11 Free Stock Art Sites Graphic Designers Can Use Today

If you don’t plan to find stock images on the fly, it can leave you scrambling for a solution where you end up paying to download images. While this may work for one or two projects, paying for stock illustrations continuously is not cost-effective and can end up affecting your profits down the line. It’s beneficial for designers to have reliable stock art sources they can utilize at any point with no worries of copyright infringement or breaking the terms of use.

Don’t avoid using stock art in your work, as these high-quality images work to keep your audience visually engaged with your content. Below, you can learn more about some of the most popular free stock art sites that graphic designers can use today to enhance their work.

Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is one of the top choices among graphic designs for royalty-free illustrations, videos, photos, and 3D assets. It’s important to note that while Adobe Stock requires a subscription plan with discounting through Creative Cloud, Adobe does have an entirely free asset collection for users to download.

Unsplash

Unsplash has grown in popularity over the last few years in the creative design field as a choice for free images and pictures. Any images on Unsplash are licensed under Getty Images, meaning any files are free to use for commercial, personal, or editorial use. The library has over 3 million images and 200,000 photographers and artists providing content for users.

Freerange

Freerange is a platform dedicated to providing quality stock photos and illustrations for both commercial and non-commercial use. The library is a mixture of in-house photography images, contributed images, and CC0 (public domain) images, so designers can choose which content works best for their unique style.

StockSnap

Another incredibly popular option, StockSnap, has an extensive library of absolutely free images to use in both commercial, personal, and editorial work. The platform makes high-quality images accessible for designers by having all of their files secured with a CC0 license, meaning designers can use and edit them with complete freedom.

Flickr

First formed in 2004, Flickr is an image and video hosting site that has a combination of hosting capabilities and free images for public use. While there is an option to subscribe for a “Pro” mode, it’s really unnecessary for most designers. There are many free images available in many different categories, allowing creative professionals to choose which idea works best.

Negative Space

Negative Space is a stock art site that jumped into the design scene and instantly grew in popularity! The platform offers free high-quality images for commercial and non-commercial usage on the easy-to-use interface. There are categories available to help narrow search results and images cited as unique and cutting edge.

Picjumbo

Created in 2013, Picjumbo is another completely free source for stock illustrations, photos, and backgrounds. All of the photos in the Picjumbo library are available for commercial use. The site does note that while they are free to use, some photos may not have elements like property or model release.

Death to Stock

Death to Stock is one of the newer options for quality stock images, though the company is quickly making a name in the industry. The organization is artist-owned and works to add new images each month. While there is an option for a paid subscription plan, the free account still has ample image options available for download.

Shutterstock

One of the most well-known and widely trusted stock art websites is Shutterstock. This company was first formed in 2003 and has grown to be a global provider of quality images, photos, and vectors. There is an option to subscribe monthly for additional incentives, but the standard library of stock art has more than enough for designers to work with.

If you are looking to get into the field of creative design or want to improve your software knowledge, signing up for graphic design classes is a great way to refresh your skill set. Prospective designers who need more intense training should consider live online graphic design bootcamps, as they have an extensive curriculum that can be completed from anywhere. Live online education courses provide flexibility when taking classes, but some students prefer to learn in-person with their instructors and peers. Searching for graphic design bootcamps in your area is a great way to see all the options close to your location.