Crosshatch: Turn a Photo Into Pen and Ink Hatching
Each layer is a separate pass of the pen at its own angle, switched on once the tone is dark enough for it. Output is exactly two colours, ink and paper, which is what makes it ready for screen printing or vinyl.
Drop images here
or click to browse · or paste with Ctrl+V
JPG · PNG · WebP · GIF · BMP · AVIF
How many passes of the pen, each at its own angle. More layers means more tonal steps between white and solid ink.
The remaining layers are spread evenly around from here, so they always cross rather than stack on the same lines.
The output contains exactly these two colours and nothing else, which is what makes it ready for screen printing or vinyl cutting.
Presets
Your photos are never uploaded. The hatching and the export both run inside this browser tab.
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Everything this tool does
Tone built from coverage
Each layer switches on at its own tone threshold, so density accumulates in steps the way a real drawing does. Swept across the full tonal range, the inked proportion never decreases at any point.
Angles spread automatically
Layers are placed evenly across a half turn from your base angle, so passes cross at the widest available angles rather than clustering and producing moire.
Exactly two colours
Every output pixel is either ink or paper, with nothing in between, which is what makes the result usable for screen printing, vinyl cutting and auto-tracing to vector.
Your ink and paper
Both colours are yours to set, so blue on white for a technical feel or sepia on cream for an old manuscript takes one click.
Spacing and line width separately
How far apart the lines sit and how thick they are are different decisions, and separating them is what lets you match the hatching to the final display size.
Completely deterministic
There is no randomness anywhere in the engine, so the same photo and settings always produce exactly the same drawing.
Drag to compare
Before and after share one frame with a slider between them, which is how you judge whether the spacing suits the subject.
Six purpose-built presets
Classic, bold graphic, engraving, poster, blue on white and sepia ink.
Batch with one ZIP
Hatch a whole set with identical settings and take everything as a single archive built in your browser.
Nothing is uploaded
No server, no queue, nothing to delete afterwards. Close the tab and every trace of the image goes with it.
What each control does
Hatching builds tone by adding passes rather than by changing colour, so the number of layers sets how many distinct tones you can render, and the spacing sets how visible the technique is.
| Setting | What it does | Try | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 layers | three tones: white, hatch, cross | spacing 5-8 | Bold, graphic |
| 4 layers | five tones, the classic look | spacing 5-7 | Most photos |
| 5 layers | six tones, subtle gradation | spacing 4-6 | Detailed portraits |
| Spacing 3-5 | fine, dense hatching | line width 1 | Large images, print |
| Spacing 10-16 | open, obvious hatching | line width 2-3 | Posters, small images |
| Line width 1 | delicate pen | spacing 4-8 | Fine detail |
| Line width 3-4 | heavy marker | spacing 10+ | Bold graphic work |
2
colours in the output
2-5
hatch layers
0
files uploaded
0
randomness, fully deterministic
ZIP
batch download
Free
no account needed
FlipMyFormat vs other crosshatch tools
| Capability | FlipMyFormat | Typical free tool |
|---|---|---|
| Files stay in your browser | ||
| Layers at genuinely crossing angles | ||
| Exactly two colours in the output | ||
| Custom ink and paper colours | ||
| Fully deterministic, no randomness | ||
| Batch ZIP download without paying | ||
| No watermark on the output |
How to hatch a photograph the way an illustrator would
Hatching solves a problem that has nothing to do with computers: how do you render a continuous range of tone using a pen that only makes one mark, in one colour, at full strength. The answer illustrators arrived at centuries ago is to build tone from density. One set of parallel lines gives you a light grey. A second set crossing the first at an angle gives a darker grey, because more of the paper is covered. A third and a fourth take you darker still, and eventually the lines merge into solid ink. That is exactly how this tool works, and understanding it explains every control on the page. The number of layers is the number of tones you can render, plus white, so two layers gives you three tones and five gives you six. Fewer layers is bolder and reads as a woodcut; more is subtler and reads as an engraving. The angles matter enormously and are handled for you: each layer is placed evenly around from your base angle so the passes genuinely cross, because two layers at similar angles would simply thicken the same lines rather than adding density. The one thing you do have to judge is spacing against final size. Hatching is a technique you are supposed to see; if the lines are too fine for how the image will be displayed they average into flat grey and you have made an expensive greyscale conversion. As a rule, pick a spacing where you can clearly see individual lines at the size the image will actually be viewed.
- 1
Add a photo with clear tones
Drag it in, click to browse, or paste with Ctrl+V. Portraits and subjects with a clear light-to-dark range hatch best.
- 2
Set the layers and spacing
Four layers is the classic look. Spacing decides how visible the technique is, and should be larger for images that will be viewed small.
- 3
Pick ink and paper, then export
The output contains only those two colours. Export PNG, because fine lines are the worst possible content for JPEG.
Building tone out of coverage
Density, not darkness
A pen cannot make a grey mark. It makes a black one, and the only variable available is how much of the paper it covers, which is why hatching exists and why it looks the way it does. Each layer here is switched on at its own tone threshold, evenly spaced across the range, so as a region gets darker the layers accumulate one at a time and coverage rises in steps. That stepping is not a flaw to be smoothed away, it is the medium: a real crosshatched drawing has visible tonal bands for exactly the same reason. What does matter is that the steps go the right way, and we verify that across the whole tonal range: sweeping the input from white to black, the proportion of inked pixels never decreases at any point, so no tone in the output is ever lighter than a lighter tone in the input.
