The labels on the axis overlap. Is there a way to change their font size smaller? m=100 n=100 X=replicate(n,rnorm(m)) image(X,axes=F) axis(side=1,at=seq(from=par()$usr[1],to=par()$usr[2],length=(m+1))[1:m],labels=replicate(m, 'A'),las=2)