3D illustration has become popular since last year. A lot of newbies and other illustrators are jumping on the bandwagon and polishing their craft since they all know that it’s here to stay. What’s the purpose of the art? Well, it gives artists the power to bring their 2D characters to life and lift them off of a 2D page.
The designs are perfect for any kind of platform that requires art and artists. Ever since it has taken the spotlight in 2020, there are no signs that the craze will slow down anytime soon.
3D works have been around since the 1970s. Its arrival transformed industries. It’s rare for a form of art to remain relevant for so long and 3D illustration isn’t just relevant — it’s super-duper trendy. Over the years, what once was limited to experts isn’t anymore. With tools and technology spreading like wildfire, 3D illustration is yet another skill that you can master at home, with the help of tutorials and some great websites.
So without further ado, let’s dive right in and explore 15 great illustration websites that give you easy access to the world of 3D!
Free 3D Illustration Websites to Try in 2022
1.Freepik
One of the top 3D websites, Freepik came into being back in 2010 in Malaga with three founder members. Presently, the website is being operated by a team of 70 people and is serving a whopping 32 million users a month! The initial idea was to create a platform that gives graphic designers access to high-quality graphic resources and for free.
From 2010 to 2014, the model that the website followed was to index the content of top graphic websites that already existed. It didn’t have a database of its own. In 2014, the website revamped its model, and became a graphic content producer itself.
The website was running at a freemium model until 2015, which means most of the content was accessible to designers for free. However, in 2015, they dropped the subscription model. Users who had a premium subscription had access to a lot more graphic content than the free users.
We all know that Google images aren’t an option when we want to produce high-quality free 3D illustrations but Freepik is here to save the day! Hence, the website has made it to our top 15 3D illustration websites to try in 2022!
To give you an insight, this amazing search engine has two main tools: Slidesgo and Flaticon.
The former offers a huge range of eye-catching presentations for PowerPoint templates and Google slides. They are customizable too. The latter is a collection of free icons that are also customizable.
2.AmritPal Design
Amrit Pal is a designer who launched his own 3D website where users have access to his work. Amrit Pal Singh has been a designer for over nine years and is known for his project Toy Faces. He began to mint these Toy Faces NFTs back in February 2021. In a conversation he mentioned, “Most of them are inspired by people who have inspired me.”
The website offers design assets, card games, and free 3D illustrations to use. Users also have access to all of Singh’s past projects which includes the infamous 3D Toy Faces Library. These Toy Faces cost $20 but the 3D room designs are available to be downloaded for free. These classic room designs draw inspiration from Cinema, Literature, and Art. To amp up your regular Zoom classes or meetings, these room illustrations can be used as a Zoom background as well.
Forge Your Digital Success
Discover tailored website solutions that marry aesthetics with functionality. Our passion lies in sculpting digital success stories. Join our community and dive into the Camberlion groove!
3.Handz
The website’s name does it justice and leaves no surprises behind. If you’re looking for hand illustrations, Handz is where you’ll find them. The website’s free version is licensed by CC0 and has a huge collection of hand gestures that a designer can use without worrying about copyright issues. If we’re going into detail, you can choose from a combination of 320 hands that come in 12 different hand gestures, nine skin colors, and three different sleeves.
“Easy and practical to use. If you are tired of stock images or illustrations, this kit is a great choice!” -Tom Koliba
Each hand illustration is full of personality and may be the missing ingredient you’re looking for to give your project an oomph. The free illustrations are supported by Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, XD and other software. If these aren’t enough, a premium version that has up to 1200 PNG files available for $19 is an option you should explore!
4.SALY by Alzea Arafat
SALY is hands-down a great pack for illustrations that will bring life to any project. The collection was released by Alzea Arafat in 2021 and had more than 8,000 duplicates in just a month of its going live. The collection is regularly updated by the creator and has about 30 illustrations filled with colors and personalities. One can simply duplicate the collection on Figma and use it in personal projects.
5.3D Shapes by Nicolas Solerieu
Nicolas Solerieu is a French visual designer who mainly focuses on creating high-quality technical and visual solutions.
“I’m a generalist focused on craft and driven by quality. My design approach is realistic and creative, supported by skills in frontend development.”
The designer at Opendoor has made the 3D shapes collection available for illustrators to use. The collection is pretty simple with a bunch of basic abstract shapes like ribbons, donuts, spheres, tubes, cubes — you get the idea.
3D Shapes by Nicolas Solerieu can be downloaded from Nicolas’s Dribble Profile. The shapes are rendered in Blender and users are able to play with their colors in Photoshop. The reason this collection made a fair spot on this list is that no matter how simple shapes are, they play a huge role in most illustrations. Hence, it’s a great resource for all 3D illustrators be they beginners or experts!
6.Hands by Icons8
If you’re looking to add a bit more emotion and fun into your design while keeping it trendy, Hands by Icon8 has got some great options. The collection showcases a great set of hands that are cute and puffy. The 3D collection comes with different skin tones and comes in two styles. If that wasn’t enough, the Icons8 team has made sure to make it available in all popular formats so users can design with ease.
No matter what project you’re working on, this adorable collection will add a splash of color and excitement to the project. The two themes they offer are ‘Classy’ and ‘Fun & Wild’. If you decide to get the pack, you can expect 450+ combinations with about 30 distinctive hand gestures and diverse skin tones.
