Clip Art for Commercial Use and Commercial Web Pages

Finding clip art to use for commercial projects, to decorate items to sell, or to use on a commercial Web page takes a bit of time and you will probably need to buy the clip art in order to obtain permission and a license to use it commercially. Browse several collections of links to Web sites with clip art packages that you might be able to use commercially.

Before purchasing any clip art individually or in a package, please ensure that the clip art may, indeed, be used commercially in the project you will use it for. If the license (terms of usage) is not clear to you, then email for more information before buying the clip art.

Using Listed Resources:

Commercial Clip Art Sites and Web Artists

Commercial Clip Art and Stock Photo Sources

Using Search Engines:

You might also use search engines to locate topic specific clip art for commercial purposes. I used the Google Search Engine at http://www.google.com to find links to topic specific clip art. I put the following words and spaces in the search area, bird clip art use for commercial projects, and came up with multiple links to sites with bird clip art. Change the first word in the search line to whatever clip art you want to find, for instance, change bird to flower, bird to children, bird to baseball, or any other specific topic of clip art you want to locate.

Now that you have used a search engine to find a large list of clip art that may be used, supposedly, for commercial projects you will need to keep in mind several points about search engine lists, terms of usage, the word free, and Webmasters.

Points to Keep in Mind

1. Search engines pull up junk links as well as the good links you are searching for. Think of this as a treasure hunt, because you may need to go through lots of junk before finding treasure.

2. When you find a site with clip art you want to use, read the terms of usage carefully. Most clip art that you may use in a project that will be sold or used for gain will have a price tag with it. You will need to pay a subscription fee, buy the clip art piece by piece as needed, or buy a CD or a package of clip art.

3. Don't assume that if you buy a package of clip art, either from the Web or from a store near you, that you may use the clip art in any manner you choose. Read the terms of usage before using it to create items to sell.

4. When browsing the Web for clip art that may be used for commercial use, please note that many Webmasters use the phrase, public domain, in error. Before using any clip art labeled public domain be sure that you know the difference between public domain and clip art that has been gleaned from various sources from the Web and scanned sources.

5. If the clip art license or terms of usage is not clear or understandable, then verify the usage before using clip art in a commercial project. It is much better to be double safe than to face legal battles over copyright infringement laws.

To the Public Domain and Copyrights Index

More On This Site

On Site Clip Art
Help and Tutorials
Holidays Clip Art
Links to Sites With Clip Art
Clip Art Glossary
Blog Archives

Please Email me to recommend a site, or if you have questions, comments or suggestions.
webclipart@about.com

© Bobbie Peachey. All rights reserved.