The illustration is basically a visual way to portray or illustrate written typography. These flat illustrations and 3D illustrations help take an idea or explain the story or offer decoration and come in various forms, i.e., both digital and traditional.
Unlike designers who create logos and similar images, illustration designers are responsible for creating lively, character-driven illustrations with personality and can also have a touch of humor.
The adage “an image speaks a thousand words” holds true in the field of design. Every day, designers produce and use visual representations. Designers may include photographs in their work, while they use original illustrations at other times. In many situations, high-quality customized illustrations are beneficial. There are various situations where you should be using these illustrations. If the subject is too obvious to pictures, then you need illustrations. You can even use illustrations for packaging, events, promotional materials, in branding, and so on.
There are two types of illustrations, and they are flat and 3D illustrations. Flat illustrations are a minimalist design which emphasizes usability. These types of illustrations feature clean, open space, vibrant colors, crisp edges, and two-dimensional/flat illustrations. It originates from web designers attempting to bring real life to the screen. On the other hand, assets from one image can be utilized in other related imagery thanks to 3D illustration allowing a single theme or idea to be expressed repeatedly.
Without getting too severe, the fact that some of the most well-known international firms have faced blowback from clients after making minor changes to their logos and icons indicates that 3D design trends are challenging flat design’s supremacy. For 3D illustrations-phobic graphic designers and illustrators, the 3D illustrations trend is nothing to be scared of and can, in measured doses, improve the visual and commercial impact of the designs.
What are flat illustrations?
Flat illustrations are minimalist designs that emphasize usability. It features crisp edges, open space, clean, vibrant colors, and two-dimensional illustrations.
Flat illustrations have their origin in the web designers that bring real life to the screen. In simplified illustrations, this method takes benefits where ornamental elements are seen as unnecessary.
The flat design movement ruled graphic and web design for much of the 2010s. The development of smartphones and the demand for quick-loading, basic visuals to serve as icons and illustrations helped this development. This reduces flat design to a necessity when flat illustration styles have a long history of use and appreciation in graphic design.
For example, the highly regarded Swiss School was particularly fond of flat and ultra-minimal graphic forms for posters, which matched the crisp sans serifs and straightforward, strong color schemes embraced by its proponents during the 1960s.
What are 3D illustrations?
One of the most notable design trends of the previous year is 3D illustrations. By using 3D design techniques, designers can take their 2D concepts off of paper and make them turn into reality in 3D. From digital interfaces to social media assets and everything in between, it’s a visual style ideal for graphic and website design.
The adaptability of 3D illustration is one of its best features. Many industries use 3D illustrations, which are frequently used in publications, product design, and advertising campaigns. On the other hand, 3D illustration is frequently used to add a contemporary and artistic touch to assets for websites, billboards, flyers, animations, and even interactive content. The beautiful realm of 3D illustration is currently being explored by many designers and artists, leading to a vast variety of styles and uses. All these super innovative applications of 3D illustrations demonstrate that not even the sky is the limit for this exciting creativity.
Minimalism and Maximalism in the world of Graphic Design
But even the graphic impact of flat design has been reduced by oversaturation. Since we’ve spent the last ten years clicking flat app icons, our relationship with our phones has never been closer or unhealthier. As a result, we’re all more receptive to a refresh.
With the advancement of technology, we can now render gradients, shadows, and other 3D effects more efficiently than before, and branding and direction of the design are shifting to 3D design.
This is a trend that is emerging, particularly in graphic design and web design, with the following illustration suit. The accessibility and novelty of color fonts in typography have also generated a revival of type designs that combine WordArt with responsive web design.
The Controversy Over Flat Design
How to know when your design style becomes neglectful? Well, the most obvious way is when buyers or clients start to react strongly against it. Designers create designs, but sometimes people judge whether they’re current or relevant.
