Hey all! I decided to share where I get my pre-made assets and my thoughts on them. I'll update with a new thread/post for each separate site.


1) dlsite.com [$]

I personally have bought many things from dlsite, from characters to backgrounds. Here I’ll break down things I did and didn’t like about the site.

Pros:

• -Many useful assets
• -High Quality
• -Anime Geared Art
• -Nice PayPal option at checkout
• -Clear contents description, usually along with other helpful notes (including file type, whether image/psd, usage rights, etc)
• -Often sales
• -Can see reviews and the number of sales for a specific item

Cons:

• -No easy search option (can’t simply type ‘background’ into the search bar)
• -Can be overwhelming at first-
• Have to make sure you’re using the “All Ages” version of the site
• -If using a credit card checking out can take some time
• -New characters/sprites take time to be added, so some are pretty generic

Items I have bought:

• -Japanese Home Backgrounds (QQQnoQnoQ)
• -Japanese Landscape Backgrounds (minikle)
• -Fantasy Magic School Backgrounds (tomonosoft)
• -Sprites (Tokudaya + BUBU-K)

And will buy more! Personally I use Dlsite the most compared to other sites, as they have more of what I’m looking for. I’ve used both credit card and PayPal options, though PayPal is the easiest. And when you’ve bought the item, you simply download it.

Dlsite has a bit of everything, though it’s not likely (or easy) to find assets that aren’t common in games. Ex: You’ll easily find school-age or modern characters, but finding something space themed is pretty much impossible.

I hope this review has helped!

Thanks for this @Neeka this is extremely handy

https://ac-illust.com/



AC-Illust is a free site I have used on occasion, full of free to use vectors and illustrations. (They also have a photo site by the same company.) 

Before using anything from the site, be sure to read and understand the terms. https://ac-illust.com/en/terms

I will try to break them down so they are easier to understand further below. 

Pros:

• Free to use
• Many resources to choose from, in different styles
• Includes different types of resources, from backgrounds to icons to infographics
• Can search or use their category menu 
• Easy explanation of license/requirements on download page
• Different file types (jpeg, png, ai)

Cons:

• Sign up required
• Maximum download per day (5 I believe, though this may have changed)
• I recommend opening the illustration you are interested in into a new tab so you do not lose your browsing position
• Timed download (15 seconds)

Terms:

Each illustration (with a free account) is free for commercial use as long as you attribute. Upon clicking download and the file type, a pop-up will appear with a link to copy and add to your credits page.



Then the countdown will begin and you will have your download!

You can use the illustrations for pretty much anything EXCEPT the following:

R-18 materials, including pornography
Any illegal or immoral purposes 
Distribution
Use the illustrations as the main content in the products (refer to but not limited to calendars, jigsaw puzzles, etc.)
Use as a trademark
Copy the materials and share them through a LAN connection
MUST credit the author/artist of the illustration (unless you have a premium account)

So there you have it! I have a special folder for bookmarks just for this site ^-^ 

Here are some examples of the different kinds of resources you can find, though I encourage you to check it out for yourselves!

(By Sarasa from Illust AC)


(By Milktea from IllustAC)


(By Ayumu from IllustAC)

Freepik.com [Free]

I use freepik semi-often, since they have colorful vectors and illustrations. Once you sign up you'll have a free account, able to use everything in free + commercial projects as long as you provide credit of the artist.

Pros:

• -Lots of resources; from illustrations, patterns, logo elements, infographics, isometric elements, GUI graphics, etc
• -Free to use
• -Easy to understand menu, where you can refine your search. Has collections as well.
• -Different file types

Cons:

• 
  
• -Some resources are premium only
• -This may only be me, but when I click on 'next'/next page there's a weird glitch like a pop-up, but then there's nothing there
• -Many resources come in EPS format, which I don't have a desktop program to edit (Like Adobe Illustrator). There are online options though, but editing can be somewhat meticulous.

I mainly use full assets from freepik, meaning I don't edit them too much. If I do, it's usually crop and the eraser tool to get rid of pesky text. 

Well, that's really it! I hope you guys like it (don't feel pressured to though) and find some useful assets for your projects! Down below are a few ocean/summer themed assets~

Set of an underwater scene backgrounds 
Realistic Sea View
Different underwater scenes

Pros: 

• Free
• Lots of resources: illustrations as backgrounds or sprites, photos, music, animations
• Painless registering, no spam

Cons: 

• Site is not in english, will need to use a browser that can translate
• Search feature could use some work (I suggest you use the translated tags on similar assets)
• Can't tell the terms of use for each asset until you view it fully
• Need to be registered to download


The main material resource page, divided into sections. Here's what the page for illustrations looks like: 



And here's the page for a specific illustration: 



Here you can see a larger image of the asset, the author or creator, the download file type, as well as the terms of use. The terms of use are the two rectangular boxes that appear to the right of the asset name (far right of 'Sky 08/Thunderhead). 

It's okay if it's in Japanese, I'll explain.

The first box if black means it is okay to use on any site. If it's orange that means the asset can ONLY be used on the niconico site. The second box, if black means you can use for any project, including commercial. If it's orange or red it means you can use for free projects only. 

Don't worry, it's not as confusing as it seems!

Clicking the orange button with blue arrow brings you to the download page, which also explains the terms of use for that particular asset.



And there you have it! Clicking the orange button once more will start the download.

Here's a list of free-to-use materials that I like:

Dot textbox
Music sheet textbox
Letter of Love Animation
School Corridor
Red Game Power-up Animation
Modern Woman 03 Sprite (the profile has more!)
Convenience Store BG 
Crystal Heart with Blue Flame Animation

Honestly don't think there will be enough amounts of thank you's to give for telling me about so many assets that are free to use since I can't afford to buy them at the moment. Even if not enough people imo are realizing what you're doing for the people who can't afford to make or buy a liscense for GUI, I'll be here to tell you.

Thank you x10 <3

ConverseHigh said: Honestly don't think there will be enough amounts of thank you's to give for telling me about so many assets that are free to use since I can't afford to buy them at the moment. Even if not enough people imo are realizing what you're doing for the people who can't afford to make or buy a liscense for GUI, I'll be here to tell you.

Thank you x10 <3

@ConverseHigh

Aw, I'm glad to have helped!

I hope it's okay that I add to this. I searching around for free stock images and I found this list, I haven't been able to go through them all but I will still leave the list here. The list does give pros for each site on the list and it was very helpful for me I hope it is also help for you!


https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/2015-02-27/20-sites-get-free-stock-images-commercial-use

BOOTH

[Paid]

Booth is an online store where you can buy a variety of items, not all exclusive to game assets but does include:

• Backgrounds
• Sprites
• BGM
• Lineart
• GUI
• Brushes

Pros:

• Fairly easy to navigate, may need a translator web browser
• Save your favorite items + recently viewed items appear at the top of the page (if you sign in it will recommend items for you)
• Fairly cheap/reasonable prices
• Great items and collections if you know how to look

Cons:

• Search function could use some work
• Terms of use vary from artist to artist, so you must pay extra attention
• Purchases are all in Japanese Yen (not exactly a pro or con for me)
• Not as many resources as other sites

Items I have bought:

• Chara vol. 8 by Yukito's material storage
  
  

In the end I like Booth and will most likely keep purchasing items from the site. It isn't that difficult to understand and you can find some really great resources for a fraction of the cost of other sites/commissioning. 

Hope this breakdown helped!