipulations.
Cartoonize Art Photoshop Action
A flexible and versatile Photoshop cartoon action that works across both old and new versions of Photoshop. It’s compatible with Photoshop CS5 and higher. This action works best for cartoonizing portrait photos.
Vector Painting Cartoon Photoshop Action
This Photoshop action basically generates a vector painting effect from your photos. It’s perfect for creating cartoon illustrations from your portrait photos to craft unique graphic designs.
Cartoony Photoshop Action
If you want to apply a subtle cartoon-like effect to your photos without completely cartoonizing them, this Photoshop action is perfect for the job. It features a light cartoon effect that’s perfect for creating an oil paint-like effect for photos.
Vectorize Cartoon Art Photoshop Action
This Photoshop action basically creates vectorized versions of your images by adding a cartoon look and feel. It’s great for generating graphics for posters, flyers, and various other design projects.
POP ART Cartoon Photoshop Action
With this Photoshop action, you can create cool cartoon effects with a pop art-style look. It’s great for creating illustrations and vector-style graphics for posters, book covers, CD covers, and more.
Cartoon Painting Photoshop Action
You can easily create a modern cartoon or CGI-style effect for your photos using this Photoshop action. It features a simple effect that works best for portraits. The PS action is compatible with Photoshop CS6 and higher.
Cartoon Paint – Photoshop Action
Create a fun cartoon paint-style effect with this Photoshop action. It has a customizable effect that you can apply to your portrait photos in just a few clicks. The effect is perfect for poster and flyer designs.
Cartoonize Photoshop Cartoon Action
First up in our Photoshop cartooning toolkit is the Cartoonize action, a Photoshop cartoon plugin that will turn your photo into a digital piece of art with a realistic oil paint effect in only a single click. It works with Adobe Photoshop versions CS3 and above and is super fast and easy to use.
Paint Cartoon Photoshop Action
For another ultra-realistic and modern-looking paint effect that will help you cartoonize any photo, this fun cartoon filter for Photoshop promises high-quality results using versions CS3 and higher and includes full supporting documentation to get you editing straight away.
Smudge Cartoon Photoshop Action
The Smudge Photoshop cartoon plugin will help you cartoonize a photo with a sleek and realistic painted effect that features sharp edges and vibrant colors and is compatible with Photoshop versions CS3 and above. It’s a great choice if you’re after a fun and professional cartoon painting look.
Toon-Me – Cartoon Effects Photoshop Action
Next up is Toon-Me, a Photoshop cartooning plugin perfect for creating unique artworks such as posters, flyers, and social media posts. The Photoshop cartoon action works in all Photoshop languages and is non-destructive helping you to retain 100% of the original pictures.
Retro Comic Book Photoshop Cartoon Action Kit
Next, we have a retro-inspired action kit that allows you to cartoonize a photo in an authentic, hand-drawn comic book style. It works best with images that offer a resolution between 72 and 300 DPI, and all comic elements are vector graphics which enables you to scale and tweak the effects as much as you want.
Oil Vector Art Photoshop Cartoon Action
This cartoon filter for Photoshop adds a vector art look to your images that’s inspired by the texture and color profile of a real-life oil painting, and can be applied with amazing results in just a few clicks. You can create up to 40 different color effects, and adjust each layer to your preference.
Balaclava – Photoshop Cartoon Plugin
Balaclava is a Photoshop cartoon plugin containing tools and techniques that help you achieve the most modern, professional, and eye-catching cartoon effects in just a few clicks. The cartoon effect Photoshop Action offers 4 editable Photoshop cartooning styles, 5 face styles, 8 backgrounds, and more than 20 color variations.
Anime – Photoshop Cartooning Action
Our next Photoshop cartoon plugin helps you transform your pictures into modern, creative, and stunning anime-style paintings that are sure to make an impression. It offers fully editable layers, colors, and other elements, plus a video tutorial to help you make the most of the cartoon effect Photoshop action.
Simple Cartoon Photoshop Action
If you’re wanting to cartoonize a photo in a simple yet authentic-looking way, our next cartoon effect Photoshop action will help you do just that – it works with Photoshop CC to give your images a beautifully painted effect in just a single click!
Cell Shader Photoshop Cartoon Action
Our next cartoon effect for Photoshop is the funky Cell Shader action, which adds an artistically contoured element to your images and uses bold lines and edges and realistic brush textures to create a hand-painted look. It comes with a video tutorial and help guide.
