Spinwave
Want faster-loading Web pages? Then check out this excellent, free online
utility that can reduce the size and download times of GIF images from
anywhere on your hard drive or the Web by up to 90%. You can crunch single
GIFs for free (although you'll need to subscribe to crunch whole sites).
Their new JPEGCruncher downsizes many other types of images to JPEG format,
including GIF, BMP, JPEG, TIFF and other formats.
IrfanView
One of the handiest freeware programs around, this multimedia and graphics
viewer can handle any type of file you throw at it: from GIFs to Real Audio to
MP3 to Adobe Photoshop files, as well as a lot of obscure formats.
(For Windows).
20/20
This fabulous freeware graphics application offers loads of features that you
normally only see in the top commercial programs. 20/20 is an image viewer,
screen capture and annotation program. Many features: slideshows, thumbnails,
a background generator and much more. (For Windows).
AAAThemes.com
This site serves up hundreds of free desktop themes. Categories here include
anime, art, fantasy, games, horror & occult, holidays, movies and music. New
themes are added each day.
FlamingText.com
How'd you like a really cool (or I should say hot) custom logo that looks like
it's on fire (complete with animated flames)? That's what this innovative free
service offers. Other designs here include Alien Glow, beveled pattern, chalk,
chrome, comic, metal, drop shadow, frosty, glowing, neon, particle trace and
many more. You may select from their pre-made images or generate your own
custom logo. (FlamingText.com is
WebTV-friendly).
FreeGraphics.com
With a domain like FreeGraphics.com, this site has a lot to live up to. And
Claire Schaeffer's site delivers quite nicely: it's a well-organized,
searchable database of free graphics links. Graphics include buttons, bullets,
control panels, bars, sets, backgrounds, animations, and more. All sites are
rated and reviewed.
AlibabaWeb.com
Looking for desktop wallpaper images? This site serves up over 50,000 free
wallpapers, as well as thousands of other graphics. Here, you'll also find
free screen savers, Flash games, ringtones and loads of other fun free
goodies. The site is in English and French.
FreeGraphics.net
A helpful resource for Webmasters, this site offers a good roundup of graphic
resources. Categories include animations, backgrounds, clipart, Flash, fonts,
icons, interfaces, photos, templates and other Webmaster goodies.
WittsWallpapers.com
This well-organized site offers a large collection of free Windows desktop
wallpaper. Unlike most sites of this kind, WittsWallpapers.com doesn't pester
you with banner ads or popup windows. Besides wallpapers, you'll find Windows
startup and shutdown screens, themes, cursors, icons and more.
Free-Backgrounds.com
The top resource of its kind, Free-Backgrounds.com offers loads of free,
original background images for your Web site. No matter what type of look
you're trying to achieve with your page, you'll find just the background you
need at this new site. Backgrounds here are available in all colors and in
hundreds of designs, suitable for both personal and business sites.
Bannerz-R-Us
Looking for free clipart? This site serves up a good collection of free
graphics, as well as online tools that let you customize them. Images here
include banners, backgrounds, background sets, GIFs, lines, buttons, image
maps, animation and more.
QuantumCloud
3D Graphics
Here, you'll find an eye-catching, surreal collection of free high-resolution
computer-generated graphics and tiled backgrounds, suitable for use as desktop
wallpaper. The site also offers free E-cards and screen savers.
LogoDesign-WebDesign.com
Interested in getting a custom logo? While the logos at this site aren't free,
this is one of the few services of its kind that offers free, no-obligation
logo design mockups. Just fill out the contract form here and you will receive
three to five concepts for a logo.
X-Fusions.com
Wallpaper
Looking for desktop wallpaper? This freeware program displays thousands of
wallpaper images in searchable thumbnail galleries. The wallpapers (which are
free) are sorted by categories and are available for download.
(For Windows).
DrawShop
Do you need a custom mascot or logo for your Web site or business? At this
site, you can get a free professionally crafted image, courtesy of Danish
graphics artist Poul Carlsen. The images he creates are colorful and high
quality. (Note: a linkback is required).
