The Best 16 Free Cookie Clipart Site (with photos!)
Have you ever written a blog or shared a recipe, and realised just before sharing it that an image or two would really enhance the overall finish?
It’s true what they say – a picture really can say a thousand words. In fact, come to think of it, that’s probably the exact mantra which adorns the walls of hundreds of graphic designer studios all over the world.
The truth is, really good graphics and images can be hard to find, particularly when what you’re looking for isn’t a photograph or basic computer-generated cartoon. From hand drawn images to toned down colours and intricate details, sometimes what you really need is a database of images to trail through and find exactly what you want to suit your readers and your tone of voice.
And that’s where we come in. This blog explores a range of sites and resources which offer free (and a few paid-for) clipart images relating to one of the world’s favourite snacks – cookies!
Clipart Panda
We’ll start with one of our favourites, which shares all the images you could possibly want on a super basic and easy to use website, dedicated to colourful cartoon style images. A far cry from realistic photos, nevertheless these images are more than enough to lift a recipe or blog off the page – with a search for ‘cookies’ bringing in an impressive 127 results.
One of two of the images are watermarked as per the designer, but most of the pictures on here are very high definition and of excellent quality – even when re-sized – and can easily be downloaded to your own device at the click of a button.
All Things Clipart
Another free site though with a lot less choice than Clipart Panda, All Things Clipart certainly seems to cover all bases; with images available of everything you could possibly imagine, as well as downloadable colouring sheets for children and even fun facts about everything you search for. Images on All Thing Clipart are easily saved with a simple right hand click, though the images in the ‘cookie’ search are not as high resolution as on other sites.
All Things Clipart combines cartoon style images and results with photos, which could prove to be useful as a database for those looking to add realistic photos to their work.
Clip Art Best
A quick search for ‘cookies’ on clip art best brings up everything from Disney-shaped cookie cutters to plates of biscuits being eaten by Santa. Unfortunately, the variety is not huge and the search function seems a little flawed – also offering images of jigsaw puzzle pieces alongside mouth-watering cartoon biscuits – but for the most basic searches, the art is free and easy to download as a jpeg.
All of the images are free of watermarks, and this site also provides an easy Contact Us function whereby you can get in touch if you are looking for a specific image style – meaning they are open to suggestion and adaptation to suit your needs.
Pixabay
The great thing about Pixabay is that you can get both photographic images and clipart style graphics – all for free. The simple search bar at the top of the page allows you to search for anything you want – cookies, in this case – and then select the style of image you want from the dropdown below. This dropdown introduces us to Photos, Vector Graphics and Illustrations, allowing you to select the style of image which best suits your design or piece of work.
There is some overlap between vector graphic and illustrations, though on the whole the illustrations provide a much more realistic finish – without being true photos. And in terms of our cookies search, the illustrated style is the one most likely to get your readers’ mouths watering!
WikiCommons
This site is a lesser known branch of the Wikipedia brand, creating a network or hub of images in amongst the information about everything you could possibly want to know about. WikiCommons provides a super easy search bar which then lists everything available under your search term – by searching for ‘cookies clipart’ the site revealed a few results which are easy to download or right click and save. The results also reference the original location of the image and its artist, so you can trace each result back to where it was originally shared.
What’s good about WikiCommons is that as well as downloading the image, there is also an option to send the link directly via email, or use the file on another website – eradicating the need for you to download and save the file, before sending it on.
FreePik
FreePik operates through two different versions – one free, and one paid for. The paid for, Premium, version, can be bought fairly cheaply and opens the user up to a much wider range of options and results – a subscription that designers may well view as good value.
However, for those of us searching for one off graphics and images, the free version of FreePik provides a very comprehensive selection – our ‘cookies’ search, for example, presented 11,290 completely free images that were downloadable through a very easy two-click process (compared with the 63,000 images available through the Premium package). When you click to download, the site helpfully introduces you to the type of image, and how you can edit it – for example an EPS file which you might prefer as a jpeg.
Vecteezy
Given away by the site name, Vecteezy specialises in vector art which has a nice illustrated style of finish – not too cartoonish, but enough so to make it obvious that the image is not trying to be too realistic. A search for ‘cookies’ produces 3,897 results – which breaks down further into the free images, the Pro images, and those for editorial use only. Those that are available for free download tend to require attribution – that is, acknowledging and referencing the artists wherever you choose to use the image.
Really, in return for a free image, this is a pretty fair trade off, and with 33 pages of free cookie graphics available, the choice really is endless.
ClipArt-Library
Rather than splitting results into free and paid-for images, ClipArt-Library goes one step further by indicating which images can be used for commercial use, and which can’t. That is, those that can be used on your own website or piece of work, and those which can only be downloaded for personal use – for example, to make a poster or a birthday card.
Unfortunately, the obstacles for commercial users do not stop there, as most of the images available for commercial use are actually linked through to iStock – one of the most popular paid for image sites. For non-commercial users, the process is much easier, with ClipArt-Library displaying a great range of illustrations and cartoons which you can download for personal use. Not necessarily the easiest user journey, but no doubt effective if you are simply looking for an image to print off or send to a friend.