Splash Effect Photoshop Cartoon Action
Next up is the Splash Effect bundle of Photoshop actions, featuring five individual filters each with different color scripts, allowing you to create what the designer describes as a “minimal fluid geometry explosion” effect! It works with Photoshop versions CS6 and CC.
Strokes Photoshop Cartoon Action
For an edgy-painted aesthetic, take a look at the Strokes cartoon filter for Photoshop, offering an artistic abstract effect that combines rough paint strokes with a technical hand-drawn style for a unique texture that will add a unique creative vibe to any photo.
Art Vector Photoshop Cartoon Action
Here we have a fun vintage-inspired cartoon effect for Photoshop that will turn your photos into an artistic vector illustration in a single click. It works with RGB color space in any version of Photoshop, and comes with supporting documentation to help you make the most of the technique.
Motion Graphic Photoshop Cartoon Action
The next action in our Photoshop cartooning collection is the Motion Graphic filter which offers a design spread slider control, ten unique color presets, customizable color options, and fully layered and editable graphics. It adds a dynamic, comic-inspired flash effect to your images.
Mafia Paint Photoshop Cartoon Action
Inspired by the iconic Grand Theft Auto video game series, our next Photoshop cartoon plugin features a fun digital watercolor effect with lots of layers that you can play around with to create the perfect style for your project. It works with Photoshop versions CS6 and CC+ in all languages.
Artistic Sketch Photoshop Cartoon Action
Here we have a high-quality cartoon effect bundle that includes a Photoshop action, brush, and texture that you can use separately or combine to create a stunning artistic sketch quality. It offers a non-destructive workflow and fully customizable graphic layers.
Colour Sketch – Cartoon Photoshop Effects
Create a professional colorful effect filled with authentic hatching, technical sketch, and abstract art elements with this highly versatile color sketch action, featuring fully editable layers, colors, and graphic elements for complete creative control over the end result. It even comes with a helpful video tutorial.
MicroPro Oil Photoshop Cartoon Action
Wanting to replicate the style of an authentic oil painting, using your own photo or image? Look no further than the MicroPro Cartoon Oil Photoshop action, which guarantees professional results that are super easy to achieve. Note however that it requires the Photoshop oil paint filter.
Illustration Sketch Photoshop Cartoon Action
Featuring a gouache watercolor paint style combined with fine, detailed pencil sketching, the Illustration Sketch cartoon effect for Photoshop will transform your photos into a beautiful traditional illustration painting. It’s compatible with Photoshop versions CS6 and newer, in any language, and is fully customizable.
Grand Trend Art Photoshop Cartoon Action
Another cartoon filter for Photoshop that’s inspired by the Grand Theft Audio video games, our next action will add a hand-drawn cartoon look to any photo in just a few clicks. It also comes with five frame templates, five collage templates, and fifteen presets for you to mix and match.
Melted Drips – Cartoon Filter Photoshop Action
Experiment with adding cartoon effects to your photos by using this funky creative action that creates melted drops in a range of colors and textures. It’s well layered and fully editable and comes with 25 custom color scripts for you to choose from, plus a video guide to help you use the action.
Urban Sketch Photoshop Cartoon Action
The Urban Sketch Photoshop cartoon effect transforms your city photos into realistic hand-painted watercolor sketch artworks in a matter of minutes. It works best with urban cityscapes and architecture images and provides a fully layered final composition with 15 color presets and loads of customization options.
Grandiose Photoshop Cartoon Action
For another video game-inspired art effect, this time with a more lifelike finish, consider the Grandiose Photoshop action. It comes with a matching poster action, which allows you to combine your masterpieces into a collage in true Grand Theft Auto style, as well as a tutorial for creating authentic GTA text effects.
Premium Cartoon Photoshop Action
This is an incredibly amazing Photoshop action for those who truly value standing out from the pack. Especially designed for bloggers, and influencers wanting to amp up their social media game, this premium product is a must-have in your Photoshop toolkit.
4 in 1 Cartoon Photoshop Actions
This package contains four Photoshop actions that will take your everyday pictures to a whole new level. The pack includes cartoon painting, cartoon effects, vector art, and color halftone styles, and is a great choice for photographers, graphic designers, and artists.
Cartoon Painting Photoshop Action
Compatible with Photoshop CS3 and higher versions, this Photoshop action is a solid contender for your cash. It uses advanced effects to give your photos a professional-grade painting look. In our opinion, this cartoon Photoshop action surely deserves a spot on your shortlist.
