How to Find Free Images

If you are a scrapbooker or looking for free images for your decoupage or wall art projects, I have some good news for you: This post is all about how to find free images.

Freepik: This is a free graphic resources website where you can find and download over 65K+ free vectors, PSD (Photoshop) files and photos. It has a great search capability, and you can find anything from vintage to retro graphics, from watercolor to abstract graphics to use on your projects. Freepik gives you the option to use their graphics as a free user. Should you choose to do so, you will only have a “free with attribution” license.

Pixel Scrapper: Pixel Scrapper is a great community site for digital artists and scrapbookers. They have countless number of digital images, scrap booking kits, backgrounds and also tutorials. Pixel Scrapper has two types of licensing for their content: Personal use and Commercial use. Once you create a free account, you get 5 daily credit every single day and can use those credits for downloading images for commercial use or personal use.

The Graphics Fairy: This is one of my ‘go to’ websites when I am looking for ephemera or vintage images. The Graphics Fairy is pretty famous not only for vintage images, but also for its great tutorials on image transfer and decoupage projects.

Biodiversity Heritage Library: Biodiversity Heritage Library has over 100K vintage photos on flicker which you can choose and download for your personal use. If you are looking especially for vintage animal or botanical pictures Biodiversity Heritage Library is definitely the vintage image library for you.

The New York Public Library Digital Collections: If you are a vintage image lover then you should check out The New York Public Library’s Digital Collection. They have recently updated their policies with regards to public domain materials. The files which are explicitly marked as “No Known U.S. Copyright” can be downloaded with the highest resolution available and can be used for personal use. For commercial use please read NYPL‘s license policy.

The British Library: The British Library is also on flicker where they publish over 1 million copyright free images. You can find anything from illustrated lettering (typography) to vintage advertisement, from old book covers to vintage portrait or to vintage maps. If you are interested in vintage images The British Library may be the right place for you.

Far Far Hill: Far Far Hill is a personal blog full of free images: backgrounds, scanned vintage papers, images, illustrations… you name it. Whether you are a scrapbooker or looking for beautiful vintage images for your decoupage projects, I am sure you’ll find Far Far Hill resourceful as much as I do.

Free Design File: Free Design File is a website of vector lovers who share free vector graphics which is pretty much like Freepik. In Free Design File, you can find thousands of free quality vector graphics, logos, icons, backgrounds, and patterns created by creative illustrators.

Just like other free vector websites Free Design File is also constantly updated, so be sure to check their online gallery regularly. All the images on this site are free to use for personal use and most of them can be used commercialy.

DeviantArt: DeviantArt is an art sharing community where you can buy and/or find free images of all sorts… and when I say all sorts I mean all sorts: from vintage to abstract, from photos to anime illustrations. This is one of those websites I lose myself in for hours and hours looking at the wonderful art done by talented artists. Considering how big the DeviantArt community is, the search section is surely one of the best tools they have. For more info on their licensing and copyrights policy please visit here.

Vintage Printable: Vintage Printable is another vintage image paradise for your projects. Be sure to check Vintage Printable‘s archives as all their images are in public domain.

Audubon: If you are a bird lover, this website is definitely the ‘one and only’ for you! In Audubon.org you will find the naturalist James John Audubon’s wonderful bird illustrations in high definition free for personal use. A sign-up page may be prompted when you hit the download button, but know that you don’t have to sign-up to download any of the fabulous bird illustrations. While you are at Audubon website make sure to check their Guide to North American Birds, I am sure you’ll have great time reading about birds and listening to those fabulous bird songs.

Google Patents: Nowadays blueprints and patents are big in wall decoration, but they can be pretty expensive too. So I thought I should also share Google Patent search with you in case patent wall art speaks to your soul better than any other. For easier search on Google Patents I would recommend searching with the patent number which you can find on the posters sold on art/poster websites.

Vintage Images: Vintage Images.org has over 12K vintage images compiled in groups. In those groups you can find anything from birds to vintage Coca-Cola ads to various ephemera images.

Free Vintage Posters: As you may guess from the name, this website is full of free vintage posters. They have posters of all kinds: adverts, travel, animals, design, food/drink, western movies, other movies, circus posters, sports and war posters. If you are planning to buy some vintage posters for your home theater you might want to check out Free Vintage Posters before spending money on vintage posters.

These are my favorite websites to find free images for my wall art or decoupage projects. I hope you enjoy what you find on these websites as much as I do.

As I always say, happiness and knowledge are two things that grow greater when shared, so if you know other sources for free images and printables, please share them with us.

Handan, xo