Notan Maker & Image Simplifier

Upload a reference photo and simplify it for easier value study, shape recognition, and painting preparation.

Before and after example — original photo simplified for drawing reference

Upload an image to get started.
Use the controls to simplify your reference for drawing.

What is notan, and how do you make one?

Notan (濃淡) is a Japanese design concept meaning “light–dark harmony.” A notan study reduces an image to a small number of flat tones — classically just two, pure black and pure white — and throws away every detail in between. What survives is the composition's skeleton: the arrangement of masses, the balance of positive and negative space, and whether the design reads at a glance.

It is one of the fastest diagnostics in picture-making. A painting that fails as a notan will fail at full size too, because no amount of colour or rendering can rescue a composition whose big shapes are muddled. Traditionally artists cut black paper and glued it down; this tool does the same thing in a couple of seconds, and lets you step through 2, 3, 4 or more tones to see where the structure holds and where it collapses.

To make a notan here: upload a reference photo, switch to greyscale, and drag the levels control down to 2 tones for a classic two-value notan. Move up to 3–4 tones for a value study that keeps a little more information — useful for planning a painting rather than just testing a composition. Everything is processed in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.

For the full background — where notan comes from, worked examples and design exercises — read our guide to what notan is. The same posterising process is also how you build a value study: where notan asks “does this composition work?”, a value study asks “where exactly do the tones sit?” The two are worth doing together.

How to use the Image Simplifier

  1. Upload a reference photo using the controls panel on the left.
  2. Enable Grayscale to strip colour and see only value relationships.
  3. Use the Posterize slider to reduce the image to 2–4 value zones — great for value planning.
  4. Increase Contrast to make light and shadow areas more distinct.
  5. Use Blur to suppress fine detail and focus on large shapes.
  6. Download the result as a PNG reference for your drawing session.

Simplifier FAQ

Notan is a Japanese design principle meaning light–dark harmony. A notan study reduces an image to a few flat tones — often just black and white — so you can judge the arrangement of masses and the balance of positive and negative space without being distracted by detail or colour.
Upload your reference above, switch to greyscale, and reduce the tone levels to 2. That gives a classic two-value notan. Use 3 or 4 tones if you want a slightly richer value study for planning a painting.
A notan usually uses two tones and answers a design question: does this composition read? A value study uses more tones (often five to nine) and answers a tonal question: how light or dark is each area? Notan comes first, value study second.
Technically yes — posterising reduces an image to a limited number of tone or colour steps, which is exactly how a digital notan is produced. The difference is intent: posterising is an effect, notan is a compositional test.
Posterisation reduces the number of tonal values in an image to a small set — for example, just 3 or 4 distinct shades. This reveals the underlying value structure and is very useful for planning the light and shadow zones of a painting before adding colour.
Colour can be distracting when studying how light and shadow work. Converting to grayscale removes colour information and lets you focus purely on the lightness and darkness of shapes — a foundational skill for realist drawing and painting.
No. All processing is done locally in your browser. Your image is never sent to any server. The download button simply saves the current state of the canvas to your device.