Graphics Resources

This page features resources for local churches and districts, from free fonts and images to material for your bulletins and newsletters.

Photoshop Guide - Whether you are new to the world of digital photography or have already got your feet wet, this guide will show you the many features of Photoshop. Although this guide was specifically geared toward Photoshop CS5, many of the tools in the program have not changed between versions.

Free Photo & Clip Art Sites:

Morgue Photos - NEW! Don't let the name scare you. This search engine has millions of free photos and graphics (many that are hi-res).
Everystockphoto.com - An exceptional search engine of over 13 million free photos (many that are hi-res).
Freephotos.se - Has approximately 1,300 photos (most around 2MB in size).
Cepolina Photos - Has approx. 18,000 photos (most available in six sizes).
Incredible Art - Has a large collection of free sites.
The Stock Vault - Has approximately 26,000 photos (most around 2MB in size).
Freerange Stock Photography - One of the best hi-res free photo sites available.
Stock xchng - Has over 350,000 photos (many are hi-res). You will have to register, but it is free.
Dreamstime - Again you do have to register, but there is a large free section.

Free Photo Editing Software

Paint is very easy to use photo editing software. You can download the software for Windows XP, Vista and 7 here. You can read more about the program and its resources (online community, tutorial, plug-ins, etc.) here.
Picasa is an easy to use program developed by Google, but it features more capabilities than Paint. For PC users, you can download the program here. Mac users can download the program here. The Picasa tutorial and help page can be found here.
GIMP is an advanced photo editing program. It actually calls itself an "Image Manipulation Program." It has the creative power of Photoshop, but there is a steep learning curve. Mac users (OS X or higher) can download the software here. PC and Linux users can download the software here. For PC users: only use the software if you are operating on Windows XP or higher. You can download the user manual (it is 26MB) here below the PC download section - because of its size there is no online viewing option.

Free PDF Creation Software

If you need free software to create PDFs (for example: to turn your print newsletter into a PDF to e-mail to your parishioners to save postage costs), PrimoPDF is very good software. You can convert your Word, Publisher, Excel, PowerPoint and many other (300+) files to PDF using your program's print button or you can drag-and-drop your file onto the desktop icon. Click here to download the program.

Free Print Screen Software

Do you need a free print screen program? Why would you? Well, if you want a screen capture of your website for your bulletin or newsletter; if you want to save your screen capture to your computer instead of only to your clipboard; if you want to send your screen capture through e-mail; if instead of a full screen capture you only want a specific window or you want the ability to crop your screen capture; or if you want to use a copywritten image for criticism, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, or teaching (note: you should FULLY understand The Fair Use clause of the U.S. Copyright law BEFORE using this software for this reason). Visit Gadwin's website and scroll down to the Gadwin PrintScreen section and choose Download Now! to save the program to your desktop. Note: this is only for Windows with the following operating systems: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, 2003, 2008, XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Free Fonts

Some really good Internet sites for free fonts are:
Font Space       Simply the Best Fonts       1001 Free Fonts       Font Squirrel       Urban Fonts       Fonts 101       Dafont       Better Fonts
For PC users: To get new fonts, first download the font from the site. In most cases you will click download and then choose to save the file to your desktop. Usually the file will be a ZIP file. Right click to Extract All and save the files to your desktop. Then open your "computer" folder, your harddrive, your Windows folder, and then drag the files into your Fonts folder. You only need to drag in the font files.
For Mac users: To get new fonts, first download the font from the site. Open the folder or disk that contains the fonts you want to install. Select the font suitcases for the fonts you want to install. For PostScript Type 1 fonts, also select the printer outline files. Drag and drop the fonts into the Fonts folder in the Library folder.
Need free font management software? Try NexusFonts. It is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7 and it has many useful tools: delete duplicate fonts, organize your fonts into families/sets, install/uninstall from the program and more. This is a very useful program if you have more than 100 fonts.

Free Christian Cartoons for bulletins, print newsletters (NOT for use online)

The Reverend Fun Cartoons may be reproduced free of charge in church and non-profit publications with a circulation or printing of less than 1,000 if you follow their guidelines.
Church Mice Cartoons may be reproduced free of charge in church and non-profit publications with a circulation or printing of less than 1,000 if you follow their guidelines.
Joyful 'Toons Cartoons may be reprinted free of charge, you just have to follow their guidelines.
Agnus Day Cartoons may be reprinted free of charge, you just have to follow their guidelines.
Kim & Jason Comics may be reprinted free of charge, you just have to follow their guidelines.
For Mankind Cartoons, you have to contact the artist for permission. It depends on your use of the cartoon, how many copies, etc. to see if there is a cost.
Please note: the cartoons above may usually be reproduced free of charge if you are using them in your church bulletin or newsletter with less than 1,000 copies distributed. You usually cannot alter or edit the cartoon in any way and you always have to give artist credit. For use online you will likely have to pay, unless you link directly, however in all instances you should contact the artist for expressed permission.