Public domain images
Public domain images are photos, clipart, or vectors whose copyrights have expired or just never existed. These images are free for use by anyone, either for personal or commercial purposes, sometimes even with no attribution required. Artwork typically falls into the public domain 70 years after the author’s death. So imagine how many free images are out there!
There are several reasons an image may enter the public domain.
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the copyright expired
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the copyright owner failed to comply with copyright renewal rules
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the copyright owner purposely placed it in the public domain, known as a “dedication”
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this type of work is not protected by copyright law
If an image has a copyright, you may still be able to use it under fair use terms. Keep in mind that even for public domain images, trademark or privacy rights may apply, so always check your source. Plus, public domain images can have different types of licenses with varying usage rights. For almost limitless freedom of use, check for a CC0 license.
What is a CC0 license?
Public domain images that an artist purposefully places in the public domain have what is called a CC0 license (CC0 1.0 Universal, Creative Commons Zero license), also known as a Public Domain Dedication. This means the images have no known copyright, trademark, or privacy rights, and you’re free to use them without any permission from the artist. In other words, you can knock yourself out!
Keep in mind: even if an image has a CC0 license, it may still belong to the site providing them. This means that you’re not allowed to resell or distribute the images themselves without placing them on a product. But you can freely use them to create designs, logos, and prints for personal or commercial purposes.
Now, let’s explore some of our favorite sites that offer public domain images with a CC0 license.
Source: RawPixel
This is probably the most user-friendly and extensive public domain picture resource out there. RawPixel collates, scans, and enhances images from international museums, antique books, and their own original collection of artwork.
From famous artists like Gustav Klimt and Van Gogh to gorgeous high-res animal pics, you’re sure to find something for your custom shirts, custom hoodies, mugs, tote bags, and more.
With a free account, you get unlimited access to their public domain collection of CC0 licensed content and 5 photos per day from their free collection. If you’re using the free images, you’ll need to add considerable artistic value to make it your own original design. Check out RawPixel’s FAQ section for more info.
The Heritage Type library offers free vintage illustrations for your creative projects that you can download without even signing up. Just check out how neat these animal people look. Heritage Type’s retro illustrations are great for cute sticker ideas, t-shirt printing, posters, home decor, and anything else you can imagine.
Source: Heritage Type
With our background removal tool, you can easily make these illustrations pop on your prints.
By the way, if you’re already overwhelmed by the number of free pictures out there, check out our article on 50 T-Shirt Design Ideas for some inspiration.
A lot of museums worldwide offer free photos on their websites, but the Smithsonian wins in terms of quantity, quality, and browsing ease. They have over 4.5 million high-res images all with a CC0 license (which you can see at the bottom of each pic when you click on it).
Source: Smithsonian
Don’t forget to check out their 3D collection with cool mammoth skeletons, Bell X-1 rocket planes, and everything in between. I’m sure you’ll find something to create stunning print-on-demand designs.
This website is simple and clutter-free—you just enter a word or catchphrase in the search engine and it’ll load as many photos as your browser can handle. Museo is currently connected to the Art Institute of Chicago (55,000 images), Rijksmuseum (716,000), Harvard Art Museums (236,000), and the New York Public Library Digital Collection (901,000).
For some examples, just take a look at these beautiful pictures of polar bears, violins, and turtles.
Source: Museo.com
From bugs, birds, and reptiles to fungi and marine algae, this photo collection is any nature lover’s dream. You can find over 260,000 high-res copyright-free graphics, pics, and illustrations for your print-on-demand business.
Source: Flickr
You can browse these photos on their Flickr account rather than on the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s website. Just look at all these awesome shark pics.
Here are some other examples: the Presidential Pets collection, the World Penguin Day collection, and the Language of Flowers collections.
Here’s another iconic library that’s generous enough to share free photos for download on their Flickr account. You can find over 1 million beautiful illustrations from the 17th–19th centuries, as well as manuscripts and more.
Source: Flickr
Check out this array of love-inspired images from 19th-century books in their Valentine’s Day collection, or browse these fun vintage advertisements. These pics would work great as part of a mixed-media t-shirt design.
Although it’s a bit smaller than other collections (they currently only have over 6,000 images), Wikipedia’s Featured Pictures is a great resource that’s only going to grow with time. Just look at their stunning East Asian art or their unique literary illustrations.
Source: Wikipedia
Any image submitted to Wikipedia has to go through their strict featured picture criteria, so you can be sure they’re high-res and CC0 licensed.
