stock illustration - why bother?

You could be paying as much as £20 or more for the right to use even a simple image that you have seen on a stock illustration service website (just be be clear, we are not a stock illustration website) without owning the copyright at all.

Not owning the copyright means that you do not actually own the stock illustration that you have purchased, and there will be restrictions to the ways in which you are permitted to use that stock illustration, or the length of time/amount of times you can use it for.

Worst of all your customers may see your stock illustration on another businesses website, stationery, or marketing materials.

Businesses are unique, and your marketing materials should reflect this, you want to put yourself apart from the competition, not appear to be the exactly the same by using the same illustrations as your competitors.

In addition the last thing you want is a 'clipart effect' on any of your materials, there's nothing quite like clipart or poor quality overused illustrations to create that unprofessional feel.

Hiring an illustrator
If you were to commission a designer to create an illustration that is unique and original for you, not only will you have all the advantages of using a completely original design, you are able to purchase the copyright also (always check with each individual illustrator) for what may be the same cost as just buying the right to use an image you see on a stock illustration website.

Below are a couple of examples of some of the unique designs commissioned by our clients - who now own the copyright to them. You can view more examples on our Illustration page of our online portfolio, and simply get in touch if you would like to view more samples.

If you really would like to view stock illustration websites, below are a few of the best:

The Ispot - The Ispot features a huge database of stock illustrations from talented illustrators. You are able to search through their database for a stock illustration using keywords.

www.images.com - Royality free stock illustrations.

Cartoon Stock - Rather than stock illustration, if its cartoons you need, Cartoon Stock have over 50,000 cartoon images to choose from.