Ben-Day Dots

Ben-Day dots are a printing technique that uses small, closely spaced colored dots to create shading, texture, and tonal variation in images. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this method allows printers to produce images with varying shades by adjusting the size, spacing, and density of the dots, rather than using continuous tone colors. It became famous through artists like Roy Lichtenstein and was widely used in comic books and commercial prints. The technique relies on the visual blending of dots to simulate different colors and tones at a distance, making images appear detailed and nuanced while using fewer ink colors.