7.Illustrations by Icons8
Did you really think Icons8 would stop at hands only? Well, they didn’t. The website also has a human collection. These are available for free downloads and for use in online projects. The free illustrations are bifurcated in two styles: ‘Casual Life’ and ‘Business Style’.
The fabulous resource collection is thoughtful and diverse. No matter what kind of project you’re working on, one of these two collections will be a perfect match! The Business Style set is full of characters in formal wear with different poses. Some illustrations have a group of people while others have solos. The Casual Life set is full of characters in normal day-to-day wear with laid-back poses.
8.ShapeFest
If you’re on the lookout for 3D shapes or a never-ending library for them, ShapeFest by Joseph Angelo is where your quest shall end, with a massive pack of 10,000+ images. These shapes are high-resolution images that you can use by dragging and dropping anywhere you like as they are available in PNG format. Easily usable as no complicated procedures are required, all you need to do is download them and use them in any project.
9.Slam by Storytale
Slam offers a unique collection for designers and project owners who are looking for high-quality 3D graphics. Yes, we have tons of websites offering posture illustrations and hand illustrations, but what are these hands holding? Usually, a piece of technology and this is where Slam comes in. Slam has a colorful pack of diverse technology-based products. It was created by Craft Team to provide a high quality and unique marketplace. in the near future, it will become a place to sell your best graphic illustrations too. You can expect to find pin pads, chips, laptops, bins, tablets, hard-drive, phones, speakers, buzzers – you name it.
10.Icon Shock
If you want your project to stand out among the others with the use of your beginner skills and free 3D illustrations, you better start adding some vector icons to it. Icon Shock started small but after two million icons there is no doubt that it is the biggest icon industry in the world. It’s growing every day with new icons being added on a regular basis.
Vector icons are decorative and communicate more than just words written as plain text. They catch the attention of the viewer and engage them fully into the world presented through them.
Icon Shock presents to you over two million icons with more than 400 icon sets. The icon sets are present in more than 30 different styles that include iOS, glyph, Flat, Material, Colorful, Windows 10, 3D realistic, 3D trendy, isometric, and much more. These icons have the best resolution and they can be downloaded easily in PNG and SVG formats. Icon Shock also offers custom services which makes it even better.
11.Render PeopleRender PeopleRender PeopleRender People
When we make a 3D world, we want it to be as close to reality as possible. The authenticity of any 3D visualization depends on the characters used in it. The more graphic the characters, the more realistic is your 3D visualization and who doesn’t want that? Every digital environment needs human avatars to increase the authenticity of the experience. This is the mission of Render People, to bring the 3D world as close to reality as possible.
“We are very passionate about continuously improving the usability and realism of 3D people.” -Render People
The technology used by Render People is the most advanced technology seen in the world so far. Cutting-edge technology is the basis for the creation of human avatars and Render People has the best photogrammetry scanners. They capture the most subtle details of hair, clothing fibers, and skin textures. Render People is simplifying the life of CGI professionals with their world-class service.
12.Shopingin
If you’re looking for elaborate shopping illustrations, you don’t need to look further because Shopingin will save the day. Shopingin provides the best graphics and icons for your shopping-related projects, websites, and apps.
Raihan Athaya Fawwaz first designed it for the Sickle team but now it is freely available to everyone in Figma format. It has 10-plus high-resolution 3D illustrations of shopping bags, shopping carts, cards, and many more from three different angles. Whatever illustration you need related to shopping, Shopingin has you covered.
13.Bzzzt
Abstract illustrations are part and parcel of many artistic projects. It is difficult to come by abstract illustrations that can be modified in different forms to suit your art and your project.
Bzzzt now provides you with the most captivating abstract illustrations. These abstracts are free for personal and commercial projects graciously provided by Lstore Graphics in 4K quality. These 3D geometric compositions can be used in various UI projects to make them more inspiring and charismatic. The website provides many mockup designs which help you to get an idea of how to incorporate these abstracts into your projects.
14.3dicons
3dicons is an open-source 3D icon library crafted by Vijay Verma. If you are on a hunt for unique icons then 3dicons is your best bet. It has more than 1,440 icons with 120 unique ones. These icons can be used in three angles and each icon can be accessed in four different color styles: Color, Clay, Premium, and Gradient. How is that for being unique? it will add briskness and exuberance to your designs, elevating their market value.
15.3D Bay
CloudDevs brings 3D Bay to your rescue! The 3D Bay provides you with an extensive collection of 3D stock images, completely free of cost. Choose from their wide-ranged library to start your new project today. All these stock images are categorized appropriately under such categories as education, finance, cryptocurrency, etc. These categories make it easy to find images to work with. Ease and quality are 3D Bay’s prime style markers and we love it!
Takeaway!
Listed above are 15 websites that provide a very wide spectrum of 3D illustrations and icons to choose from. The days of plain and boring lengthy texts are long gone. This is the age of visual representation and graphics! New ideas pop up every single day and creativity is flowing. What does not make the viewers pause for a moment won’t be good enough to retain their short attention spans.
A great idea or a great thought is as good as its perception by those who have the capability of bringing it to life. To engage your viewers and to make your idea stick, every weapon necessary should be wielded. Visual representation with high-resolution illustrations is all you need to make your projects and illustrations unforgettable. If you can think of it, these websites will make it real. If used correctly, these websites will help you stand out from the crowd.