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Who needs a smiley face clipart book when you can find quality clipart online. These sites really come in handy when you doing any kind of word processing and find yourself rushing to finish a project on time. In this article, we'll present a few tips to help you find, choose and use clip art in your own projects: |
A great illustration can be really valuable in your projects to convey the feeling or emotion behind the words. At the very least, the clipart you choose should grab the viewer's attention and pull them into your core message. At best, a great image can express things that words can not capture.
The easiest clip art images to use are the ones that present common objects, like homes, flowers, bicycles, etc. By using a bicycle graphic, for example, in the context of your flier, you can visually communicate that you subject involves bicycles, increasing the likelihood that reader will go on to read you text, assuming they are interested in bicycles of course.
Less common clip art images are often the most interesting. This type of image tells a story; for example, a child sharing a snack with the family dog. These images contribute greater meaning to your flier or other message, and they are relatively rare because they require more creativity to conceive and design, and they are useful only in very specific situations.
As you start to notice subtleties in images and the visual language that is being used, you'll get better at choosing concepts to illustrate your message with more meaning and depth.
What's Your Style?
A visual concept is a representation of "what you say," but your style is all about "how you say it." There are countless illustrative styles; every illustrator has their own unique "take" on subjects, and in fact, many artists have several different styles at their disposal, depending on their mood, and the subject matter they are working with.
One timeless artistic style is simplicity. Some artists strive to simplify the subject matter to its "lowest common denominator," by reducing the image to its most basic shapes and shading. Simplification is a powerful tool to use in clip art design. Whenever it is possible, try to isolate one image from the next. And hold to a simple style.
Beside the image concept and style, clipart is subjective-just like any other kind of art. But before selecting your clipart pieces to use, consider the following three points.
1. Remove the clipart image from its current surroundings and ask yourself if it still "holds up." When images are lumped together on a same page, they tend to take on a different personality. Cover the surrounding images to check if the image works on its own.
2. Check the image at the approximate size you will use it. Many clipart images look great when viewed as a thumbnail, but do not hold up when viewed in full resolution.
3. Scrutinize the shape of your image. A horizontal image won't work on a short brochure, no matter how great the artwork is.
Following these guidelines, and with a little practice, it's easy to find just the right smiley clip art image for your project.
