# Make a video or photo look like a painting with brush strokes

> In Tella, add a Tella Motion clip, attach your video or photo in the Tella Agent chat and ask for a painted look. Tella Motion repaints it as brush strokes, and you can change their size, length, direction and how loose they are. It can also flatten colors to a few steps or draw dark lines along edges, and blend any of these back into the original over time.

Page: https://www.tella.com/motion/oil-painting-effect · Part of Tella Motion (https://www.tella.com/help/editing/tella-motion)

## How do I make a video look like an oil painting?

In Tella, add a [Tella Motion](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/tella-motion) clip, attach your video or photo in the [Tella Agent](https://www.tella.com/agent) chat and ask for a painted look. Tella Motion repaints it as brush strokes, and you can change their size, length, direction and how loose they are. It can also flatten colors to a few steps or draw dark lines along edges, and blend any of these back into the original over time.

## Prompt to start from

```text
Place the clip I attached in this Tella Motion clip and make it look like an oil painting: short, thick brush strokes at a slight angle. Keep faces easy to make out.
```

## More prompts

### Painting to real

```text
Use the attached Fernhollow Bakery storefront photo. Start it as a painting with long, loose brush strokes, then blend into the real photo over the last 3 seconds.
```

### Drawn look

```text
Give the attached Quillhaven product clip a drawn look: dark lines along its edges and its colors flattened to a few steps.
```

## How to do it in Tella

1. Open your video in the Tella editor and choose [Add clip → New Tella Motion clip](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/tella-motion#add-a-tella-motion-clip).
2. In the Tella Agent chat, click + → Attach… and add your video or photo.
3. Describe the painting: stroke size and length, which way the strokes run, and how much of the original shows through.
4. Play the preview and ask for changes, like "smaller strokes" or "fade to the real video at the end."

## Good to know

- Available to everyone: through the Tella Agent on a paid plan or the 7-day trial, or through Claude or ChatGPT on any plan.
- A Tella Motion clip has no transcript, layouts or cuts, so use the painted look for an intro, cutaway or ending and keep talking parts as a recorded clip.
- The strokes can sit on the original picture, on white, on black or on transparency, which changes how much of the source shows between them.

## Questions people ask

### Can the painting turn into the real video?

Yes. Every number in a Tella Motion effect can be keyframed, including how much of the original is mixed back in. Ask the agent to go from painting to real footage, or the other way, over the seconds you choose.

### Can I make a sketch or poster look instead?

Yes. Find edges draws dark lines where brightness changes, or light lines on dark, and posterize rounds the colors to a few steps. Ask for one or both, and say how much of the original to keep.

### Can Claude or ChatGPT add the painted look in Tella?

Yes. Connected to Tella's [MCP server](https://www.tella.com/mcp), [Claude](https://claude.ai/directory/tella) or [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a7026f78434819186579d93d20ab38b?open_in_app) can use the same Tella Motion effects as the Tella Agent, including brush strokes, posterize and find edges.

## Related

- [Give your footage an old film look with grain, tone and vignette](https://www.tella.com/motion/vintage-film-effect.md): Give footage the grain and color of old film.
- [The Ken Burns effect on any photo, by asking](https://www.tella.com/motion/ken-burns-effect.md): Slow pans and zooms that bring still photos to life.
- [A photo slideshow with transitions and music, made by asking](https://www.tella.com/motion/photo-slideshow-with-music.md): Turn a set of photos into a slideshow with transitions.
- [Build a Tella Motion clip with the Tella Agent](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/tella-motion#build-it-with-the-tella-agent)
- [Attach files and videos in the agent chat](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/edit-with-the-tella-agent#attach-files-videos-and-playlists)
- [Build Tella Motion from your own AI agent](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/tella-motion#build-tella-motion-from-your-own-ai-agent-or-code)
- [All of Tella's AI features](https://www.tella.com/ai.md)