"T R A U M A"
..stock resources.

˓ ִֶָ𓄲 ☁️ BEFORE WE START 𖦹 ࣪˖ ˒
Ohh you thought we would have gone through all the dry explanations by now? No, enjoy me providing some more "boring" information about how to enjoy designing in a safe and respectful manner.

Just a little disclaimer beforehand, I will not go too much into detail in regards of things like "how to download this or that", as we all use different browsers, devices and so on.

Once again I will include a few images and examples to loosen up the chapter. So give me a chance and at least try to have a bit of fun with this.

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˓ ִֶָ𓄲 ☁️ WHAT ARE STOCK RESOURCES 𖦹 ࣪˖ ˒
Well, there are a ton of different ways to define stock resources, really. I will try to sum it up in the easiest way:

Stock resources can be general photos, illustrations, templates, renders or other similar files — either created without a particular project in mind (e.g.: random hand stock images) or created to fulfill a specific purpose (e.g.: model stock or cosplay stock). Of course there is also a broad variety of other stock resources, such as fonts, PNGs, coloring settings or brushes for certain programs/apps, brand logos and many more.

Stock resources can be provided for free (no payment), or in exchange for a certain fee (including a payment), so that you are able to use it in certain ways (e.g.: modifying the resource or using it for commercial purposes) and receive a respective "license" for said use

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˓ ִֶָ𓄲 ☁️ WHERE TO FIND STOCK RESOURCES 𖦹 ࣪˖ ˒
There are a ton of stock websites on the internet, it is insane and at the end of the day everyone can find a helpful website for themselves.
Some websites were made for creators who provide stock resources for free, whereas others require you to pay in order to be able to access and use certain resources.

I will list down a few of my favorite websites to get stock resources from — mostly for free, as not every designer here on wattpad is planning to become a professional and rather just enjoys this as a hobby.

₀₀₁ unsplash:
I can not stress out enough how much I love unsplash. The website and its community provide such a great variety of different resources. From model stock to landscapes, textures and 3D renders.. you can find them all on there. If you have browsed through my shop or portfolio before, you may notice that I rely on unsplash a lot, especially in terms of backgrounds. It really is easy to use and navigate through the website. You may have to browse through a few different key words before finding exactly what you need, depending on how specific the idea in your head is. But overall you can find almost everything and anything on there. Unsplash also briefly explains under what license they provide the resources, in which ways you are allowed to use them or not and how to credit the respective content creators. Down below i have provided a screenshot of their simplified license explanation.

(Screenshot from: https://unsplash.com/license)

₀₀₂ pexels:
Just like unsplash, pexels and its community provide a variety of different resources. Sometimes even more variety or even specific resources, in comparison to unsplash. It even provides video resource, which I haven't found on unsplash yet. It is also really easy to navigate through the website and just like unsplash, it also briefly explains under what license they provide their content and in which ways you are allowed to use the resources or not. Down below is a screenshot of their simplified license explanation.

(Screenshots from: https://www.pexels.com/license/)

₀₀₃ pixabay:
Now listen here, I have not used pixabay as often as unsplash for example, but it is definitely the website with the most variety of resources. From images to videos, music and sound effects, you can find it all on there. I did not even know that until recently. Once again, it is pretty simple to use the website and navigate through everything. They also explain their license regulations more briefly, but down below is a screenshot of their simplified license explanation for now.

(Screenshot from: https://pixabay.com/service/license/)

₀₀₄ deviantart:
My absolute favorite one, of all time. The only reason I have put it last is that not everything on there is for free and it originally is not even a stock website. But still, quite a lot of artists, photographers and other content creators rely on this website to share their works and make them available for others. You can find landscape stock, model stock, 3D renders, brushes and colorings. So much more even.
It is a bit more complex to find exactly what you need and you may have to invest a bit more time in browsing through the website and different key words — the content creators also state their own individual rules and licenses, which often requires more browsing on their profiles, but sometimes it is also explained in the post's description. My favorite content creators that I can also suggest to you are FaeStock (model stock), PhelanDavion (model stock) and ArtReferenceSource (model stock, 3D renders, object stock, pre-made backgrounds). Of course there are many more amazing creators and artists, but these three have definitely saved me a lot of times already.

Other websites I can suggest, but that are not necessarily "free" would be: dreamstime, shutterstock, iStock, getty images, adobe stock and depositphotos.
But maybe anyone reading this has even more suggestions, if so, feel free to comment them here.

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˓ ִֶָ𓄲 ☁️ HOW TO USE STOCK RESOURCES 𖦹 ࣪˖ ˒
Well, this is not really easy to generalize or sum up. At the end of the day every stock website and every content creator states their own rules and license regulations. They provide their own information about how to use their works and how to credit them, or if that is even required at all.

In order to stay safe and not "accidentally" get into any trouble I advice you to invest time into reading through any terms and conditions or license explanations provided.

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˓ ִֶָ𓄲 ☁️ SOURCES 𖦹 ࣪˖ ˒
SOURCES 𖦹 ࣪˖ ˒
Down below is a summary of all sources used for this chapter.

₀₀₁ Text(s):
No external ones actually, everything said are my personal opinions/experiences

₀₀₂ Image(s):
Screenshots from Google searches
https://unsplash.com/license
https://www.pexels.com/license/
https://pixabay.com/service/license/

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© eggyeuls, 2022