Linocut Design Maker
Turn a photo or drawing into a linocut design you can transfer and carve. Set the block size in inches or millimetres and the lightness where black starts; mid-tones can become carved lines at your gouge width and spacing, the way linocuts show grey. Linocut is a relief print: the parts you carve away stay paper-coloured and the surface you leave takes the ink, so the tool shows the proof (how the print will look) and the block (black = leave, white = carve away), mirrored so the print reads the right way round. Set the thinnest black line and the narrowest white gap you want to carve: the Check view marks anything below them, and the clean-up removes lines that are too thin and fills gaps that are too narrow. For a reduction print, the tool splits the picture into 2 to 4 colours and makes one carving plan per colour from one block, each carving away everything the earlier ones did plus more. The PDF is at the real block size with registration marks. Nothing is uploaded.
100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
The PDF has a proof page (how the print will look) and the block page (mirrored, so the print reads the right way). Black = leave, white = carve away. Print at 100% (Actual size); the pink outline is the block edge.
Picture
Block
Carving
Page
Runs in your browser with our own code: your picture is read on this device and nothing is uploaded or saved. The sample pictures are drawn by our code. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed.
How to make a linocut design from a photo
- Add your photo or drawing, or pick one of our sample pictures.
- Type the block size (the height can follow your picture).
- Move the black threshold, and add carved-line texture for the mid-tones if you like.
- Set the thinnest line and narrowest gap, keep Clean up on, and look at the Check view.
- Download the PDF and print at 100% (Actual size): the block page is mirrored for transfer.
What you can use it for
- Lino block and soft-cut block printing
- Transfer designs for carving rubber stamps
- Reduction prints in 2 to 4 colours
- Art class printmaking projects
- Cards, posters and tote bag prints
- Planning a print before you carve
Minimum widths in pixels
| Detail | 0.5 mm | 1 mm | 1.5 mm | 2 mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 px per mm (0.333 mm per px) | 2 px | 3 px | 5 px | 6 px |
| 4 px per mm (0.25 mm per px) | 2 px | 4 px | 6 px | 8 px |
| 6 px per mm (0.167 mm per px) | 3 px | 6 px | 9 px | 12 px |
| 8 px per mm (0.125 mm per px) | 4 px | 8 px | 12 px | 16 px |
The check works on the design’s pixels: a minimum of 1 mm at 4 px per mm means a circle 4 pixels across must fit inside every black line and every white gap.
Reduction print cuts
| Colours | Lightness cuts | What gets carved |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 67%, 33% | layer 1 carves lightness ≥ 67%; layer 2 keeps only below 33% |
| 3 | 75%, 50%, 25% | layer 1 carves lightness ≥ 75%; layer 3 keeps only below 25% |
| 4 | 80%, 60%, 40%, 20% | layer 1 carves lightness ≥ 80%; layer 4 keeps only below 20% |
Lightness 100% = white. Each colour’s carve area contains the one before it, so the plan can be carved in order on one block.
Block sizes and the paper they print on
| Block | Fits with registration marks on |
|---|---|
| 4 × 6 in | US Letter, A4, Tabloid, A3 |
| 5 × 7 in | US Letter, A4, Tabloid, A3 |
| 6 × 8 in | US Letter, A4, Tabloid, A3 |
| 8 × 10 in | Tabloid, A3 |
| 9 × 12 in | Tabloid, A3 |
| A6 (105 × 148 mm) | US Letter, A4, Tabloid, A3 |
| A5 (148 × 210 mm) | US Letter, A4, Tabloid, A3 |
| A4 (210 × 297 mm) | Tabloid, A3 |
Each page keeps 10 mm around the block for the registration marks, plus the header and footer. Any other size can be typed in.
Clean-up on our sample pictures (pixels below 1 mm)
| Sample (drawn by our code) | Thin black before | Narrow white before | Thin black after | Narrow white after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaded ball on a table | 178 | 81 | 0 | 0 |
| Tone ramp (light to dark) | 52 | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| Hills under a low sun | 102 | 48 | 0 | 0 |
| Rings and a square | 80 | 82 | 0 | 0 |
| Leaf with veins | 315 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
150 × 112.5 mm block at 2.4 px per mm, threshold 50%, carved-line texture 2.5 mm apart with a 1 mm gouge. Your own picture shows its own counts in the info line.
Which tool to use
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A carve-ready block print design, mirrored, with a line and gap check | Linocut Design Maker (this page) |
| A cut-out stencil with bridges | Stencil Maker |
| A stencil outline for skin transfer | Tattoo Stencil Maker |
| Tone in crossing lines for drawing or plotting | Crosshatching |
| A few flat colour levels for screen use | Posterize Image |
Also handy: the Stencil Maker, Posterize Image and Crosshatching for line-shaded studies.
More free tools
Turning photos into prints and drawings?
Image tools that run privately in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark.
Frequently asked questions
What is a linocut?
A relief print made from a sheet of linoleum (or a soft carving block). You carve away the parts that should stay the colour of the paper, roll ink over the surface that is left, and press paper onto it. Black in this tool is the surface you leave; white is what you carve.
Why is the block mirrored?
Printing flips the picture left to right, so the design on the block must be a mirror image for the print (and any lettering) to read the right way. The block page is mirrored; the proof page shows how the print will look. Our tests check that the block is the exact pixel mirror of the proof.
What do the minimum line and gap mean?
The thinnest black line you can leave standing and the narrowest white gap you can carve, usually set by your smallest gouge and how fine you can carve. The tool checks the whole design: a black part is too thin where a circle of the minimum width does not fit inside the black, and a gap is too narrow where a circle of the gap width does not fit inside the white.
What does Clean up do?
It fills white gaps that are narrower than the minimum and removes black lines thinner than the minimum, then checks again; where those two steps would undo each other, it widens the thin line to the minimum instead. Sharp black corners get slightly rounded, as a round gouge would leave them. The info line gives how many pixels were below the minimum before and after; the Check view shows any in red (thin black) and blue (narrow white).
How does the carved-line texture work?
Tones a little lighter than the black threshold (the mid-tone range) become black with white carved lines through them, at the gouge width and spacing you set, in one direction or crossed. The lines are made by the same code as our Crosshatching tool.
What is a reduction print?
A colour print made from one block: you print the lightest colour first, carve away more, print the next colour over it, and so on to the darkest. Each plan page shows what to leave for that colour; everything carved for an earlier colour stays carved, which the tool checks. Print every colour before you carve the next layer, because the block cannot be uncarved.
How do I line up the colours?
Every page has the same four registration marks just outside the block corners and a pink outline at the block edge, so you can line up the paper and the block the same way for each colour.
Is it free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.
Is my picture uploaded?
No. Your picture is read by your browser on your own device and drawn on a canvas there; nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored after you close the tab.