Skip to Main Content

Illustration

Research Guide for Illustration

Find Images

Find Professional Images of Art, Archival Materials, and More
Please note the rights and copyright statements for any image you reuse and be sure to cite your sources.

Note: The databases that include "(@Decker Library)" might ask for your MICA username and password.

Artstor Digital Library (@Decker Library)

Artstor contains nearly two million digital images of works of art from many time periods and cultures. Here you'll find images of architecture, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. New to Artstor? Register on campus first, after which you'll be able to access this database anywhere off campus - as long as you log in on campus every 120 days. Questions? Contact us for help.

Internet Archive

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

Digital Public Library of America

DPLA is a public portal that provides innovative ways to search and scan through the united collection from libraries, archives, and museums of millions of items, including searching by timeline, map, format, subject, and project partner.

Europeana

Europeana, also a public image portal, helps cultural institutions around Europe share their digital collections with a wider audience.

Flickr: The Commons

The Commons, a public image database, launched in 2008 when Flickr teamed up with Library of Congress. It now has an overwhelming amount of partners who have contributed to the project, including libraries, archives, and museums. Anyone with an account can view, download, and tag an image.

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons is a database containing millions of media files to which anyone can contribute. 

Oxford Art Online (@Decker Library)

Oxford Art Online is available through Decker Library and comprises of Grove Art Online, the Benezil, Dictionary of Artists, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, as well as other articles and bibliographies.

Credo Reference (@Decker Library)

Credo Reference contains hundreds of reference books, searches include images.

Find Clips and Audio Files

Find Clips and Audio Files
Please note the rights and copyright statements for any image you reuse and be sure to cite your sources.

Note: The databases that include "(@Decker Library)" might ask for your MICA username and password.

Internet Archive: Moving Images

Internet Archive: Audio Archive

Internet Archive has millions of audio and video assets. Not all are downloadable and not all may be reused without credit, but this is an amazing resource if you're looking for clips or music to add to your projects.

Free Music Archive

Free Music Archive offers public domain, Creative Commons, and licensed music. It's a great resource for audio to use in your projects, but beware that not everything is actually 'free!'

Freesound.org

Freesound.org aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, ... released under Creative Commons licenses that allow their reuse. Note: You'll need to create a login to use this site.

Pond5: The Public Domain Project

Pond5: The Public Domain Project contains thousands of media files for your creative projects. This site requires you to create a login.

Decker Library at the Maryland Institute College of Art | Location: 1401 W. Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore, MD 21217 | Mailing: 1300 W. Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore, MD 21217

Research Help: 410-225-2273 / refer@mica.edu | General Questions: 410-225-2272 / circ@mica.edu

Decker on Facebook Decker on Instagram Decker on tumblr Decker on Twitter