- Sometimes you just need a little bit of help.
Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake of robertoblake.com,
helping you create something awesome today.
So, what I wanna talk about today is stock photography,
stock images, templates, themes, that sort of thing.
Believe it or not,
regardless of what level graphic designer you are,
these things matter and they're important to you.
Sometimes the client is not always gonna give you
great images and things to work with
and you to deliver on a concept.
Sometimes you're going to need to actually get
a stock photo or series of stock photos
to do an in house design job for your boss.
Some companies actually have a budget
for that sort of thing,
other times they'll expect you to hunt that stuff down.
This has been true for me as a freelancer,
this has been true for me as an in house designer,
this has been true for me working at an ad agency,
and it's certainly been true for me
as a creative entrepreneur.
So I'm gonna give you guys five resources that I use
to get stock images, templates and all of those things.
So more recently I've actually started using Adobe Stock.
And in full disclosure, I am now a Adobe Stock ambassador,
which is actually really cool,
and they hooked me up with some free images.
But beyond that, I have to pay for the service
just the same as the rest of you guys.
One of the reasons Adobe Stock is such a great resource
is because they acquired Fotolia.
Fotolia is one of the independent stock houses
that wasn't absorbed by Getty Images,
which means that they have a lot of unique images
and they have a lot of great deals with their contributors,
versus, there are a lot of people who complained
about the Getty brand companies,
and there are reasons for that
which I may talk about in another video,
I don't know how I feel about that.
That's more of a photography topic.
Maybe I'll cover that on Wednesday.
But with that in mind,
Adobe Stock has some really cool stuff.
Now, there is a subscription membership, it is $30 a month,
and you get 10 images with that.
I know there are people who are gonna complain
about yet another Adobe subscription.
I will probably talk about that in another video,
but I think it's practical.
What you guys need to understand is.
I'm paying $75 a month right now just to send you guys
my Create Awesome newsletter every week.
So if you think Adobe's expensive,
try all the other business expenses, please.
But if you need something super affordable,
well, there are alternatives.
Let's start with something free, freeimages.com.
The resources here, not always the best,
but they are free and they are available.
At some point I'll probably do a video
on five free resources for stock photos.
In fact, if this video can get 500 likes,
I will do that pretty much as soon as that happens.
There is a limit to the type of assets you get with this.
You're not gonna get vector packs which you do with Adobe
and the other sites that I'm gonna mention here.
And you're not gonna get things like infographic templates,
which are really convenient actually,
and the other types of PSDs.
These are pretty much gonna be jpeg images
for the most part.
There is a variety and, again,
if you need something that's free
because maybe you're a student,
then I would recommend it.
iStockphoto is something that I've used for years
and that is now owned by Getty
and thus I use them a lot less.
So if nothing else,
I would sign up for a free iStockphoto account
and download the free images every week.
Another affordable solution that is a stock house
that's independent of Getty right now is CanStockPhoto.
This is where I actually love to get images
that are affordable,
I can go ahead and buy credits from them, it's fantastic.
And what I really like is
that they also have a lot of unique images.
I don't see these same photos popping up just everywhere.
So between Adobe Stock and CanStockPhoto,
those are usually two of my go-tos in terms of,
like, paid stock photos and images.
And in my opinion, they have some of the best stuff.
Finally, and this one is kinda more than one by itself,
is the Envato network of sites.
ThemeForest and PhotoDune in particular.
A graphic river lets you go ahead and grab
Photoshop templates, InDesign templates,
Illustrator stuff with vector assets.
It's for all around graphics.
Pretty much everything you need, from magazine templates,
banner ads, you name it.
PhotoDune focuses on photography
and that's where you can get those resources,
whereas ThemeForest focuses on website templates
and email templates.
So you have a lot of options there.
With Adobe Stock I like that you get a variety as well.
The same thing with iStockphoto sometimes,
there are other assets you can get there,
such as Illustrator files.
So between these five solutions, you know,
and I'm including the Envato network as one
when it's really multiple websites,
then you have some variety here.
Whatever you might need as a graphic designer,
whenever you might need to do digital vector artwork,
whenever you might need to do even websites,
you have some options and some solutions
to get these things as a graphic designer.
I think it's really practical
because you can save time with this,
you can still customize it to your heart's content.
What I like about Adobe Stock
is you can use this stuff commercially
in your paid projects.
Most of the other graphic sites and stock photo sites,
you can do that as well.
Just make sure you're reading
the terms and conditions very carefully.
I might even do a video about that in the future
and about how to use stock photos like that.
I might just wanna bring in somebody
who has the legal side of it, as an expertise,
because that stuff gets complicated.
So, like I said, those are five stock photo
and image resources for you guys,
and you can check them out.
And again, freeimages.com is free.
If you guys want me to do a list of nothing but
resources where you can get free stock images and downloads,
500 likes on this video.
Also, I'm running a poll.
Of these, you know, five options that I gave you,
which one do you like the most
if you've ever used it in the past,
or sounds the most appealing to you?
I also wanna know how you guys
are using stock images and templates in your everyday work,
so let me know that in the comment section.
Like this video if you like it, don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome content on the channel.
Remember, graphic design videos are typically on Mondays.
As always you guys, thanks so much for watching
and don't forget, create something awesome today.
Take care.