Good quality, free resources that are suitable for commercial use are hard to come by. I have compiled this list of sites that offer freebies that are ok for commercial use.
It is a handy list for graphic artists and designers, web designers, bloggers and scrapbookers.
It is broken up into sections for graphics, vectors, photos, textures and fonts. Each site is listed in only one section even though many offer more than one kind of thing, so it is worth checking out other sections.
Sites appear in the order that I discovered them.
Always remember to check the terms of use before downloading anything.
Many thanks to all the people that offer these freebies and those that have let me know about sites that should be added. Your generosity is appreciated by all.
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About Copyright And The Public Domain
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
TESS Trademark Electronic Search System. Great government run site that can help you track down who owns the trademark to what. A good way to check if that new idea of yours is already trademarked by someone else.
Copyright, intellectual property and orphan artwork Fantastic page with lots of information.
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Free Commercial Use Graphics And Images
KRW Designs 100 large 3D high quality free images that are updated regularly. Also a paid section with over 2000 images.
Graphic Artz High quality 3D images including teddy bears, dragonflies and more from fellow zazzler Specialeetees.
Karens Whimsy Massive selection of vintage public domain images.
Ricaso Freebies Selection of frames as well as fairies and christmas images.
Old Book Art Over 3000 vintage images scanned from old books with dates and info.
John Leech Cartoons Over 600 J.Leech cartoons from Punch magazine 1841 - 1864.
Cool Notions Images from copyright free books with info.
Anita Lee Creations Quality 3d psp images. Unfortunatley small, good for web design.
The Tube Shoot Selection of Poser type characters updated monthly. Psd format.
From Old Books Images scanned from vintage books at high resolution.
Faerydae 3d style characters and backgrounds.
Marys Rosaries Catholic run website of public domain images. Religious pics as well as flags, maps and more.
Graphics By Roo Lots of sexy girls, fairies and more.
Designs By Maria G. Card templates, papers and more. Very family friendly.
Fall3n Angel Site made for scrapbookers, these graphics have a wide range of uses.
Inspyretash Great selection of vintage images, backgrounds, photos and more.
Madame M Stock Pre-made backgrounds, graphics, photos and more.
Reusable Art Collection of vintage public domain images. Little on the small side.
US History Images Large collection of vintage images from American history.
Outlaw By Design Beautiful collection of Poser style graphics. Updated regulary.
ShareCG.com Wide variety of 2D and 3D resources. You have to log in to download. Specify 'unrestricted use' in the search.
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Free Commercial Use Vectors
Chad Lonius Highly detailed vectors in a variety of subjects and styles
Vector Vaco Massive selection of free vectors.
Vintage Vectors Vectors derived from out of copyright public domain images.
Cybermates Dungeon Nice selection of freebies
Spoon Graphics Selection of vectors as well as brushes, textures and more.
Great Vectors Good sized collection, lots of nature type images.
Clarice Gomes Super cute vectors including teddy bears and bridal.
Room 122 Great vectors as well as brushes, textures and patterns.
Patternhead Free seamless vector patterns.
Keep Designing Good selection of vectors as well as photos, textures and more.
The Golden Black Regulary updated selection of high quality vectors.
Round Pixel Great selection of vectors that tend to be a little out of the ordinary.
Free Vectors Interesting selection of quality vectors.
Vectors On Fire Large selection of a good variety.
Stock Graphic Designs All sorts of stuff here.
Open Clip Art Clip art in svg vector format.
Stock Tshirt Designs Complete tshirt designs ready to go.
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Free Commercial Use Photos
Smashing Magazine Christmas Stock 60 original xmas photos.
NASA Images NASA releases most of its images copyright free.
Free Media Goo Photos, textures, digital images, flash and more.
Image After Photos and textures.
Unprofound Great collection of photos.
Public Domain Photos Lots of close up shots of a wide array of subjects.
Free Image Files Large selection and a wide variety of photos.
Burning Well Big collection of public domain photos.
Geek Philosopher Nice collection on an array of subjects.
Night Fate Stock Excellent collection of photos including land and waterscapes, skies, objects, models, textures, plants, animals and lots more.
Morgue File Huge amount of quality photos of just about anything you can think of.
Public Domain Pictures Massive selection of a wide array of subjects.
Kavewall Stock Photos Nice selection, wide variety, well organised.
Dated Images Vintage photos with dates and background information.
Totally Free Images Photos released into the public domain. Just be wary of trademark issues regarding people, logos etc.
Best Photos US Variety of hi res photos. Mainly nature based.
RePublic Domain Collection of photos covering a wide variety.
Public-Photo.net Large selection of all sorts.
Public Domain Depot Photos, images and music in the public domain.
Free Images Collection Selection of nature and landscape photos.
Oakland Public Library Not all images are in the public domain. The copyright status is clearly stated in the information about each photo.
Lily's Picture Shop Nice blog offering unique floral photos
Free Floral Photos Squidoo lens offering a slection of free floral photos
Pixabay Great site with lots of high quality public domain photos.
Hatestock Lots of stuff including animals, objects, places etc.
Aimelle Stock Another one from Deviantart. Textures, landscapes, waterscapes, objects, flowers and more.
RB PM stock All sorts of stuff from photomanipulators at Redbubble.
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Free Commercial Use Textures and Backgrounds
Lost And Taken Massive selection of large high resolution textures.
Smashing Magazine Contest Textures Huge selection of textures submitted for a competition organised into catergories.
Zizzago Selection of colorful backgrounds.
Mayang's Free Textures Over 3000 free textures.
DesignM.ag Free textures as well as photoshop brushes and more.
Web Treats ETC Great selection of free tileable textures as well as brushes, patterns and more.
Absolute Cross 500 seamless background textures. Great for 3D modeling.
Design Shard Textures and more including some including some large png high res picture frames.
Think Design Textures as well as vectors, brushes and patterns.
Shadowhouse Creations Lots of textures as well as brushes and more.
Texturemate Great selection of well organized textures as well as brushes and patterns.
Strange Designs Backgrounds, textures, photos, banners and more.
Plain Textures Good selection of textures and photos.
GritFX 30 large royalty free textures.
Cowboyannies Potluck This blog has Friday Freebies each week. Lots of funky backgrounds and more.
Pixel Scrapper Lots of unrestricted backgrounds and more. Designed for scrapbookers but very useful.
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Free Commercial Use Brushes
ABR photoshop brushes can be used in newer versions of Gimp
Hawksmont Great selection of brushes for both photoshop and gimp.
Colorburned Massive selection of photoshop brushes. Brushes are in abr format so are compatible with newer versions of gimp as well.
Smashing Magazine Photoshop brushes 50 quality brushes. Check the usage on each, i havn't had time to go through them all.
Photoshop Tutorials Good selection of ps brushes as well as textures and lots more.
Brusheezy Massive collection of brushes as well as patterns, textures, shapes and lots more.
Media Militia Brushes, textures, vectors, psd and more. There is so much here.
Arbenting Hundreds of brushes as well as some vectors and more.
Fidget Resources Great selection of vintage style brushes as well as textures and collage sheets.
Brush Lovers Large collection of high quality brushes.
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Free Commercial Use Fonts
Font Squirrel Over 600 fonts free for commercial use.
Astigmatic Nice selection of free commercial use fonts.
The League Of Moveable Fonts Newer site offering some great fonts.
Fontfabric Some very cool fonts here.
Pop Dog Fonts Grungy type fonts
Divide By Zero Fonts Cool selection of handmade fonts.