Sweet Clip Art
An example of an easy to use but fairly limited free clipart site, Sweet Clipart introduces all things sweet – including our favourite search ‘cookies’ – with basic one-dimensional cartoon images. Any image listed as public domain on this site can be used freely across any platform without fee, though some of the images posted by guest artists are limited to personal use only.
The site encourages users to attribute the site as the source, while a third set of images as uploaded by the state are under a “5 commercial images only” limit, whereby users can download up to 5 images for commercial use for free. In terms of usability and quality of results, Sweet ClipArt is quite small but offers a fine selection of high quality cartoon images.
Classroom Clip Art
Classroom clip art is one with a variety of options available for users, depending on how often they intend to use the site for images, and the style of images they are looking for. The site was created for educational use, with the membership options reaching out to those using the site for individual use or for business use.
Packed full of cartoon style pictures, particularly of cookies, this site avoids watermarking the whole image although it does have a small tag in the bottom corner of each image which could be difficult to crop off. Having said that, the images are free as they are in the given sizing – or users can choose to sign up as paying members, and select the size of the images and its background type. Downloading itself is super easy, right clicking on the chosen image and saving it to the device for future use.
365psd
This site provides a good mixture of free and paid for graphics, with a super easy search bar and very obvious depiction of the image file type for each result. A search for ‘cookies’ brings up a whole range of available images which are free on the site, and it doesn’t end there. Clicking through to view an image introduces the user to a whole host of related graphics available through iStock; many of which are of a very high quality and provide a nice selection of image styles, but are covered in the watermarking which makes free download impossible.
When using this site in particular, it’s worth trying your search term in a variety of different ways – ‘cookies’, ‘cookie’ and even ‘biscuits’ – as each can throw in a few extra results which may be exactly what you are looking for.
Artvex
Artvex is a good provider of free clipart images, though its site is not as user friendly due to the lack of a search bar. Users must decide which of the menu items their image will appear in, and look for it through there rather than performing a basic search. Though this undoubtably takes longer, the results are pretty decent – and all free. Once we found the home of ‘cookies’, we were given a nice selection of images – both cartoonish and hand-drawn in style, which included a few lesser known varieties of cookie as well as the classic clipart favourite – the chocolate chip cookie.
The site is full of clickable ads, so be aware of what you’re clicking on – it may not be linked to Artvex, and may take you off towards some paid-for site.
Dreamstime
Boasting 131 million stock photos with the world’s largest stock image community, Dreamstime is super easy to use and has a great database of both free and paid for images – with subscription offering up to 10 free images before you start paying. As such, it may be worth signing up and getting those free images if you intend to use the site regularly, though the free graphics offer plenty of choice alone.
A search for ‘cookies’ in the clipart illustrations menu brings up 36,110 royalty-free results, beneath a selection of filters and other menu items to narrow your search down – from a free image search, to specific artists, product placements and finish style (2D or 3D cartoons).
Clip Art Mag
Another great site which offers entirely free clip art images, Clip Art Mag offers its own basic one-dimensional cartoon images, alongside a selection of more realistic images as presented in an iStock advert. A good few of the options on most searched – including ‘cookies’ – bring up black and white line drawing style images, leaving you free to edit and colour them in as your desire. This is a particularly nice feature for those users looking to make an individual mark on their piece of work.
When using Clip Art Mag, it is worth noting that there is a daily limit for download, and you must attribute the site as your source when using any free image.
As we have already discovered, many of the sites offering clipart images have some free options and some paid-for options. While paying for some form of subscription tends only to open up a wider selection of images available, there are some sites around which only allow downloads for paying customers.
Here are just a few of those examples.
Clip Art Of
The range available on Clip Art Of is extensive and high quality – as it should be when the images all come at a fee. Every image is watermarked – both the full-size version and the teaser version – meaning screenshotting to get around the fee is impossible, though the exceptional quality of the art and the range available makes the fee understandable.
In terms of style and design, these images cover standard cartoons and a more hand drawn feel, capturing most of the popular styles of clipart without mixing in photos. Each image also comes with a caption which depicts its name and the artist, allowing each artist a platform to advertise their work. On clicking through to a selected image, there are a series of questions as answered by the artist, including the possibility of customisation, and whether it is available as a transparent background – all features which make the fee worthwhile.
iStock
One of the most well-known and widely used clipart sites around at the moment, iStock allows users to search for various styles of image of anything they want – for a price. Tokens can be brought and added to an account, with the download of each image available for a certain amount of tokens.
iStock is not cheap, but the images are of a high enough quality that they can be blown up as art of large-scale graphic designs, providing everything from high resolution backgrounds, website banners and even printed banners if necessary.
So, there you have it – a selection of some of the easiest to use, most cost-effective, and highest quality clip art sites around at the moment. When it comes to embellishing your work and adding a little visual element, there is no easier way to do so than using a picture or two, so give these sites a try and inject some fun through a cartoon – whether you choose the vibrancy of a 2D cartoon, or the more realistic finish of a hand drawn illustration.
Make sure to check out our top picks for the following clipart categories:
