Seeking Inspiration? - Bookmark These Image Archives Today!
- Making To Make Happy
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
It's not always easy to think of something to draw. The blank page can reflect its vacant light up into your skull and when you rummage around in there, all you can see is glaring nothingness.
Having a few image archive websites bookmarked in your browser can be very handy, because then, when the art-void threatens to swallow you, you can go wander through some ready-made inspirations.
Carry on reading to find some of my favourite image websites, for times when you have an inkling of what you want to create...and times when you have absolutely no clue.
Image Archives for the No-Clue Days...
On days when I feel reeeally blank, I find it helpful to jump into websites that have a broader and more visually eccentric offering. Here are a few I enjoy...
"The Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA) — brought to you by The Public Domain Review (PDR) — is a curated collection of more than 10,000 out-of-copyright historical images, free for all to explore and reuse. Our aim is to offer a platform that will serve both as a practical resource and a place to simply wander — an ever-growing portal to discover more than 2000 years of visual culture."
This is such a fun website to fall into. It has a large array of the weird and wonderful, the nostalgic and the who-knew. It's arranged in three different "views", and by clicking on the little green button on the top right you can switch and explore them depending on your mood...
Catalogue view is the classic, within which you can search topics and filter results. So if you come across something interesting you can zero in on it and find more like it.
Infinite view throws lots of images onto your screen in one giant scroll, much like a Pinterest-type view. Very handy for immersing yourself in randomness and seeing what jumps out at you.
Shuffle view gives you three images at a time, which you can then shuffle as many times as you like. Very useful for when you want inspo, but not overwhelm.
"PICRYL is a public domain search & similarity engine. Picryl is a media source you can use to find images, documents, and references. Find millions of public domain files from hundreds of sources: all in one place. Discover collections of historical moments and public figures. Explore topics and places, travel back in time, and witness historical events."
Similar to the Public Domain Archive, Picryl pulls together all kinds of intriguing out-of-copyright images. I particularly enjoy exploring the vintage portrait photography and advertisements.
"We are not the only image collection on the web, neither will we ever be the largest one. We hope however to be a destination of choice for visitors more particularly interested in Victorian and French Romantic illustrations—we understand French Romanticism in its broadest sense and draw its final line, at least in the realm of book illustration, at the death of Gustave Doré."
As the name suggests, this site is full of old book illustrations, which range from Plants and Ornaments through to Oliver Twist and Beatrix Potter. I really like browsing through the Etchings subcategory, because I find myths and legends interesting...but which illustrations will pull you in?
Library Flickr Galleries
Our flagship program, Flickr Commons, has helped over 100 institutions like NASA and the Library of Congress share almost two million photographs with the world, sparking curiosity, uncovering stories, and keeping history alive.
There are plenty of institutions to explore in the Flickr Commons pages with historic images galore - go get lost in them for a while! Here are just a handful to give you an idea of what's out there...
The following two are not part of Flickr Commons, but are Flickr galleries which are useful inspirations for nature subjects...
Image Archives for when you have an inkling...
Some days, you might have a slight idea about what you want to draw - for example you might have Ostriches on your mind, and therefore it simply feels silly not to try and draw one. However, you may not have a clear picture in your head about what ostriches actually look like. And so, off you go on an image reference hunt, and that's where sites like these can be helpful...
Pexels offers royalty-free Photos and Videos.
Unsplash offers royalty-free Photos and Illustrations.
Pixabay offers royalty-free Photos, Videos, Illustrations, Vectors, Music, Sound Effects, 3D Models and GIFs.
Pxhere offers copyright-free Photos under the Creative Commons CC0 license* (*which allows creators to waive all copyright and related rights in their works, effectively placing them in the public domain).
These websites can be useful if you are experimenting with digital art and need a particular image with a transparent background to include (maybe in a digital collage). They have photo-like images and more vector-like illustrative pngs, which are free to use.
I hope you find the websites above helpful in your creative inspiration hunt - if there are any you think should be added to the list, let me know! As I come across future ones I'll add them in... because I'm always on the lookout and excited to find archives I've never heard of before.
Happy creating!
Thanks for reading,
Keep making happy,
Gemma 💛
Comments