Royalty-free stock art

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I recently was hired at a new job as a web designer. The company, among other things, does stock photography - interesting pictures useful for advertising or magazine design. Looking at other stock photography websites, I was exposed to an amazing new world for indie publishers: royalty-free stock photography.

Now, I know most games don't use photography for art - they use drawings or paintings. Both Unknown Armies and Dread, however, have used photography to great effect. These "royalty-free" sites offer quality photography for little cost, usually selling images in bulk to be used however you want. Most of them are a little pricey, but http://www.istockphoto.com/ is an amazingly cheap one I've found, with downloads being 50 cents each.

I was just shocked that something like this is out there (and it makes me want to make a Forge artists' site.) I have to think of a new game idea to go with some of this crazy art.

[iago]

Now, I know most games don't use photography for art - they use drawings or paintings. Both Unknown Armies and Dread, however, have used photography to great effect. These "royalty-free" sites offer quality photography for little cost, usually selling images in bulk to be used however you want. Most of them are a little pricey, but http://www.istockphoto.com/ is an amazingly cheap one I've found, with downloads being 50 cents each.

I was just shocked that something like this is out there (and it makes me want to make a Forge artists' site.) I have to think of a new game idea to go with some of this crazy art.

I've been planning on making use of things like this myself for Fate, and the current version of the PDF uses some images I got from http://www.clipart.com.  The non-photo images I get from there are of, shall we say, variable quality, and I'll recognize most of the ones you might want if you use them in your game (I mined the heck out of the place a few months back), but that's not to say there aren't some good gems in there that bear use.  And it's download-all-you-like, with you paying for a given timeperiod for an account, rather than per-item.

I'll have to check out istock, sounds like an interesting find.  Thanks for the post![/url]

[Matt Snyder]

Clinton, there are hordes of these kinds of things available, and  not just limited to photography, although that's the dominant vibe.

Others include:

stockphoto.com
photodisc.com
eyewire.com


I have mixed emotions about it. For example, I'm considering using some to enliven Avatar-13 a bit. But, I have a hard time not using art from folks who are dedicated to the hobby. It's the one thing I DO pay for, not cutting corners on, in my little one-man-band operation. I get some great art, too.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Matt,

I agree in that I try to pay for art from people interested in RPGs whenever possible. This discovery has sprouted some cool ideas in my mind on how to make a site like this work for RPG artists. A Forge-sponsored RPG stock art site might work really well.

[Matt Gwinn]

I agree in that I try to pay for art from people interested in RPGs whenever possible. This discovery has sprouted some cool ideas in my mind on how to make a site like this work for RPG artists. A Forge-sponsored RPG stock art site might work really well.

This would kick ass!
I was thinking the same thing myself.
From the looks of the sites I've visited since starting work on Kayfabe, most of the clipart is business oriented or for home use.  THere's not much as far as quality rpg material.

,Matt

[Clinton R. Nixon]

This thread is getting awfully derailed, but a site where independent RPG artists could show off their work, sell it with instant downloads, and determine their own contract is something I'd really like to see at the Forge. Seeing as I'm currently making a site for someone else to do this, we may see it, even as soon as GenCon.

[contracycle]

Another way to use stock photogrophy for the artistically inept, such as myself, is run a photo through filters, like the pen or chalk filters.  Not very satisfying, but you can do some things that way.

[Matt Gwinn]

Little Fears used actual photos and I thought they looked really good.  Were those stock photos or did Jason take those himself?

One concern I have about using clipart is that it may make your game seem cheap.  Does the everyday gamer that doesn't work with graphics (like a lot of us) recognize the difference between original art and clipart?

I think an important thing to watch for is how widespread the clipart license goes.  I've seen some clipart that is available in dozens of locations.  If I use clipart in my game I want to be relatively sure that most people won't recognize it from somewhere else.

,Matt G.

[Matt Snyder]

Clinton, bring it on! That would be a most welcome resource.


Gareth, et al: Check out these links of photos I tinkered with for my players in our ongoing Avatar-13 playtests.

Penelope
Blackjack
Jank

I created these using photos downloaded from the web. I applied (on 5 layers of the same photo) the Trace Contour filter. The, using the actual photo as a "background" I set the color to duotone, then applied various filters. On Penelope, I created a semi-transparent emboss effect. On the other two, I used the Fresco filter, then Watercolor filter. I also applied Noise and a third part filter called Trans-Line that basically makes a "lined" effect, giving the appearance of a television-like screen.

For bonus points, can you name the famous people in these photos? Uber-bonus for identifying the somewhat obscure pic in Jank's image. Penelope's should be easiest.

[Jason L Blair]

The photography in Little Fears was not stock photography. Julie Hoverson (from Serendipity's Circle) contributed some pics, some were taken by me, and others were by my wife. Julie's were commissioned and paid for (the pics of the girl on the swing, the girl running toward the playground, mine were staged specifically for the book (the clothes burning in the fire, the doll by the river, the pull toy on the sidewalk, etc) and some just fit (my wife's pictures from her trip to Quebec).


RE: Avatar-13
My guesses are Kate Hudson as Penelope, Clive Owen as Blackjack, and I'm not sure about Jank. For some reason though Mike Myers came into my head for Jank.

[Mike Holmes]

I agree with Kate Hudson for Penelope.
Dominic Purcell (John Doe form the new show of the same name) for Blackjack.
And a young Rick Springfield for Jank. Robert Downey Junior also sprug to mind (maybe one of his arrest pics?).

Mike

[Matt Snyder]

I agree with Kate Hudson for Penelope.
Dominic Purcell (John Doe form the new show of the same name) for Blackjack.
And a young Rick Springfield for Jank. Robert Downey Junior also sprug to mind (maybe one of his arrest pics?).

Mike

Actually, Jason nailed 'em. The odd man out is James Spader in a scene from "The Watcher," which greatly inspired one of my players.

We're getting a bit off topic here, so I'll attempt to steer back --

I posted these as an example of what you could do with stock art (and DON'T do what I did in taking copyrighted photos -- this was purely a fun-for-the-group thing). Photos can really work nicely in the right context and with just a little touch here and there.

But, it also leads me to another question of using "stock" RPG art from artists. Would I be able to manipulate such royalty free art to better adapt from my game? Would artists involved in the hobby be willing to share such rights? I think ownership vs. "royalty free" is a big concern, given the fact that we're not likely to achieve an economy of scale that those huge stock art sites have.

That is, it may not be beneficial enough for the fairly limited number of artists contributing to such a board. I'm posing it as a concern, not because I think it won't work. I'd LOVE to see this work.

[Paul Czege]

That's Clive Owen? How the hell did you get him to look so bull-necked? He didn't look like that in Croupier.

Paul

[Mike Holmes]

That's Clive Owen? How the hell did you get him to look so bull-necked?

That's why I thought he was the John Doe guy. The thick neck seemed like a dead giveaway.

Mike

[clehrich]

I think an important thing to watch for is how widespread the clipart license goes. I've seen some clipart that is available in dozens of locations. If I use clipart in my game I want to be relatively sure that most people won't recognize it from somewhere else.

I wonder how much of this comes from poor selection rather than the images or sets themselves.  If we're talking about the same thing, what I see is a lot of websites and such that try to gussy up a drab site by throwing in a few bits of clipart that came with the program, or maybe one other bit.  This looks as cheap as it is.

I'm concerned about this, myself, because my current game project (http://www.auroragames.com/pdf/shadows.pdf" target="blank">Shadows in the Fog) will eventually have quite a lot of Victorian images, and these seem to crop up a lot because they're out of copyright.

Anyone else have comments on Matt's point?