A Long List Of Free (and almost free) Stuff

This is part of my endless list of free stuff from the web. 

Believe it or not, most of the graphics offered on the sites listed below are free. HOWEVER they are all offered under different licensing agreements- some require a link back to the designer’s website, some required copyright credits, others require nothing at all. Make sure you read the licensing agreements carefully. Don’t abuse an artist’s intellectual property rights and they will keep sharing their work with us.

VectorPortal.com

Their slogan? "everything vector- everything free"

And they mean it.

There is an endless selection of vector files (eps and ai) files- from backgrounds to silhouettes to logo elements. It has the most comprehensive selection of vector images and it doesn’t pass you off to a download site that tries to sell you a membership.

 

Snap2Objects

Mauricio Duque, a Colombian web designer. is the force behind Snap2Objects. On regular basis, he offers free designs, tips and tutorials. A must have for all wordpress designers are his rrs and wp icons.

30 Free Wordpress Icons

http://www.snap2objects.com/2007/06/15/30-free-vector-wordpress-icons/

30 free rss icons

http://www.snap2objects.com/2007/06/10/30-free-vector-rss-buttons/

It will save you time matching those pesky icons with your working color scheme.

If you do a lot of corporate work, don’t miss out on the Businessmen silhouettes:

http://www.snap2objects.com/2008/04/25/12-free-vector-businessman-silhouettes/

DragonArtz

Wow.

From snowy holidays cards to gorgeous backgrounds to buildings, and kids, and butterflies, and computer chips, this site has just about everything. The downside? It uses DepositFiles or Rapidshare for the downloads. Granted, the artwork is so good , the transfer bandwidth alone would bankrupt the artist.

If you do a lot of tech sites, you might want the computer chip vector.

http://dragonartz.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/computer-chip-vector/

The fireworks are pretty great too

http://dragonartz.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/fireworks-vector/

 

Bittbox

By his own admission, Jay Hilgert is an Oklahoma-based Apple Geek and designer who likes to give stuff away. He’s got fonts and vectors packages and photoshop brushes and regular news of other free art available around the web. 

Lately, he’s on a font binge. (I have been known to binge on fonts as well…)  

 

QVector

They say:

"QVectors.com is a Showcase site for free quality vector images from around the net. its also a sister site of Qbrushes.com which showcases quality photoshop brushes ."

I say: 

The vector and photoshop brushes available at this site are phenomenal. Take a look at Qbrushes before you buy a commercial brush.

Createsx8

Some of the cooolest skateboarding graphics I’ve seen- lotsa swirly grunge graphics, patterns, and brushes by an artist names LostFayth. 

 

DinPattern

DinPattern is the love child of Evan Eckard  of www.evaneckard.com.

This site has an incredible selection of background tiles for websites, all free, designed by Mr. Eckard,  and it has a cool function that allows you to see the webpage with the tile of your choice as the background.

Icon Archive

A gazillion icon sets at your disposal. 

 

 

DryIcons

Desiging icons requires that great design be reduced to its most essential so it can be shrunk down and still recognized. Its a tough job- one the designbers and at DryIcons seem to manage effortlessly.

AND they have a free download area:

http://dryicons.com/free-icons/

 

I recently spent 5 hours creating social networking icons that looked like they were suspended inside glass marbles. I am lucky that the client didn’t see theSocialize Icons  this site has available in their free download area. For the cost of a commercial license ($11), they might have just substituted DryIcons work and I would have lost out on a gig.

 

BG Patterns

 

Make your own background at this site- the possible combinations of colors and sizes make this one of my favorite isnpiration sites.

 

Sxc.hu

SXC is my absolute favorite free stock image site on the web.  They have an enormous selction of free stock- below are just 5 of the more than a 1000 rose images to choose from.

They are  associated with Stockxpert (http://www.stockxpert.com)- a micro stock site(http://www.microstockforum.com/)- which will show you some of their options as well. Their images are priced between $1 and $8.

Dreamstime: Another Micro Stock Site – carries many of the same images and illustrations as StockXpert. I use them pretty regularly as well. Their images are priced between $1 and $8.

Vector Stock:  Their prices start at $1 (up to $10) and they have a free download section. Good selection.

 

Okay. I’m done for now.  If anyone wants to pipe in with some other suggestions….