AKVIS Sketch is software for conversion of photos into pencil sketches and watercolor paintings. Now you do not need to handle a pencil to feel like an artist. All you need to create your original work of art is good taste and AKVIS Sketch. Our efficient method allows creating realistic color and B&W drawings that imitate the technique of graphite and color pencil, charcoal and watercolor painting. In contrast to the standard filters (like the built-in filters in Photoshop or PSP) that offer an approximate sketch, AKVIS Sketch comes very close to hand-drawn works of a human artist. Getting a similar result with the standard tools would require expertise in image editing and extensive manipulation with layers, masks, brushes and applying filters. AKVIS Sketch allows adding background effects to the resulting pencil drawing. Create a blend of a drawing and a photo; imitate motion or add "time machine effect" by swirling the background. Put an accent to certain parts of the image by blurring the rest of it in an artistic way. This proves especially useful when the final drawing contains too many details in the background that divert attention. You can personalize your work of art by adding an inscription (a signature or a greeting) to your pencil drawing. Besides, the parameters on the Canvas tab allow adding a rough surface to your image, as if it has been drawn on canvas, corrugated paper, brick wall, etc. AKVIS Sketch is lot of fun: a pencil portrait can be a good present for your relatives and friends, a watercolor drawing obtained from your last nature shooting can decorate your room, you can convert any photo to an original drawing to print on a T-Shirt. The program can be helpful to designers who need to quickly convert multiple images to one style for a web-site or an advertisement booklet. On the whole it's a wonderful tool for those who have always wanted to draw but didn't know how.