Name: Halftone and Halftone 2
Platform: iOS only
Cost: $0.99 (Halftone) and $1.99 (Halftone 2) and in-app purchases for square page layouts
Ever wish you were a cartoonist? The Halftone apps let you realize that aspiration easily enough. Named after the printing process for rendering images through gradients of black and white or color, these apps is easy to use and produce amazing effects.
You begin by importing a picture or using your camera. You can choose different caption styles, speech bubbles (which can be layered) as well as a series of classic “stamps” to simulate action. Fonts include a range of easily legible comic-based styles, with three sizes. The whole set-up means you can create something worthy of the funny pages in mere seconds.
Halftone 2 ups the game of the original by allowing you to create multi-panel compositions and adds oodles more options in terms of stamps.
Halftone is an easy way to punch up your promotional materials and add some real appeal. I used it to re-imagine my beginning-of-the-year teacher handouts. Teens will also love the combinations of automaticity and customization the app provides. It’s all-around fun that works especially well with this summer’s cooperative library program superhero theme.
Check out more great apps in our archive. Have an idea for an App of the Week? Let us know.
