How to create a halftone image
- Drop a photo; Halftone is selected.
- Set the dot grid size: small for detail, large for a bold pop-art look.
- Choose black-and-white with any screen angle, or CMYK colour for four overlapping ink screens.
- Download the result as PNG.
How halftone printing works
Printing presses cannot print shades of grey, only ink or no ink. Halftone screens solve this with a grid of dots whose size varies with brightness: big dots in dark areas, tiny ones in light areas. From a distance the eye blends them into continuous tones. Colour printing overlays cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) screens, each rotated to a different angle (classically 15°, 75°, 0° and 45°) to avoid moiré patterns. Roy Lichtenstein's pop art made the enlarged dots an iconic style.
Here, the dot radius is proportional to the square root of the ink amount so that the dot's area matches the darkness. Colour mode multiplies the four screens on white like real ink. Everything runs in your browser.
FAQ
What dot size should I use?
For posters, 8–15 px dots on a 1600 px image give a strong look; for detail, 4–6 px.
Can I print it?
Yes. Download PNG and print; halftones print sharply.
Why do colour dots overlap?
That is how CMYK printing works: overlapping inks mix to create colours.