Artists, writers, and other creatives often need to find images to use in their work. Royalty fees can add up and become prohibitive. While we always want to support our fellow creatives, acknowledging the efforts of writers and artists whose works are in the public domain can also be fulfilling.
A refresher on copyrights: Copyrights are legal rights that give creators of original works the exclusive authority to control and profit from their creations for a limited period.
The copyright mark looks like ©.
Royalties are payments made to the copyright owner for the use of their copyrighted work. When the copyrights of original works expire, those works are in the public domain and can be used by anyone for any purpose for free.
The Public Domain mark looks like
Creative Commons Zero (CC0) is a tool that allows creators to waive all copyright and database protections for their work, dedicating it to the public domain for free use, remixing, and adaptation by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose, to the fullest extent allowed by law. Many emerging artists create art with a Creative Commons license. This is a great way to get their work out into the world.
The symbol for Creative Commons is
There are many websites that provide access to images in the public domain. The sites vary a great deal with the type of images they offer, and browsing is interesting and fun. Here are some I’ve used or heard good things about.
General purpose free image sites:
Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash provide free stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos. Most of their stock is provided by current photographers, artists, and creators everywhere, so it is under CC0.
Gratisography: Good for unique, high-resolution free images. The website describes itself as ‘the world’s quirkiest collection of the best, most creative pictures – images you won’t find anywhere else.’
I try to include an attribution with a link, to give the creator credit and as a thank you for making their work copyright-free.
Artistic Images:
Public Work by Cosmos: This website contains endless, searchable art and images in a very pleasing ‘scroll anywhere on the page’ design. This site is a rabbit hole in the nicest of ways, it’s candy for the senses.
The National Gallery of Art: Free to use and open access. Over 60, 000 art images for you to use however you want.
The Met: Open Access at The Met has over 492,000 images in the public domain that is free to use and reuse.
Smithsonian Open Access: contains art works, 3D models, and photos of sculptures. Just make sure you’ve checked the ‘Open Access Media (CC0)’ box at the top of your search.
Scientific Images:
The Biodiversity Heritage Library: an excellent source for anyone looking for images of plants, inserts, birds, or any type of wildlife. This library has its collection on Flickr, but all images are licensed under the Creative Commons.
Servier Medical Art offers over 3,000 free, professional-grade anatomy and biology illustrations and medical images tailored to meet your needs.
Library of Congress has an entire science section of images in the public domain.
NASA Image Galleries’ space-related images are generally not subject to copyright in the U.S. Photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages may be used for personal use.
Miscellaneous sources:
Most public libraries in major cities will have an online database of books, journals, art, and images that are in the public domain and are free to use. Many require no library card. Try New York Public Library, British Library, or your own local library.
Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg is an online library of more than 75,000 free eBooks. The byproduct is that their covers and all illustrations within the books are free to use. Users do need to scroll through books to find the illustrations, so allow ample time.
