ASCII Magic
Open tool

/STYLE · DOTS

Halftone Effect Online, Free Halftone Generator (No Photoshop)

Add a halftone effect to any photo or video in your browser, filled dots that scale with brightness for the classic comic-book, pop-art, Ben-Day and newsprint look. Free halftone generator, no Photoshop, no Illustrator, no After Effects, no signup. Build Ben-Day dot patterns in real time and export at up to 4×.

Open the editor →

/SEE IT

From photo to halftone in one click

Drop any photo into the editor and pick the Dots style. Each cell is drawn as a filled circle whose size tracks the brightness underneath, recreating the halftone dots of comics, pop-art prints and newspapers.

Original colour photograph, before the halftone effect is applied
Original
The same photograph rendered in the Dots style
Dots output

/MORE EXAMPLES

Halftone dots from any photo

Six photos redrawn as halftone dots, circle size tracks brightness for that comic-book, pop-art look.

Photo rendered in the Dots style, Halftone dots
Halftone dots
Photo rendered in the Dots style, Fine dot grain
Fine dot grain
Photo rendered in the Dots style, Comic dots
Comic dots
Photo rendered in the Dots style, Bold dots
Bold dots
Photo rendered in the Dots style, Pop-art dots
Pop-art dots
Photo rendered in the Dots style, Dot matrix
Dot matrix

Every image is a real ASCII Magic export, drop your own photo to get the same look, then tune and export up to 4×.

/HOW IT WORKS

Make halftone in four steps

  1. Drop your image

    Drag any JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or MP4 into the editor. No upload, your file stays in the browser.

  2. Pick the Dots style

    Switch the render mode to Dots, your photo is instantly redrawn in the halftone look.

  3. Tune the look

    Adjust dot size, density, colour and contrast in real time, from fine newsprint grain to bold pop-art dots.

  4. Export

    Save as PNG, JPG, animated GIF or MP4, at up to 4× source resolution. No watermark.

/WHY ASCII MAGIC

Built for halftone dots

Brightness-scaled dots

Each dot grows and shrinks with the tone underneath, the real halftone / Ben-Day look, not a flat overlay.

Comic & pop-art ready

Tune dot size and colour for newsprint, comic-book or pop-art prints.

Real-time + palettes

Every change previews instantly; layer colours for retro print effects.

Video + 4× exports

Halftone every frame of a clip and export a looping MP4 or GIF; stills export up to 4× source resolution.

/HISTORY

Ben Day dots, halftone, and Lichtenstein, the comic-book lineage

Ben Day dots were invented by Benjamin Henry Day Jr in 1879 as a cheap way to print shaded areas at a time when full-colour photography was impossible: uniform-size coloured dots on a regular grid, overlaid on flat-printed line art. They became a hallmark of mass-printed comics from the 1940s through the 1970s. Roy Lichtenstein enlarged them in his 1960s pop-art paintings and they became the visual shorthand for "comic-book" across design and advertising. Modern halftone varies dot size with brightness to approximate continuous tone for photographic printing. ASCII Magic's Dots style supports both: uniform-size Ben Day for pop-art portraits, variable-size halftone for newspaper-style photo prints. The control is in the Dots panel.

Pop-art portraits with Ben Day dots

The Lichtenstein recipe: start with a high-contrast portrait or single subject, simplify the colour palette to two or three flat tones (often red, yellow, black), and overlay Ben Day dots over the flesh tones. ASCII Magic's Dots style does the dot overlay; combine with the Color Overlay post-effect for the flat palette. The result reads as instant pop-art, perfect for portraits, gig posters, T-shirt prints (which print cheaply at two colours) and album covers.

Because the Dots style bakes in the Ben Day pattern, ASCII Magic doubles as a pop art generator and a Warhol filter for photos. Push the palette to bright complementaries (magenta plus cyan, or red plus yellow) for the Warhol quadriptych look; pull it back to two flat tones for a Lichtenstein comic panel.

Stipple art from a photo

Stipple art is the fine-dot cousin of halftone. Where halftone dots grow and shrink to signal brightness, stipple keeps dots the same tiny size and varies their density: sparse in the highlights, dense in the shadows. It is the look of old scientific illustration, WSJ hedcuts, and pen-and-ink portrait work.

ASCII Magic renders stipple art from a photo with the Dots style. Pick a small dot size, crank the contrast, drop saturation to zero for a classic pen-and-ink read (or keep it up for a colour stipple), and preview the result live. Everything runs in your browser, so it works as a free stipple generator and a dot art generator, with no signup and no watermark. Export as PNG for print or GIF for the web.