Why the angles are spread for you
Two sets of parallel lines at similar angles do not build density, they interfere. Where they nearly coincide they overlap and waste ink, and where they slowly drift apart they produce a visible moire pattern rather than an even tone. The traditional answer is to cross at large angles, and the angles here are spread evenly across a half turn from whatever base you choose, so four layers land forty-five degrees apart rather than clustered. That guarantees the passes cross at the widest available angles for the number of layers you asked for. The base angle is still yours to set, because the direction of the first pass is a compositional decision: hatching that runs with the main lines of a subject reads very differently from hatching that cuts across them.
What people use it for
Editorial illustration
Hatched portraits are a long-running convention in newspapers and financial press, and the look is instantly recognisable.
Screen printing
Two colours with no grey is exactly what a single-screen print needs, with the tone already broken into printable marks.
Vinyl cutting and stencils
Hard two-tone output traces to vector paths far more reliably than a greyscale image.
Book and album covers
The engraving association gives an image a literary or classical feel without any other treatment.
Technical and blueprint styling
Blue ink on pale paper with fine hatching reads as a technical drawing.
Tattoo references
Hatching is a core tattoo shading technique, so a hatched photo is a useful reference to discuss.
Colouring and activity pages
Open hatching at large spacing leaves room to colour between the lines.
Laser engraving
Two-tone line work is far easier for a laser to reproduce than a continuous tone image.
Six tips worth knowing
Pick a spacing where you can clearly see individual lines at the size the image will actually be viewed. Too fine and it averages into flat grey.
Four layers is the classic look. Two is bolder and reads as a woodcut, five is subtler and reads as an engraving.
The base angle is a compositional choice. Hatching that runs with a subject's main lines feels very different from hatching that cuts across them.
Increase the spacing for images that will be displayed small, and decrease it for large prints.
Fix contrast before hatching. The layers switch on at fixed tone thresholds, so a flat photo will only ever trigger one or two of them.
Export PNG. Fine ink lines are the single worst content for JPEG, which blurs them and adds grey fringing.
Troubleshooting
It looks like flat grey rather than lines
The spacing is too fine for the size you are viewing it at, so the lines average together. Increase the spacing.
Most of the image is one tone
Your photo is flat, so only one or two layers ever reach their threshold. Raise contrast on the original first.
The lines look like a moire pattern
That should not happen, since the angles are spread evenly. If you see interference, it is between the hatching and a repeating pattern in the photo itself, such as a striped shirt.
The darkest areas are solid black
That is correct. Past about 97 percent darkness the layers have covered everything, which is exactly what happens with a real pen.
Frequently asked questions
What is crosshatching?
A drawing technique for rendering tone with a pen that can only make one kind of mark. Parallel lines give a light grey, a second set crossing them gives a darker one, and further passes build up to solid ink.
How does the tool decide where to draw?
Each layer has its own tone threshold, evenly spaced across the range. As an area gets darker, more layers switch on, so coverage rises step by step exactly as it does in a real drawing.
Why are there visible tonal bands?
Because that is the medium. Hatching builds tone in discrete passes, so a real crosshatched drawing has visible bands too. What matters is that they go the right way, and coverage never decreases as the input gets darker.
Why can I not set each layer's angle?
Because the angles have to cross widely to build density evenly. Layers at similar angles overlap and produce moire rather than tone. They are spread evenly from your base angle, which is the part worth controlling.
How many layers should I use?
Four for the classic look. Two is bolder and reads as a woodcut, five is subtler and reads as an engraving. The number of layers is the number of tones you can render, plus white.
What spacing should I choose?
One where you can clearly see individual lines at the size the image will be viewed. Too fine and the lines average into flat grey, which defeats the point of the technique.
Is the output really only two colours?
Yes. Every pixel is either the ink colour or the paper colour, with nothing between them, which is what makes it usable for screen printing, vinyl cutting and vector tracing.
Can I use it for screen printing?
Yes, and it is one of the better uses. A single screen prints one ink, and hatching is the traditional way of getting tonal range out of that constraint.
Why is my image mostly one tone?
Your photo is flat, so only one or two layers ever reach their threshold. Raise contrast on the original first, then hatch.
Why do the darkest areas go solid?
Past about 97 percent darkness there is no room left between the lines, so the area fills. That is what happens with a real pen too.
Is there any randomness in it?
None. The engine is completely deterministic, so the same photo and settings always produce exactly the same drawing.
Can I change the ink colour?
Yes, both ink and paper. Blue on pale grey reads as a technical drawing, sepia on cream reads as an old manuscript.
Which format should I export?
PNG, and it genuinely matters here. Fine ink lines on paper are the worst possible content for JPEG, which blurs them and surrounds each one with grey fringing.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. The hatching and the export both run in your browser using the canvas API. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Is transparency preserved?
The output is filled with ink and paper colours, so it is opaque. If you need transparency, use the paper colour as a key in another editor.
How is this different from the sketch effect?
The sketch effect measures how much each pixel differs from its surroundings and draws strokes of varying weight. Crosshatch renders tone with uniform lines at fixed angles, which is a different technique with a different history.
Can I process a batch?
Yes. Add as many photos as you like and the same layers, spacing and colours are applied to each.
Does it add a watermark or need an account?
No to both. No sign-up, no email wall, no daily limit and no watermark on the output.