Screen Tones & Halftones
📋 What it is
Screen tones are patterns of tiny dots or lines used to add shading, texture and grey tones to black-and-white manga.
🗣️ Coach says
Manga is mostly black and white — so how does it get greys and texture? Screen tones: sheets or patterns of tiny dots that trick your eye into seeing grey shading. It’s how a black-ink page gets depth and mood.
🧠 Memory hook
Tiny dot patterns (tones) = grey shading in black-and-white manga.
😂 Giggle
Why did the panel break up with the gutter?
It said there was too much space between them!
😲 Whoa!
From a distance, a pattern of tiny black dots blends into smooth grey — the same trick newspapers use to print photos.
✅ Quick check: How do manga artists create grey shading in a black-and-white manga?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
With screen tones — patterns of tiny dots or lines that the eye blends into grey, adding shading and texture.
Screen tones are the signature technique of B&W manga craft.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Look closely at a printed grey area — can you see it’s made of tiny dots?