For your book or social media promotions

Google has made it very easy to borrow an illustration or photograph. First, you can Google the topic you’re interested in and then right-click on the image to choose Save image as from the context menu. Whether the image has a © symbol or the word copyright or no notice at all, it is protected by copyright law and you can be sued for violating the law. The photographer, illustrator, or designer is the owner of the image and you can’t use it without permission.

We’ve all been tempted to use an image we’ve seen on the Internet, but if you do not own it, you cannot use it. If the artist has Google Images working for him, you could get caught.

And please, don’t use an image that has a white © symbol or any other words over it … you’re broadcasting the fact that the image was stolen.

If you need artwork, you can purchase royalty-free images from a stock illustration or photograph websites, such as Shutterstock.com, iStockPhoto.com, Dreamstime, CanStockPhoto, and BigStockPhoto. Or, there are several free clipart sources such as Pixabay.com, openclipart.org, classroomclipart.com

You could also hire an illustrator from http://www.torontoillustrators.com, http://www.bookcentre.ca, http://www.illustrationweb.us, Fiverr.com for a reasonable price.

Remember, some clip art has a low resolution for online promotions only; other websites offer high-resolution art for print promotions.

I drew both of the images on this page in Adobe Illustrator and they both have white type over them to reduce theft.