Two of the most well-known technological companies, Firefox and Google, recently released updated versions of their own logos (Firefox) and icons (Google), both of which swapped out 3D-inspired designs for more simplistic, minimal versions.
In the instance of Firefox, a new version of their once-kitsch emblem that removed the cartoon style and, more importantly, the fox, angered and disappointed users. The revised logo had a minor gradient, but minimalism and reduction didn’t provide the desired impression.
Similar criticism about Google’s confusingly consistent new icons for Google Workspace has been levelled. Users or clients have complained about how challenging it is to identify between apps like Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Maps, which were once 3D and distinct and are now minimalist and flat. Even a free Chrome extension that lets users recover the previous tab and chosen icons were made by a clever designer.
The response may focus more on how similar the icons are than their flat design. Still, the dynamic between companies and their customers always returns whenever a company tries to provide a more straightforward and balanced rendition of a once-3D design.
Techniques to create a 3D feel for flat illustrations
The 3D design is not only a foreign concept to many graphic designers who were educated on a diet of Swiss Style but also exhibited exceptionally bad taste. It is the antithesis of the Modernist look favored by legendary graphic designers and is arguably less graphic and more refined.
It is not easy to forget the popular old saying that professes less is more, but graphic designers and illustrators shouldn’t consider 3D design as a mere flash in the pan. 3D illustrations design is here for the foreseeable future, and so creatives should take notes.
Fortunately for those of us who are 3D illustrations phobic, a search for “flat illustrations design” today won’t yield only flat designs. Designers are advancing their flat illustrations works by subtly incorporating 3D illustrations features, from eye-popping typography to gradient-infused iconography. Therefore, if you think you’ll need to master CAD in a matter of weeks, reconsider. Vector software makes it simple to create a trendy 3D look with a glossy highlight, a color-blocked shadow, or some texture. There are various ways to give a 3D illustrations style feel to your flat illustrations to make them stand out in today’s design, and here are some steps on how to do that:
1. Gradient Color
Suppose you are also a flat illustrations design enthusiast. In that case, replacing monotone fills with bright and gradient colors is a great way to offer your logos, icons, and flat illustrations more dynamically without compromising the graphic effects.
Gradients have gained popularity in graphic design over the past few years, but the interpretation varies from the sunset neons inspired by the 1980s that were preferred in 2020.
For logos or webpages, use a softly positive pastel gradient. Try experimenting with dark tones like deep red, purple, black, and inky blue to create moody contrast in images.
2. Highlighting and Shadowing
Along with gradient and bright colors, adding highlights and contrasting shadows to your flat illustrations designs is simple, but small-scale innovations can be transformative for icons. Even if every designer is familiar with the trusted Effects panel, a block color applied with skill can produce more attractive and meaningful shadow and light.
Block color shadowing may provide depth and additional color to flat illustrations without detracting from their graphic attractiveness. It can also give flat illustrations a 3D appearance. Take a note from the illustration portfolio of contributor Moremar, who skillfully combines a flat look with color block shadows for added effect.
3. Texture and Details
It’s all in the details. The most important step towards embracing a 3D attitude for your flat illustrations is by taking detailing as one of the most necessary and enhancing needs of your 3D illustration designs.
Adding (or simply keeping) more detail to your designs will help you give your flat illustration designs alive, whether through textured overlays, patterns, lifelike quirks, or surface defects.
Introduce a subdued wash of noisy texture for the flat illustrations design proponent to create a lively look that the modernists would still find pleasing. The gradient colors go really well with these rough textures.
Minimalism can sometimes remove some of the features that give your designs more interest and character, so try not to use a strictly reductionist technique. Whether it’s extra detailing on fur or wrinkle lines on flat illustrated portraits, materials, or leaves, making the use of some or more elements to the drawings makes your 3D illustrations from coldy minimalist to warm and more appealing.
4. Twist your Angles
An above angle almost appears unavoidable when designing icons, drawings, or typography because we are all so used to the flat illustrations design dominance and its overused partner, the flat lay. However, we don’t observe everything on the globe as if we were in control of it.
