Free tool

Newsprint Effect

The halftone a newspaper prints with: small dots, black ink, and paper showing through everything it does not cover.

Looked after by Sponge, a sponge.

Newsprint is a halftone screen — an image broken into dots of different sizes, because a press can only put ink down or leave it off. Small dots for the light parts, fat overlapping ones for the dark, and the paper doing the rest.

What makes it read as printing rather than as a dot filter is that the ink multiplies. It darkens what is under it and cannot lighten anything, so highlights stay open and the shadows fill in. That is the setting most tools leave out.

What this look is made of: Halftone at 7px spacing with a 3px dot, in near-black, multiplied at 55%. Every one of those is a control below, so this is a starting point rather than a filter.

Choose an image

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JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG, BMP

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Looks

Base Color
#0a0a0a

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How it works

  1. 1Add an imageJPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG or BMP.
  2. 2Press a lookNine of them. Each sets the pattern, the colour, the blend and the opacity at once.
  3. 3Layer a backgroundStack patterns with their own colour and opacity.
  4. 4ExportPNG or JPEG, at 1x, 2x or 3x.

Questions

What is a newsprint effect?
A halftone screen at the size a newspaper press uses. The image becomes a field of dots — small where it is light, large and touching where it is dark — printed in one ink on paper, which is why the white of the page carries the highlights.
Why does my halftone look grey rather than printed?
Almost certainly because it is laid over the image normally rather than multiplied. Painted normally, a dot screen is a grey veil; multiplied, the dots darken what is beneath them and leave the light alone, which is what ink on paper actually does. The blend control here is set to Multiply for this look.
Can I make the dots bigger or smaller?
Yes. Dot spacing and dot size are separate sliders, so you can go from a fine magazine screen to a coarse 1970s tabloid. Bigger dots at wider spacing read as cheaper printing, which is often the point.

Other looks in this tool

Risograph FilterFilm Grain OverlayEtching EffectLaid Paper TextureCRT ScanlinesScreen Print EffectBlueprint EffectPhotocopy EffectAll nine, one editor →
Add texture and depth to any image

Nine named looks — newsprint, risograph, etching, film grain, CRT — each one press. Underneath them are thirteen hand-made patterns, five blend modes, and every parameter the look set, still yours to move. Everything runs in your browser, so your images never leave your device.

13 texture presets

Crosshatch, Woven, Linen, Halftone, Diagonal, Dot Grid, Scanlines, Noise, Fabric, Herringbone, Checker and Grid.

Background layers

Stack pattern layers with their own colour, opacity and visibility.

High-quality export

2x resolution as PNG or JPEG, for social, print and client work.

This tool is looked after by Sponge.Soaks up every texture it meets. Squishy, and delighted about it.

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