Free photo transformation tool FotoSketcher has been updated to version 2.6 with a couple of welcome new features.

The first is a gorgeous new “Painting 1” (watercolour) effect, which replaces the previous offering. Open a photo, choose “Painting 1 (watercolour)” as the “Drawing Style”, and click “Draw” to transform your photo into a painting.

Whatever drawing style you’re choosing, it can now be enhanced further by a new “Brushstrokes” frame, which feathers the edges of your image with a brushstroke effect (take a look at the grab for a great example).

source image credit: http://photographpainter.de/venedig-hdr/

If you’ve not tried the program before then you might not be immediately impressed by the finished results. They depend very much on the suitability of the source image, and even then will vary considerably according to the drawing parameters you’ve chosen (experiment with different values, in particular by increasing the strength of the effect, and check the Preview window to see the results).

Take the time to play around, though, and it’s possible to achieve some amazing effects. The program supports a wide range of target styles – pencil sketch, oil pastel sketch, pen and ink, watercolour, oil painting, cartoon and more – and its configurability and framing options mean this is a great way to transform your photos into works of art.

FotoSketcher 2.6 is available now.