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Brusheezy logoBrusheezy and the Eezy network are such great resources for designers (especially beginning ones like me). The Eezy network includes:

- Brusheezy (Free Brushes and Patterns)

- Vecteezy (Free Vector Graphics)

- Flasheezy (Free Flash)

- Fresheezy (Free Website Themes)

On all of the sites in the network, you can filter the gallery for what you need. You can filter by category, program and version, as well as, top rated, most downloaded, etc. You can also share the free love by submitting your own brushes, patterns, vectors, flash and website themes.

brusheezy brushes

CG Texture Screen CaptureCGTextures.com has been one of my few must have sites since I started diving into graphic design a few years ago.

Here's the how the site founder Marcel Vifwinkel describes CGTextures: "CGTextures strives to be the world's best texture site. Being a 3D artist myself, I know how difficult it is to create textures without good photo materials. Making textures should be about creativity--not about frustrating hours looking for images on the Internet. By supplying good-quality textures in an organized manner, I hope your everyday work will be easier and more enjoyable."

Textures bring your design off the page, adding a virtual "feel" quality to your work. New to textures? No worry. CGTexture.com has many tutorials on how to properly use and enhance textures into your design.

This site saves me hours searching the internet for good photos to use as texture. All the textures are FREE, so this site saves time and money.

Flickr Screen Capture

Flickr is a great resource for designers and bloggers. If you're a designer or photographer, this site is a fantastic place to show off your work, and get feedback from fellow artists. I actually discovered my new favorite designer Barton Damer when I was perusing Flickr for inspiration on a design for an upcoming sermon series.

Thousands of images are loaded up every minute, so this is a great place to search for free images to use in your designs and stock images for blogs. You'll find everything from textures and landscapes to personal family photos and elegant design work. Artists and photographers use Flickr's Creative Commons labeling system to let users know how their images can be used.

The site can also drive traffic to your personal website(s) by increasing your search rankings and adding your site to image searches in addition to web search results. DoshDosh.com has a comprehensive guide for using Flickr for just this purpose.