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Wanted poster generator
Make a wanted poster from any photo. Add a headline, reward, and aged paper, then download a PNG. Free, no sign-in, runs in your browser.
What is a wanted poster generator?
What the poster includes
Headline that fits: WANTED by default, or any word up to 24 characters. The type shrinks to fit the width so nothing gets cut off.
Framed portrait: The photo is cover-fitted into a 900 by 780 frame with an ink border and a paper inset, then tinted so it looks printed.
Reward block: A reward line between two rules, plus a subtitle under the photo and a line of small print.
Four paper stocks: Parchment, aged, cream, and newsprint. Each has its own ink and burn color.
Photo tone: Sepia, grayscale, or the original colors.
Wear slider: Grain, blotches, and edge burn from clean paper to something that has been nailed to a post for a year.
How to make a wanted poster
Upload a photo
A head-and-shoulders shot works best. JPG, PNG, or WebP. Or click an example to see the layout first.
Write the text
Change the headline, the line under the photo, the reward, and the small print. Leave a field empty to hide it.
Pick paper and tone
Choose a paper stock, set the photo to sepia or grayscale, and move the wear slider.
Download
Save the 1200 by 1680 PNG. It prints cleanly at letter or A4 size.
Tips for a better poster
- 01
Crop tight before uploading
The frame is close to 8:7. A face filling most of the source image looks like a mugshot; a wide landscape shot gets cropped at the sides. Trim first with Crop Image if needed.
- 02
Keep the reward short
"$5,000 REWARD" fits at full size. Longer strings shrink and lose impact.
- 03
Sepia plus aged paper
That pairing is the classic look. Use newsprint with grayscale for a 1930s public-enemy feel instead.
- 04
Wear around 40 to 70
Below 30 the paper looks flat; above 80 the grain starts to fight the text.
- 05
Printing
The PNG is 1200 by 1680, a 5:7 ratio. Print at 100 percent on letter or A4 and trim, or scale to fill. Convert to PDF with JPG to PDF Converter if the print shop asks for one.
Great for
Party invitations
Western-themed birthdays, bachelor parties, and school dances.
Classroom projects
Character studies for a novel, historical figures, or a "wanted" vocabulary word.
Office and group jokes
The coworker who never returns the stapler, the friend who is always late.
Pet and game night flyers
A wanted poster for the cat that knocked over the plant, or for a tabletop campaign villain.
Technical details
- Canvas size
- 1200 by 1680 pixels, fixed. The photo is scaled to cover its frame, not stretched.
- Type
- Headline and reward use a heavy serif; subtitle and small print use Georgia or the closest installed serif. Text auto-shrinks to the column width.
- Paper texture
- Radial blotches, an edge-burn vignette, and a 3 pixel grain layer. Generated from a seeded random source so the same settings always render the same poster.
- Photo tone
- Canvas filters (sepia, grayscale) followed by a multiply blend with the paper color.
- Privacy
- Everything runs in the browser. No upload, no account.
Sources
“A wanted poster is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend.”
Wanted poster: The Old West reward notice, with a portrait, the word WANTED, and a bounty, is the layout this generator reproduces. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanted_poster
“The filter property provides filter effects such as blurring and grayscaling.”
CanvasRenderingContext2D.filter: Sepia and grayscale photo tones use the canvas filter property. developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CanvasRenderingContext2D/filter
“The globalCompositeOperation property sets the type of compositing operation to apply when drawing new shapes.”
CanvasRenderingContext2D.globalCompositeOperation: The photo is multiplied with the paper color so it looks printed rather than pasted on. developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CanvasRenderingContext2D/globalCompositeOperation