20 Best Watercolor Photoshop Actions

Updated on
6 min read

Creating a realistic watercolor effect from scratch in Photoshop takes a lot of time, effort and skill. Good thing is that by using a watercolor Photoshop action, you can save time and easily create watercolor effect in just a few clicks even if you are not a Photoshop expert.

In this post, we’re presenting some of the best watercolor Photoshop actions you can use to turn your photos into watercolor artworks. You can use these artistic effects in designing flyers, posters, website headers, photo compositions and much more.

These high-quality Photoshop actions have been created by expert graphic designers. They work in a non-destructive way which means that they produce watercolor effects without modifying your original image. The effects are created using well-organized layers that you can even edit for further customizing the final design.

All the actions come with detailed help documentation and some even include tutorial videos to guide you with using the actions. On purchasing, you’ll get the .ATN file (Photoshop action) that you can load in Photoshop just by double clicking the action file. Download also contains .ABR (Photoshop brush) and sometimes .PAT (Photoshop pattern) files that are required for playing the action.

If you find this collection of watercolor actions useful, you might also be interested in Duotone Photoshop Actions and Watercolor Backgrounds and Textures.

Watercolor Photoshop Action

watercolor photoshop action

This watercolor Photoshop action by SevenStyles is among the all-time top selling Photoshop actions on GraphicRiver with over 10,000 sales. Comes with video tutorial to help you set up your PSD file and in-depth customization techniques.

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Perfectum 2 - Watercolor Artist Photoshop Action

perfectum 2 watercolor artist photoshop action

Another best-seller on GraphicRiver marketplace, Perfectum 2 by profaction works with TIFF, JPG files and is compatible with Photoshop CS3 and above.

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Watercolor and Pencil Photoshop Action

watercolor and pencil photoshop action

Transform your photo into watercolor and pencil artwork in many different styles with this Photoshop action by SevenStyles. After playing the action, an organized structure of layers and groups is created that gives you great control over the final look of your design.

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Perfectum - Vintage Watercolor Photoshop Action

perfectum vintage watercolor photoshop action

Using this action, you can achieve highly-detailed watercolor photo effect with a vintage feel. The resulting image features scratches and grungy textures that give it a worn-out look. Download includes .ATN, .ABR and .PAT files.

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Watercolor Action

watercolor easy way photoshop action

This Photoshop action comes with 10 pre-made color options and 10 color effects to turn your image into realistic water-color picture. It works perfectly with portraits as well as other images.

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Perfectum 3 - Watercolor Master Photoshop Action

perfectum 3 watercolor master photoshop action

Turn your photo into a professional quality watercolor artwork with Perfectum 3. It comes with lots of elements and options such as minimal watercolor mode and sketch watercolor mode to customize your design.

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Real Watercolor Action for Photoshop

real water color action for photoshop

This is another premium Photoshop action for creating watercolor painting photo effect with realistic paper texture. Available for purchase from Creative Market.

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Vibrant Watercolor Effect

vibrant watercolor effect photoshop action

Vibrant Watercolor Effect is a Photoshop action that converts your photo into realistic watercolor painting. It comes with 15 painted presets and 1 paper texture for producing realistic effects.

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Miniaturum Watercolor Sketch Photoshop Action

miniaturum watercolor sketch photoshop action

Miniaturum is a professional Photoshop action that creates a unique watercolor sketch effect. It also includes a watercolor and a sketch mode with a lot of elements for customization. This action is compatible with Photoshop CS3 and above.

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Watercolor and Sketch Painting

watercolor and sketch painting

This is another premium Photoshop action that lets you combine watercolor painting and sketch effect in one image to create a modern artwork. It comes with 3 watercolor effects that you can choose from.

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Lovely Watercolor Effect Actions

lovely watercolor effect actions

An easy-to-use action to create watercolor painting effect with realistic watercolor paper texture. This action works beautifully with double exposure images, black & white images and digital paintings as well.

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Asian Watercolor Photoshop Action

asian watercolor photoshop action

This watercolor effect Photoshop action comes with 4 watercolor styles (3 colored and 1 grayscale + red) and includes bonus Japanese stamps. It is compatible with Photoshop CS3 and above and comes with video tutorial and help file.

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Watercolor Artist Photoshop Action

watercolor artist photoshop action

This creative watercolor action comes with 8 color effect presets for creating different styles of artworks. The effect mixes watercolor and pencil sketch photo effects to give a unique look to your images. The action is compatible with Photoshop CS3 and above.

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Watercolor Photoshop Action One Click

watercolor photoshop action one click

This is another high-quality action to create realistic watercolor painting effect in Photoshop. The action creates effects with non-destructive layers that you can easily customize to produce distinct results.

Download

Photoshop Watercolor Action

photoshop watercolor action

This Photoshop action blends watercolor effect with your images to create an artistic look. Just brush over an image area and play the action, it will apply watercolor effect to the adjacent areas thus highlighting the portion of the image that you had painted with brush.

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Modern Watercolor Art PS Action

modern watercolor art ps action

Like the previous Photoshop action, this action also does not try to make your whole image look like a painting. This action mixes watercolor effect with your real-life image and turns it into a digital artwork.

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Watercolor 2 - Artist Photoshop Action

watercolor 2 artist photoshop action

This watercolor Photoshop action comes with 3 different effects, 20+brush and 25+ color presets and an additional 5 watercolor background frame action that you can try out to create an effect to your liking.

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Realistic Watercolor Painting Effect

realistic watercolor painting effect

With this action, you can easily create a detailed and natural looking water-color painting style image. The result is well organized in layers and groups, you can play with the adjustment layers and brush decorations for further customizations.

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Watercolor Masterpiece Photoshop Action

watercolor masterpiece photoshop action

A simple watercolor Photoshop action that makes your designs and images look like authentic paintings. The action works with Photoshop CS3 and above. The effect can be easily customized and it even comes with a video tutorial.

Download

Professional Watercolor Photoshop Action

professional watercolor photoshop action

This is another professional watercolor Photoshop action that will generate a natural watercolor effect in a non-destructive way.

Download

There are not many high-quality watercolor actions available for free, therefore we have included the top selling watercolor actions from GraphicRiver and Creative Market that will give you professional results.

Do you find this collection of watercolor Photoshop actions useful? Do also check out our collection of duotone Photoshop actions that has some free actions as well.

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