Common uses: portrait illustration, editorial spot art, book covers and title pages, wine-label engravings, and any application where a photograph needs to read as hand-drawn without losing its likeness. Open the studio and drop a portrait in to try it.

Best uses for halftone and Ben Day dots

/FAQS

Common questions about halftone

How do I make a halftone effect from a photo?
Open ASCII Magic, drop your photo in, and pick the Dots style. Each cell becomes a filled dot sized by brightness, the halftone look. Adjust dot size and colour, then export as PNG, JPG, GIF or MP4. No signup.
What are Ben-Day dots?
Ben-Day dots are the evenly-spaced coloured dots used in old comics and pop-art prints (think Lichtenstein). The Dots style recreates them by drawing brightness-scaled circles across your photo.
Can I use it on a video?
Yes. Drop an MP4, MOV or WebM into ASCII Magic, pick the style, and every frame renders with the same settings. Export as an MP4 (H.264) or animated GIF.
Does ASCII Magic upload my photos to a server?
No. Every conversion runs locally in your browser using HTML5 Canvas. Your image or video never leaves your device, no upload, no cloud processing.
Is it really free?
Yes, completely free. No signup, no watermark, no export limit, no ads. Export stills up to 4x source resolution.
Can I use the output commercially?
Yes. The output is yours, use it in client work, social posts, prints, music videos, commercial sites, anything. You only need rights to the source image you uploaded.
What is the difference between Ben Day dots and modern halftone?
Ben Day uses uniform-size dots in a regular grid, the original 1879 comic-book technique invented by Benjamin Henry Day Jr. Modern halftone varies dot size with brightness to simulate photographic tone. Ben Day is more graphic; halftone is more photographic. ASCII Magic supports both modes on the same Dots style page.
How do I make a Lichtenstein-style pop-art portrait?
Start with a high-contrast portrait, simplify the colour palette to 2-3 flat tones (often red, yellow, black) using the Color Overlay post-effect, then apply the Dots style with uniform-size dots at a 45 degree grid angle. Push spacing wider and dot size bigger for the enlarged Lichtenstein look. Export as PNG for print.
Can I use the halftone effect for print, not just web?
Yes. ASCII Magic exports stills up to 4x source resolution, which gives you print-quality output at 300dpi-equivalent for posters, T-shirt prints, magazine spreads and gig posters.
How do I make a comic book or pop art effect from a photo?
Open ASCII Magic, drop your photo in, and pick the Dots style to get a comic book effect in your browser. The clustered halftone dots plus bold colours recreate the classic pop art effect made famous by Roy Lichtenstein and Ben-Day printing. Adjust dot size and contrast, then export as PNG, JPG or GIF.
Is there a halftone filter?
Yes. The Dots style is a live halftone filter: it converts your photo into filled dots that scale with brightness, the same look used in comic-book and newspaper printing. Slide the dot size and contrast to go from a fine print halftone to a chunky pop art filter, all in real time with no watermark.
What is stipple art and how do I make it from a photo?
Stipple art builds tonal gradients out of many tiny dots, the look you see in old scientific illustration and Wall Street Journal portraits. In ASCII Magic, stipple art from a photo is the Dots style with a small dot size, high contrast, and no colour: brighter regions get fewer, sparser dots and darker regions get denser clusters. Drop a photo in, pick Dots, shrink the dot size, and export.
Is there a halftone Photoshop alternative in the browser?
Yes. ASCII Magic works as a halftone Photoshop alternative: everything renders in the browser with a live preview, no Photoshop, no plugin and no signup. If you have used Filter, Pixelate, Color Halftone in Photoshop, the Dots style covers the same look with faster iteration, adjustable dot size, and colour or mono output.
What is a dot art generator?
A dot art generator turns a photo into an image made of dots, either large regular dots (halftone or Ben Day) or fine tiny dots (stipple). ASCII Magic is a free dot art generator that covers both, with live control over dot size, spacing and contrast, and the option to render in mono or colour. Export as PNG, JPG, GIF or MP4.

/CREATE ART IN SECONDS

Photos into halftone dots, in your browser.

Brightness-scaled dots, comic and pop-art looks, every change previews instantly, export at up to 4× resolution. Free forever.

Try it out now

/RELATED STYLES

Or try a different art style

ASCII Art → Pixel Art → Mosaic → Voxel →

Each opens the editor with that style ready. Explore the full styles index.