How to Make a Halftone Effect in GIMP (and a Faster Way)

GIMP is free, which makes it the go-to when you don't want to pay for Photoshop. It can produce a halftone, but the feature is buried and not obvious if you don't already know its name. Here's the real process, plus an honest note on when it's not worth the trouble.

The filter you're looking for is Newsprint

GIMP doesn't call it halftone. The relevant filter is Filters > Distorts > Newsprint. It converts your image into a dot screen and lets you set the cell size, the dot shape, and the screen angle. If you've ever wondered why searching 'GIMP halftone' turns up nothing useful, this is why — it's hiding under a different name.

Step by step

• Open your image and, if you want a mono look, desaturate it first (Colors > Desaturate).
• Boost contrast with Colors > Brightness-Contrast so the dots have something to work with.
• Open Filters > Distorts > Newsprint.
• Set the cell size — this is your dot size. Bigger cells, bigger dots.
• Choose a spot shape (circle is the classic) and adjust the angle if you want.
• Flatten and export as PNG.

Where it gets fiddly

Two things slow you down in GIMP. First, there's no quick before-and-after, so you're applying, undoing, and reapplying to compare settings. Second, Newsprint outputs raster pixels, so if you later need the dots bigger for print, you're stuck re-rendering rather than scaling cleanly. For colour halftones you also have to manage channels yourself, which gets technical fast.

When to skip it

If you just need a halftone for a post or a poster and you don't already live in GIMP, a browser tool gets you there faster. You see the dots change as you drag, and you can export SVG so the dots stay crisp at any size. GIMP makes more sense when the halftone is one step inside a bigger edit you're already doing there.