Anime Art Styles, and Which One Suits Your Photo
ReelyArtGuides
Key takeaways
- Anime covers very different looks, from 90s cels to manga pages and chibi figures, so let the photo guide the style.
- A close selfie suits TV Anime or Anime PFP, a full-body shot suits Shonen Action, and pets suit Chibi Me or Kawaii Anime.
- Every style keeps your hair, glasses, facial hair, outfit colors and skin tone.
- The styles are original looks inspired by Japanese animation, not copies of any series.
On this page
A 90s cel frame, a black-and-white manga page and a round chibi sticker are all anime, and a photo that looks great in one can look wrong in another. This guide walks through the styles in ReelyArt's anime filter, what each one looks like, and which kind of photo it suits best.
Everyday anime
These are the looks most people picture when they hear "anime", and the safest place to start.
- TV Anime is a modern key visual: glossy eyes, crisp line art, two-tone cel shading and a dramatic sky. It works from almost any clear selfie or portrait.
- 90s Anime is hand-painted cel animation, with stacked eye highlights, hard-edged shadows, warm sunset tones and film grain. Photos taken in warm light suit it best.
- Painted Anime and Storybook Anime look like frames from a hand-drawn film: soft lines, painted hills, greenery and big summer clouds. Give them an outdoor photo with some sky in it.
Action and drama
- Shonen Action turns a photo into an action key frame: bold ink, speed lines, a low camera and an energy aura in the colors of your outfit. A full-body or sports photo gives the aura room, and a bright outfit gives it color.
- Flamboyant Manga is an 80s action manga cover, with a theatrical pose, heavy hatching and a wild palette.
- Dark Fantasy Manga goes gritty: heavy hatching, a traveler's cloak, ruins and a storm sky.
Cute
- Chibi Me redraws you as a full-body figure with a big head, a tiny body and sticker-clean outlines, even when the photo is a close-up. It suits pets and stickers especially well.
- Kawaii Anime is soft and pastel, with sparkling eyes, blush and floating cherry blossom petals.
Ink and print
- Manga Panel is a black-and-white manga page: inked lines, screentone, gray washes and a panel border.
- Ink Brush Anime follows sumi-e painting, with black strokes, gray washes and one vermilion accent on rice paper.
- Ukiyo-e Anime cuts the portrait as a Japanese woodblock print, with flat inks, bold outlines and a washi paper texture.
These three suit a print, a poster or anything that will sit next to text, because they carry very little color noise.
Genre and costume
Some styles put you in a role, dressed in your own colors.
- Mecha Pilot gives you a pilot suit and an original giant robot behind you.
- Isekai Adventurer is a fantasy hero with an adventurer's outfit and a town under floating islands.
- Magical Transformation catches a spell mid-cast, with ribbons of light and bursts of stars.
- Edo Period Anime dresses you in a kimono, with paper lanterns and an old town at dusk.
Others are about an era: Neon Cyberpunk is a late-80s city at night in the rain, 80s City Pop is an airbrushed album cover with a pastel sunset, and Y2K Anime is early-2000s gloss, candy colors and lens flares.
For a profile picture
Anime PFP returns a square, head-and-shoulders portrait on a clean color, cropped so the face still reads inside the small circle Discord, X and Twitch show.
Matching a style to your photo
| Your photo | Try first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A close selfie | TV Anime or Anime PFP | The face fills the frame, and these styles are built around it |
| A full-body or sports shot | Shonen Action | Room for the aura and speed lines |
| Outdoors, with sky or plants | Painted Anime or Storybook Anime | Their backgrounds are painted, so scenery pays off |
| A pet | Chibi Me or Kawaii Anime | Big eyes and round shapes flatter animals |
| Something to print | Manga Panel or Ukiyo-e Anime | Clean black lines and flat color |
| Night, neon or city lights | Neon Cyberpunk | The lighting is already halfway there |
What every style keeps
Each style is told to keep what makes the photo yours: hairstyle and hair color, facial hair, glasses, earrings and the colors of your outfit. Skin is painted in the photo's own color and depth, so deep brown stays deep brown and light stays light; Manga Panel turns it into the matching shade of gray. The styles are original looks inspired by Japanese animation and do not copy any series or character.
To try one, pick it on the anime filter and add your photo. The drawing takes about a minute, and every style runs on the free plan at 2 credits an image. To make it move, see how to animate a picture into a looping GIF.
