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Thursday, April 07, 2022

Public domain art (sources)

When I published Dark Fantasy Basic, I've used only public domain art. It is free and you don't have to study each individual license, or hire a professional. 

However, I prefer to use stock art or hire a professional artist if possible, which I did for other books (and for the amazing cover on DFB!).

Stock art is easier to find, and dealing with a professional is even better (if more expensive). 

However, I sometimes use a piece or two of PD art to fill some gap if I don't find the right image elsewhere. PD often requires "cleaning"  work (I use GIMP) to look nice, which is a bit of a hassle. But sometimes it is really worth it.

Anyway, here are my sources for Dark Fantasy Basic:

* Monster Brains (not all posts are PD).



Here are a few of examples from the book:







Some favorite PD artists: Sidney SimeHenry Justice Ford, Willy Pogany, Gustave Dore, and Albrecht Dürer.

I've recently found this compilation on Reddit. (I also found this, which is awesome, but I probably should write another post about free art that is not PD).

One caveat: I am not an IP lawyer and the laws about PD may vary from country to country.

Do you know other sources? Do you sell or give away stock art? Let people know in the comments!

2 comments:

  1. I've found that if you do a Google search on gutenberg.org for specific images, you can often find some useful pics. For example "gutenberg.org grizzly images" brings up lots of grizzly bears, and if you want you can add another term like "woodcut" or "lithograph" to get art more appropriate to the feel you're trying for.

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