Creating or purchasing church media resources can be difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Thankfully, there is an array of websites that offer quality media resources completely free. Every website listed offers free content including media, fonts, graphics, software, inspiration, and tutorials with no strings attached. So what are you waiting for? Open up your browser and get surfing! (Note: Occasionally, some of these sites may feature content that one might deem inappropriate. Browse with caution.)
Church Media:
The following sites offer free church-related media, art, images, files, videos, and more.
CreativeMYK.com – Here you’ll find a shared gallery of quality graphics as well as .PSD and .AI files.
MuddyRiverMedia.org – A large collection of visual graphics, videos, loops, countdowns, and more.
MyNorthside.com/creative – This service of Northside Christian Church offers sermon series graphics and .PSD files.
NewWorshipMedia.com – Though the site has paid memberships, they offer free looping backgrounds in exchange for an email address.
Open.LifeChurch.tv – A collection of sermon graphics, videos, and files from the creative minds at LifeChurch.tv.
SeacoastAllAccess.org – This service of Seacoast Church offers a collection of their sermon series graphics and media for download.
SimplyYouthMinistry.com/freebies – Simply Youth offers a lot of their content for free, including graphics, videos, and other youth-centric media.
StuffICanUse.com – This service of Southeast Chrisitan Church offers full sermon media packages including images, videos, and .PSD files for editing.
Communication Design:
The following sites provide free resources and tools such as brushes, textures, stock images, stock video, After Effect scripts, and Illustrator vectors.
Bittbox.com – A collection of free textures and some great tutorials.
BlueVertigo.com.ar – This website has the most extensive list of free stock photo, vector, font, brush, and icon sites out there.
Brusheezy.com – Part of the Eezy Network, here you’ll find free Photoshop brushes.
BuenoBrushes.com – A collection of free Photoshop brushes.
LostAndTaken.com – A large collection of textures.
Mayang.com/textures – Over 3,800 free texture images.
Motionscript.com – A collection of After Effects expressions and scripts.
OpenFootage.net – Here you’ll find time-lapse stock video footage, texture images, and HDRI panorama images.
Redefinery.com/ae – Another collection of free After Effects scripts.
SmashingMagazine.com – A COLLIDE favorite, here you’ll find tones of graphic, design, and coding freebies as well as great inspiration and instruction.
Sxc.hu – Stock Exchange has one of the best collections of free stock images on the web.
TextureKing.com – Hundreds of quality textures.
Vecteezy.com – Also part of the Eezy Network, here you’ll find free quality vector files.
Fonts & Typography:
The following sites offer free fonts, and typography inspiration.
Dafont.com – A large variety of freeware, shareware, and demo fonts.
Fontsquirrel.com – Quality, 100% free commercial fonts.
ILoveTypography.com – A great typography blog with inspiration and training.
TypeInspire.com – A showcase of inspiring typography design.
Urbanfonts.com – A collection of more than 8,000 freeware and shareware fonts.
Inspiration & