Clip Art Press

What do you think of when you think of clip art? Do you picture the black and white sketches from the “olden days” like many people do? Black and white, colorful, animated, large or small, clip art has evolved to become a highly useful tool in many areas, for many purposes. From the playful to the practical, below is a short list of ways this versatile art form can come in handy:

1. Children’s coloring & window art project – Black and white clip art comes in especially handy for keeping children happy and occupied. Choosing appropriate clip art for the occasion – birthdays or Valentine’s Day parties, for instance – is easy. Once you find what you’re looking for, print it out and start a coloring party! When the pictures have been finished, you can spray them down with lacquer and turn them into window art for the kids to take home.
2. Learning tools for teachers that students love – Clip art mixed with any paint or document program can make an excellent learning tool for pre-kindergarten and higher. Match your choice to your current lesson plan, add titles or appropriate text with either a paint program or document reader like Microsoft Word, save and print. For instance, a black and white tepee that can be colored might complement a lesson on Native Americans.
3. Website design – Clip art is much more than it used to be. You can choose simple creations to enhance your website design, partial templates (such as navigation menus only) or complete website templates. In fact, those that want to design their own website – or even professional designers with not enough time on their hands to design every aspect – can use clip art to build a beautiful, dynamic website.
4. Stencils – Many people use wall and decorative art to enhance their homes. However, one decorative stencil can cost as much as $100 if not more. Clip art, on the other hand, is an inexpensive way to create fantastic wall and molding decorations. Simply choose your clip art, print it out and transfer it to stiff cardboard or fairly thin plastic (plastic is preferable). Cut out the design and you have a beautiful stencil for wall art.
5. Print collateral – While clip art can come in handy at home or school, it really shines in business applications. Print collateral, such as brochures, pamphlets, business letterheads and envelopes, is an excellent example. Whether the clip art is an enhancement or part of the overall design, today’s choices can turn a drab layout into a work of art. (The Graphics Factory has over 3,000 images in our clip art for business category.)

Other Ideas

Just for fun, we decided to see if we really could come up with 101 ways to use clip art. Here goes:

1. T-shirt printing
2. PowerPoint illustrations
3. Hand-made greeting cards
4. Scrap-booking projects
5. Signs
6. Website widgets
7. As glass etching designs
8. As metal ornaments, either stamped or sandblasted
9. Signature stamps
10. Potatoes stamps for kids
11. To make your emails stand out
12. Enhancements for eNewsletters
13. Art projects
14. Visual cues in reports
15. As frame decorations for pictures
16. Creating birthday stickers
17. Creating homemade party decorations
18. Decoration on promotional material (mugs, mousepads, etc)
19. On flyers
20. Enhancements for magazine articles
21. Ads
22. Business cards
23. Website template packages
24. Theme designs
25. Website widgets
26. Window transparencies
27. Creating ornaments
28. 3D cutout designs
29. 3D background scenes
30. Invitations
31. Holiday decorations
32. Bookmarks
33. Catalogs
34. Research projects
35. Illustrations
36. Calendars
37. Wallpaper
38. Coloring pages
39. CD Collections
40. Baby showers
41. Screensavers
42. Animated banner ads
43. Embroidery designs
44. Create knitting patterns
45. Create cross-stitch patterns
46. Table decorations
47. Placemats
48. Sun catchers
49. Temporary tattoos
50. Permanent tattoos
51. Labels
52. Kids’ activity sheets
53. Key chains
54. Creating custom avatars
55. Cookie cutters
56. Appliqué designs
57. Iron-on templates

Keep in mind that not all of these are possible with other places that sell clip art, due to licensing issues. All of Graphics Factory clip art is available for commercial use.

Well, we’ve made quite a dent in the 101 ways, but there are plenty more ways to use clip art and we’d love to hear yours. What have you used clip art for?