Friday 03rd April 2015
When starting out as a digital artist, it can be difficult to navigate the complex world of art resources available on the internet, which are vast in scope, to say the least. It's all too easy to wind up creating a masterpiece only to find out that some part of a source you've used in the construction expressly prohibits its usage in a commercial work, which mean no sales for you. That doesn't mean you have to create every single element in every project you use from scratch, just that it's important to know what resources are available to use and which have prohibitive usage restrictions.
As you progress, of course, you'll come to appreciate the value of creating every element yourself, but for beginners learning the skills themselves, this is hardly practical. Whether you're a graphic designer looking for a stock photo, a Photoshop artist looking for a source file, or even a 3D artist who needs the perfect texture for mapping, it's nice to avoid re-inventing the wheel sometimes.
Fortunately, there are a number of places to look where you find imagery that is free to use. Unfortunately, it's not just as simple as visiting Google Images and doing a quick search - this is exactly the kind of thing that can create problems for you later on down the road. There are a number of free stock photo sites that offer an array of completely free to use images, although some are offered under specific licenses such as the Creative Commons, or simply require attribution if used in a derivative work. Morguefile is a great site with a large bank of images, although sometimes it seems like part of the reason people give the images away for free is that the subject matter isn't well-executed enough to be sold on more high profile sites. FreeImages (formerly StockXchange) is also a good site, although they often try to upsell paid stock images in their search results, so make sure that you don't set your heart on one of those (although, if it comes down to it, individual images are usually relatively cheap).
It's important to note, though, that a good digital camera can often be a far more helpful and creatively-satisfying option, as producing every element of your final work creates a much more honest piece, but sometimes this just isn't an option - if not, these resources should have you covered.
Posted on April 03rd 2015 on 08:21pm
