A digital illustration is one of the best kinds of images to use in your content. To produce a high-quality digital graphic or stunning artwork, artists should use advanced tools and look for inspiration on a regular basis in order to add more detail to the pictures and images of their creations. Not everyone has the ability and skills to produce such fine images. Not every artist is tech-savvy enough to use advanced editing software to create digital art, which is why the presence of every site that offers free downloadable free stock vector graphics and illustrations helps best. In this article, we will be rounding up the best 10 websites that offer legit free stock illustrations.
Discover 10 free stock illustrations websites below
1. illustAC
IllustAC is a creative website of ACworks Co., Ltd. company which offers free stock photos, vector graphics, and design templates. There are also videos, animations, and cloud-based editing tools for users here. illustAC is where you can find and download a variety of premium-quality illustrations for free. It is updated regularly on a daily basis, where you can easily find updated stock images. You may use these images for your commercial flyers, short video clips, and social media content, all for free.
To download illustrations, simply click on the thumbnail from the search results, which will take you to a download page where you may pick between JPG, PNG, and AI formats, all of which are free. You can quickly download the file, save it to your folder for bulk download if you’re a premium member, and best of all, you can modify the illustration.
Good Features:
- No attribution is required
- No search limit
- Daily free illustration, photo, design template gift pack for all users right to your email
- Monthly premium gift pack for premium users
- Free for commercial uses as long as the content downloaded from illustAC is not the main element
- Extra licenses for the cases you want to use content downloaded from illustAC as the main element for commercial uses
- Cheap prices to upgrade to premium
- Download up to 10 files at a time for premium users
Limited Features:
- Sign up and Log in is required for download
- Download limit for free users (9 times a day, no more than 1 file for AI, ESP and PNG)
- Waiting time and ads for free users
If you like the features mentioned, you may subscribe to one of our plans here.
2. Freepik
Freepik is a free stock image platform that offers a variety of catalogs where you can pick and find many free stock illustrations. Just filter the word “free” once you decide to search for the images you need. It is one of the most well-known vector graphic resources for most graphic designers. It helps you to download a free vector art collection, illustrations, and icons that you may use for your content, presentation, and most specifically for your website. Freepik illustrations available on Freepik can be downloaded in SVG, AI, and EPS formats. Freepik allows users to use the illustrations for free on their personal and commercial projects. However, graphics that are downloaded from Freepik cannot be trademarked.
Good Features
- Thousands of free stock images and illustrations.
- Downloadable in various formats such as SVG, AI, and EPS.
- Open-source
- No attribution required
- Contents can be use for commercial purposes.
Limited Feature:
- Users can’t use the images to represent a brand.
- Subscription can’t be shared.
3. PIXABAY
Pixabay is a creative site based in Germany. It is a creative community where you can find free images, vector graphics, videos, and music. The creative works are all released under the Pixabay license, which makes them safe to use and download as they are not subjected to any copyright infringement issues.
All the contents uploaded on Pixabay can be used for commercial purposes without giving credit to the creator of the stock illustration. It is absolutely free. You can use the illustration on Facebook and other social media platforms.
It offers over 2.4 million high-quality stock photos, illustrations, vectors, videos, music, and even sound effects. To download any illustration media, you can go to the page and click on the illustration that you want to use for your projects. Choose the free download button and it will give you the option to select a size. If you want a better quality photo, you may sign up and create your account for free.
Good Features:
- Free for commercial and non-commercial use
- No attribution is required
- Royalty-free Images
- The media may be copied, modified, distributed, and used.
- Pixabay images may be used on social networking sites.
Limited Feature
- Captcha is needed to download
- Need to sign up to download and avoid Captcha
4. iSTOCK
iStock by Getty Images is one of the popular websites that offer a variety of free premium quality stock images and illustrations. iStock is a photo site that is an online royalty-free and international microstock photography provider based in Canada. It provides a handful of creative content. You may also find an audio track if you feel like adding some sound effects to your videos. Unlike other free stock images, the stock offers a free illustration, but you must create an account and sign in to avail of these benefits. You will then have weekly access to a certain number of articles available for you to download for free.
As we have mentioned above, the stock is royalty-free. A royalty-free license means that once you’ve paid for the content, you can only pay once and use the photo in all commercial projects without incurring additional fees each time you use it. You may want to use these royalty-free images in your social media platforms, presentations, or commercial projects, and you are free to change, resize, and even customize each asset on the stock.
Good Features:
- Royalty-free illustration and vectors
- Every asset on iStock may be modified, resized, and customized to meet your projects.
- Free 1 image, illustration and video every week
- You may choose your image resolution and size
- You will find new and updated keywords everyday
- Amazing content from over 160K artists and unique artists from across the world
Limited Features
- The photos are limited to editorial use only.
- You need to sign up to be eligible to get free one illustration weekly
5. OpenClipart
OpenClipart is a library of various art images. It is an online media repository of free content and vector clip art. It has a hundred thousand free graphics that designers and content creators will definitely enjoy exploring. It has the largest community of various artists, making the best free original clipart, which you can use for your commercial projects. It is safe to use without any licensing issues from the original creator.
The clipart is public domain, which means it is free from the hassle of copyright issues from various illustrators who uploaded the art. To download a file, just click any clipart and it will redirect you to a page where you can see the option to download. The formats available are SVG and PNG. There are also tags included, which you can use to search for more related clipart.
Good Features:
- All contents uploaded in Openclipart are public domain.
