Having seen many people in Argent Dawn talk about for a lack of free-to-use art resources to use for roleplay, I have decided to make a little list of a few recommendations of my own. All of these resources that I will list are free to use, and those that need crediting to their original creators as its only payment will be listed as such.
These resources aren’t limited to just character art, but tools for personal roleplay like Argent Archives profiles , as well as event banners, guild banners, and so on. With all that said:
SOFTWARE BASICS
You might be looking for editing tools or perhaps even digital art tools that are free to use.
GIMP is an open-source, free to download photo editor similar to Photoshop, with much of the same functionality.
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Krita is an open-source, free to download art program created with the purpose of providing the tools necessary to any artist and hobbyist who needs an affordable option to the many art programs out there. It’s one of the best pieces of art software out there, it’s free forever, and it isn’t as unwieldy to use with a mouse as other similar software usually is.
https://krita.org/
ROLEPLAY GRAPHIC DESIGN
Besides these options, there are also artists that have made an extensive gallery of easy to use graphic design for those who want to run events, guilds, campaigns, or even just have a few more neat tools to make something nice for their character.
Sonceri (@sonceri.bsky.social) is one of these artists. They have made a compilation of resources like letters, banners, coins, wax seals, campaign banners, guild banners, and so on. While the letters/parchments do not need any additional software, since they are made through Google Slides, the others need you to download GIMP - but they provide the resources one might need for it within the files, and leaves the option for you to add more if you need anything else. They’ve also made things such as DM guides, for both WoW, WoW RPG, and World of Darkness TTRPGs.
https://sonceri.art/docs/intro
Some artsites also have artists that give tiny bits of art for anyone to use, free of charge. Sprites like those of Deviantart’s F2U (free-2-use) tag, if you are brave enough to venture into its depths, as well as many others with different tags even within the same sites. Should you find yourself unable to draw or find any resources of some small sprite to add to your character profile in a site such as argentarchives.org
, it doesn’t hurt to take a look. I have found a few things this way myself!
Warcraft Concept Art. Nobody will beat you over the head for using the more than extensive gallery of concept art the world of Azeroth has been faithfully provided for more than a couple of decades. The art of every artbook of Warcraft is usually uploaded in many other places online, be it in wiki pages, or by individual artists that have worked in them. It makes for fantastic roleplay backgrounds, as well as finding definitions as to how your character might look for others to see, without straying away from Warcraft’s aesthetic.
CHARACTER CREATORS
Or, maybe, you just want to have a faithful representation of your character, but don’t care much for drawing, or scouring through decades worth of concept art? That’s fine.
Here are a few options:
Heroforge is a site that lets you create custom miniatures. While their service is mostly built for creating said miniatures and then selling them to you, their miniature creator is entirely free to use, and has all the fantasy races you’d expect out of any fantasy setting to pick from, with every part customizable and paintable to your liking.
https://www.heroforge.com/
Games such as Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Dragon Age Veilguard have released their character creators for free, and are a neat option for character references. There are also games such as The Sims 4, with a gallery of mods large enough to incite worry, which are free-to-play; and others, which, sadly, are bought for, but have excellent character creators, such as the newer Monster Hunter games, and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Picrew is a website in which artists upload character creators, though not all are fantasy-themed, and certainly not all of them are particularly themed around Warcraft’s aesthetic, but it is free, and it is an option.
https://picrew.me/en/
ART RESOURCES
Say, you’ve been trying to get into art for a while, but there’s just not enough resources out there to really guide yourself with; or at least, it’s hard to tell apart those that are truly free, and those that are just a free trial with limited options and time.
Here are a few resources if this is your case.
PuccaNoodles’ Compiled Animation/Art Resource Sheet. Self-explanatory.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQngQS6OcnUHJu9ldZoCva9749YW-dhaqfkbZtwu8Qw58rmYZeSCnye-lTQ8hT4dIi4q0Wdn3LK8ZZl/pubhtml
Art Fundamentals Playlist. Just as self-explanatory. I recommend it if you are entirely new to art, or if you have some middling curiosity for it. It’s a nice insight into the very fundamentals of art, without having to throw yourself into the crucible of trying to learn complex techniques from the getgo, and get easily frustrated and burned out in the process.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVgLT-e3jXPDgeED0pD0BPq8kY1VAZAGa
CTRL+Paint. A free library of short and simple videos on the basics of digital art.
https://www.ctrlpaint.com/
ProkoTV is a YouTube channel that provides free daily videos on art, often being about anatomy and figure-drawing, which is perfect if you’re learning art to draw your characters as a hobby - or perhaps, to make commissions in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV/videos
Drawabox has a compilation of activities and exercises that help with hammering down some of the trickier bits to learn on your own, such as perspective, complex drawings, and so on.
https://drawabox.com/
FZDSCHOOL is a concept artist-focused YouTube account made by one of the teachers of one of the most prominent concept artist schools out there. His most popular videos include things such the basics of drawing, spanning all the way into how to draw fantasy and MMORPG landscapes, sketching, character design, and plenty more.
https://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL/videos
This is by no means an extensive list, nor do I intend it to be, and so, I’m probably not going to update it at all, but for the time being, it is a good set of resources, and entirely free, most importantly.
I hope it’s to all of you’s liking, or at the very least, entertaining to go through.
If there’s any other free resources you know of, be it for creating your own art, or compendiums of graphic design made free to use for any who might want to use it, feel free to reply to this thread with your own recommendations.