Cartoonish – Photoshop Cartoon Action
If you’re wanting a pro-level tool that helps you cartoonize your phono in a couple of minutes, this Photoshop action is well worth checking out. It’s powered by the Pixel Cube plugin and offers fully editable layers, and Pdf and video tutorials for your convenience.
Comic Effect Photoshop Action
Surprise your kids and family with this cartoon photo maker, which lets you create a custom cartoon of your own in a few simple clicks. This Photoshop action creates a quick and easy cartoon effect inspired by Impressionist paintings. Get access to fully organized folders and layers, all in one convenient download. Check it out!
Photoshop Cartoon Action
This Photoshop Action is one of the best Photoshop effects, which can show you how to turn a picture into a cartoon with no professional skills. You could create unique cartoon edits such as CD covers, posters, flyers, and much more with this product.
Photoshop Cartoon Effect
Make your picture a cartoon and add an inspiring soft look to your portraits. This action creates a colorful cartoon effect in just one click, and you can easily customize the final effect by editing the layers and smart filters.
Modern Photoshop Cartoon Action
How can you make a photo into a cartoon and transform your pictures for posters, albums, or social media covers? Get this awesome Photoshop action and create one-of-a-kind vector cartoons in only a few steps! Choose from 25 unique color combinations to apply to your final artwork before saving.
Cartoonizer Pro Oil Photoshop Action
How can you turn a photo into a cartoon for your social media profiles? Try this simple cartoon Photoshop action. Designed to give your photos that vector cartoonish look, this action can be used with versions CS5 and above. A quick user guide is also included for more information.
Free Photoshop Cartooning Plugins
Let’s now look at some free Photoshop actions to help you cartoonize a photo!
Color Comic – Free Cartoon Photoshop Action
This is a free Photoshop action that allows you to generate comic book-style cartoon illustration effects for your photos. It’s ideal for portraits and outdoor photos.
Pop Art – Free Cartoon Photoshop Action
You can download this Photoshop cartoon action for free. It features a simple pop art-style effect that gives a cartoon look to your portrait photos.
Free Comic Poster Photoshop Cartoon Action
The first action in our lineup is this free option from Creative Tacos that adds a subtle vintage comic art style to your image and is best for creating posters and other display prints. It’s compatible with Adobe Photoshop versions CS3 to CC 2017.
Free GTA Photoshop Cartoon Action
Here we have a fantastic Photoshop action, specially created for GTA fans. It helps convert your photos into grand theft auto covers with minimal effort. It’s available on Brusheezy for free, so do take this amazing freebie for a spin.
Free Photoshop Cartooning Action
To transform your photos into professional cartoonic oil paintings, consider our next free Photoshop Cartoon Action. It offers tools that will help you catroonize a photo in just one click and a video tutorial on how to use the cartoon filter Photoshop Action.
Free EasyComic Photoshop Cartoon Action
Our next option, available from Free Design Resources, features a classic comic book style and comes with a base Photoshop document in portrait and landscape formats to help you create your very own comic strip.
Free Modern Art Cartoon Photoshop Action
Turn your everyday image into a bright and colorful work of modern art with a funky retro-inspired cartoon look, using this amazing modern art-themed Photoshop cartoon action. It’s compatible with Adobe CC, and you can download it for free from Adobe Create!
Free Van Gogh Cartoon Photoshop Action
If you’re looking for the best methods of Photoshop cartooning that will give your images a Van Gogh-inspired effect, consider this set of 10 incredible Photoshop cartoon actions that features a well-organized and structured file for Mac and PC, and is available to download for free from CGI Spread.
Free Toon Artist Photoshop Cartoon Action
Next up, we have the Toon Artist cartoon filter for Photoshop that adds several customizable layers to your image, creating a cartoon portrait that you’ll love sharing! Download this fun Photoshop action for free from the Adobe Create resource hub.
Free Cartoon Effects Photoshop
Here we have is a Photoshop cartoon action that will help you cartoonize a photo with minimal effort. It offers editable layers, non-destructive effects, editable elements, and a smorgasbord of amazing features for you to take advantage of. A great cartoon filter Photoshop action!
And there you have it, a range of brilliant Photoshop actions that will save you countless hours in turning your photos into various types of cartoons – and they’re all available for you to download and use instantly. What more could you want?!