- Over 160,000 cliparts are available for users to download for free
- No attribution required
- Contents are available in PNG and SVG format.
- Free for commercial use
- All contents uploaded in Openclipart are public domain.
- All printed and painted material can be reproduce
Limited Feature:
- No download button instead you can just click the image. Right click and save to your file.
6. VectorStock
Vectorstock is another popular platform to use as your source for free illustration art. It is an independent, vector-only stock agency that is based in New Zealand. You may freely use the available content for your commercial projects, such as advertising and promotional design. There are standard and expanded licenses that are available to cover a range of applications.
When you are using the free stock illustrations from Vectors, you will also need to take note of their license terms, such as distributing the content without consent. You may only use these for commercial and personal purposes. Also, almost all of these terms apply to all free stock images that we can download for free on many websites.
Good Features:
- The world’s largest royalty-free, vector-only stock agency
- You can download the images in AI, EPS, PDF and JPG format.
- You may choose from latest to trending set of illustration available.
Limited Feature:
- Attribution is required.
- No mass distribution is allowed.
- Free illustration are limited
7. Vecteezy
Vecteezy is one of the leading global providers when it comes to digital imagery. It is developed by an American company, Eezy Inc., and it allows users to download licensed images directly from the illustrators. It provides a good option for different artists and creators to create awesome work that they can use in their projects for commercial purposes. Vecteezy images are also royalty-free.
When you click on the illustration on the home page, it will lead you to a variety of arts which you may use to look for the type of illustration you are looking for. There is a tab on the left side of the page where you can filter what you need. You may set the license type to “free” where it will lead you to a number of free illustrations which you may download.
Good Features:
- Commercial use is permitted for both free and paid material on Vecteezy.
- Vector Art, Icons, and Graphics Editing for Free Download
- Easy to navigate
Limited Feature:
- Attribution is required
- Vecteezy is not ads free when you are using free version.
8. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the well-known sites to visit if you are looking for free vectors and illustration collections.
The art available on Shutterstock is also free to use. You can use royalty-free images, vectors, and illustrations. Owning a royalty-free image gives you the most benefits and convenience, especially if you are going to use the image most often.
Good Features:
- It has a million designs that you can choose from.
- Royalty-free images, vectors, and illustrations
- Free to use for commercial purposes
- Allows single and multiple user in pro version.
Limited Features:
- No mass distribution
- Limited free download
- Sign up to get a free content
9. Life of Pix
Give life to your pix, as these incredible stock photo sites highlight on their website. It is a free collection of high-resolution images with no copyright restrictions, and you may freely use it for your personal and commercial projects. There are just some certain rules that Life of Pix would like the users to follow, which are appropriate for any content creator to respect. No distributors are allowed to repost a maximum of 10 stock images without their consent.
It is an awesome site where you can get a high-quality illustration from a talented digital creator for free. It is easy to download. You can just click the image and hit the download button where it automatically saves the file.
Good Features:
- Free high-resolution Images and illustrations.
- The files are easy to download.
- No attribution required.
- You may use the illustration for personal and commercial use
- Distributors may republish a maximum of ten images without the prior permission of Life of Pix.
- Every day, an excellent selection is available in the featured section.
Limited Features:
- No mass distribution allowed.
- Limited images and illustration.
10. UnDraw
Undraw was first released in public last year with the goal of helping designers in various fields contribute to an open-source community and provide their ability and creative skills to the public. It is a website that has a number of SVG images, but it also gives you the option of whether you would like to save the file as a PNG. SVG is vector-based while PNG is pixel-based. When you click on the file you want, you can choose whether you want a PNG or an SVG. The recommended stock format for your project should be SVG, while you may prefer PNG if you are using it for your social media.
Undraw is an open-source illustration where anyone can share their ideas and imagination to create good quality art. It has a collection of awesome SVG images that you can use for free without giving credit to the designer. Illustrations on UnDraw can be customized. You can select your preferred color depending on your brand or project that you are currently working on. Since these are SVG, you can resize and flip them, retaining the quality of the image. Compared to other platforms, Undraw has a simple website to show. You can just see a few descriptions and contents, but it is also easy to navigate.
Good Features:
- Users are granted a nonexclusive, global copyright license by unDraw.
- Users may modify and edit the images available on their site.
- No attribution required
- Updated set of images and illustration.
- Quality illustrations available for your designs with customisable features.
- All illustration are open source.
Limited Features:
- No mass distribution allowed.
- Do not replicate the illustrations
Wrap up
Depending on the context of your project, illustrations play a major role in improving your content. It amplifies your visual and creative skills as you present your projects. Aside from the aesthetic pleasure that it provides, it also gives off an emotion that we are trying to express without words. Most readers love to see an illustration of their content because it makes their reading time more fun. This leaves no boring space on the page. It feels good to read content and see some high-quality clipart rather than just seeing a full page of text.
I hope that this article helps you out and gives you a variety of options on where you can get most of the stock illustrations and clipart that can be downloaded at no cost. Aside from getting excited about downloading these stock illustrations, you must also remind yourself that these are free images, which somehow may be subjected to some limitations.
Make sure that you are reading the free licensing terms of every free stock illustrations websites above to avoid copyright issues. On top of that, you may also give backlinks by following these websites’ social media, sharing the blogs, and leaving some comments on the artist’s creations as a thank you and to motivate these creators to continue sharing their creative skills.
You might want to check other free vector resources, check this post on Hongkiat.