[LDD]

Hi all,

I've been browsing some stock art sites to look for more designs for my t-shirt line. By stock art in this case, I'm referring to those graffiti-style type of designs that look as if they're designed by those Threadless / Design By Humans designers, not cheap Microsoft-Word type of clipart.

The price for each design is cheap and it would cost me several hundreds for 1 design if I were to hire a designer to create it from scratch.

My question is: if people find out that these are stock art and not created by myself, will they laugh and call me a cheapskate etc, especially competitors? Wondering if this will affect my clothing line's reputation and branding in the long term.

But those designs are really cool, though. It's so hard to resist the temptation.

 

[20vK]

How would you feel if you bought a shirt from one brand, (say ELEMENT ), and then saw a different brand (DC) with the same design?

If you are trying to create a brand, I'd stay away. If you are trying to sell shirts, knock yourself out!

 

[wrkalot]

If you are trying to create a brand, I'd stay away. If you are trying to sell shirts, knock yourself out!

I do agree with this statement but... I often find stock art that is "close" to what I'm looking for and modify it to my liking. In the end you would be hard pressed to find the same image somewhere else. I don't think I have ever use stock art "as is".

 

[Skinbus]

If you're paying for the art, why would you be considered cheap? We're all not artists in the true sense of the word. "paying" being the operative word.

 

[elcielo]

I agree with all of the above statements. Get some clipart, modify it (I use iClipart, which now wants you to modify the images very minimally) and have at it. Make some money.

 

[kimura-mma]

If you're not capable of creating original art on your own, then you have to pay to get the art done. You can pay premium rates to get original/exclusive art; or you can use stock art which will be much less expensive. Both are acceptable (provided you are using high quality stock art), so its really up to you. The main difference, as Rich mentioned, is whether you want some other brand potentially using the same stock art. If you want exclusive designs, you need to pay for it. If you are ok with using stock art, then your customers will probably be ok with it too.

 

[Skinbus]

You can get free to use clipart @ openclipart.org. bitmap, jpeg, png or svg. Free for commercial use.

 

[rini]

*chuckle* Biggest secret in professional graphic design is that they _all_ use clip art. The husband is a graphic designer by education and trade, and he has files upon files upon files, from 3 1/2 floppies, to zip drives, to CDs filled with clip art.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to? All graphic designers do exactly what many of the above do: find a piece of clip art that's close enough to what you want, and modify it.

 

[BigUncleT13]

Well Im glad I havent been doing it the "wrong way". Ive always tried to find images like that, Ive used clker, I havent heard of openclipart Ill have to give them a try!

 

[Mister Fantastic]

No. Smart move I say. I modify the clipart with my own added touch.

 

[tshirtdrop]

Good design is good design and being that fashion is fleeting I wouldn't worry.