T.C.
Design
This site offers a good selection of free and linkware original graphics,
including clipart, buttons and bullets, textures, avatars, desktop wallpaper
and more.
Peapod
Design
This nicely designed resource offers an eye-catching collection of free
graphics, including fractals, Web sets, textures and wallpaper, buttons,
ornaments, BladePro Presets, and more.
CD
Graphics
This site contains a good collection of original, free graphics, suitable for
Web pages. Here, you'll find button, banners, headings and more.
Background
City
An impressive graphics resource that offers loads of free, original background
images and textures. Image categories here include embossed, rainbow, dark,
starry, clouds, patterns, space, lines and more. Images here are intended for
personal, non-profit use only. They may be used for free on noncommercial
personal Web sites or as desktop wallpaper.
iqAuto
3D Graphics Generator
Here's a free online service that lets you easily create cool, custom
graphics. Just type in the text you want and specify the options, (which range
from font texture to depth of text) and within minutes, you'll be able to view
your graphic. A new feature here offers an online image
editor, which allows you to crop and resize your graphics, as well as add
special effects.
NatureWallpaper.net
This site offers an impressive collection of free, high-resolution nature
photos, suitable for use as desktop wallpaper. Images include flowers,
wildlife, birds, insects, reptiles, landscapes, sunsets and more. The photos
are free for personal use.
Digital
Repose
This site offers an eye-catching collection of free original, high-resolution
3D-rendered desktop wallpaper images. Categories here include Abstract,
Aquatic, Cosmic, Landscape and Surreal Art. You'll also find art tutorials,
users' galleries and more.
GraphicsFreebies.com
This well-designed site ranks the Web's top free graphics resources by the
number of votes they've received from their visitors. Each site is reviewed
and the index is updated throughout the day.
AAAThemes.com
An impressive resource, this site serves up hundreds of free desktop themes.
Categories here include anime, art, fantasy, games, horror & occult, holidays,
movies and music. New themes are added each day.
GraphX
Kingdom
This major free graphics resource site serves up over 3,000 images, including
a nice assortment of icons. A local search engine makes it easier to find what
you need. Graphics are also offered in ZIP format, for faster downloads.
There's also a section on "How to Download" for newbies.
AAASkins.com
This fun-to-browse site is one of the Web's leading resources for freeware
desktop skins (which allow you to customize the look and feel of many popular
software programs). Here, you'll find hundreds of custom skins for ICQ, MSN
Messenger, Winamp and many other programs. New skins are added here daily.
180DegreeZ
An excellent free desktop and wallpapers site that offers many eye-catching
original images in many categories.
Images are available here for both
Windows and Macs.
FreeGraphicLand.com
Here's an index of Webmaster-related sites, ranked by the number of votes
they're received from visitors. Site categories here include graphics,
JavaScript, CGI, CCS and HTML.
Animation-Central.com
Here's a nifty archive of free animations for your Web site. Graphics here are
helpfully categorized. Topics include aliens, animals, books, flags, hearts,
money, numbers, signs, sports, zodiacs and more.
Fractal
Desktop
This is the place to go if you enjoy the fascinating world of fractals, a
computer generated artform. Here, you'll find over 500 colorful free fractals.
They're 640-by-480 pixels in size and are in JPG format. Ideal for use as
desktop wallpaper. Artist Roberto Novegno created these images using nothing
more than various freeware graphics programs, proving that you don't need to
spend a lot of money on graphics software to create worthwhile art.
ASCII
Art Gallery
(Note: this site is occasionally unavailable).
Here's a graphics site with a twist: it features ASCII art only. Now, I hear
you saying, "But ASCII art is boring!" Well, obviously you haven't viewed the
masterpieces that Joan Stark has turned out. There's some pretty amazing stuff
here, available for personal use. Categories include: cartoon characters,
animals, seasonal items, animations (!) and more.