Techniques for generating three dimensional image data with brushstroke effects from a two dimensional image is disclosed. One or more three dimensional brushstroke patterns from at least one brushstroke are generated. A two dimensional image is partitioned into one or more color regions. For each color region, each three dimensional brushstroke pattern is transformed to obtain a brushstroke effect. Each transformed three dimensional brushstroke pattern is then applied to each color region to generate a three dimensional image data having the brushstroke effect.