Is your mind blown away? Then easy yourself into a 3D mind approach by thinking of your design angles. From a combination of numerous jaunty angles or isometric to oblique, twist your flat illustrations designs to develop a sense of perspective and depth.
You’re on the right track if your logo or font design appears like it might be simply picked up and flipped over.
Where to find free flat illustrations and 3D illustrations?
Various websites are offering your free flat illustrations and 3D illustrations for free. The 3D illustrations designed on the websites or social media will surely make you stand out in this market, among others. Illustrations are captivating; we are just trying to take it to the next level. Here we have made the list of some of the popular and amazing websites that offer excellent high-quality cost-free flat illustrations and 3D illustrations, so have a look at them:
illustAC
Are you looking for flat illustrations and 3D illustrations for your next design project or personal use? If yes, then illustAC is the place from where you will find the one. illustAC is offering you the best quality, cost-free flat illustrations and 3D illustrations. You can easily download these amazing quality and appealing flat illustrations and 3D illustrations by clicking on the images illustrations you want to download and use. After one click on the illustrations you desire, you can see the download button on your right. Also, you can trust illustAC for original and high-quality flat illustrations and 3D illustrations, as over seven million people have already trusted them.
Also, for your ease and comfort of yours, illustAC has offered facilities like filter search and image search. These facilities help find the desired shape, size or color of flat illustrations and 3D illustrations within minutes. Downloading and using these flat illustrations and 3D illustrations from illustAC can never be a wrong decision as it always stands out. Using these illustrations in your design, you will surely have a high engagement of people in your design.
You can find the desired flat illustrations and 3D illustrations from the search bar with the right keyword, and there also appears a similar search keyword which can be very helpful for you to find the one easily in a short time.
Also, if you want to be a premium member of the illustAC and enjoy different facilities, it doesn’t cost much. It costs about $12.2 and $132 for a monthly and yearly membership of the site. Also, you will be able to the services like unlimited downloads of flat and 3D illustrations, zip numerous illustrations, and new design packs are offered regularly, no attribution required and so on.
Freepik
For both designers and non-designers looking for vector graphics, Freepik has grown to be an immensely popular resource. For use on your website and social media, you can get free pictures, icons, vector art, and flat illustrations or 3D illustrations from this page. It also gives cost-free 3D graphics for free. So, users can feel free to download and use these 3D illustrations for your landing page design.
Handz-Design
A unique and popular library of 3D illustrations is called Handz-Design. You receive 320+ PNG files, 12 hand gestures in 9 different skin tones, and three different sleeve variations without cost. Additionally, they offer a $19 premium edition with 1200 PNG files.
Amritsar Design
Amrit Pal Singh creates card games, design elements, and 3D graphics. His whole body of work, including the 3D Toy Faces Library, the Rooms Project, Lettering, and Abstract, is displayed on his website. While 3D Room designs are free downloadable, Toy Faces will set you back $20. The arts, literature, and film were sources of inspiration for these legendary interior illustrations. You can utilize them as desktop and zoom backgrounds.
Illustrations by Icon8
In addition to their hand designs, Icon8 also provides two categories of 3D illustrations: Casual Life and Business Style. You can use them in all of your web projects and download them for nothing. Each of these graphics has a use case featured on Icon8 to help you with your personal work or projects.
Icon Shock
There are over two million professional icons in the collection Icon Shock. Many isometric designs and current 3D illustrations icon designs are available here in high-resolution transparent PNG format. Nearly all isometric designs are available for free download and use. But just a personal license is included with their 3D illustrations and icons.
Pandemic Icons-Behance
If you are currently working on a landing page or social media graphics related to COVID-19, you’ll love the collection of these illustrations from Pandemic Icons. They have a pack of 30 3D illustrations, which can be downloaded free from Behance.