Last Updated : 11 Aug, 2025
Cartooning an image turns a normal photo into a fun, animated-style picture. With OpenCV, we do this by smoothing the image to simplify colors and detecting edges to create outlines. Combining these steps makes the photo look like a cartoon.
ApproachPrerequisites: Opencv module
import cv2
img = cv2.imread("Screenshot.png")
if img is None:
print("Image not found")
exit()
# Prep grayscale & blur
g = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
g = cv2.medianBlur(g, 5)
# Edges
e = cv2.adaptiveThreshold(g, 255, cv2.ADAPTIVE_THRESH_MEAN_C,
cv2.THRESH_BINARY, 9, 9)
# Smooth color
c = cv2.bilateralFilter(img, 9, 250, 250)
# Combine
cartoon = cv2.bitwise_and(c, c, mask=e)
cv2.imshow("Cartoon", cartoon)
cv2.imwrite("cartoon_output.jpg", cartoon)
cv2.waitKey(0)
cv2.destroyAllWindows()
Output:
Original Image Cartoon Output ImageExplanation:
Cartooning an Image using OpenCV – Python
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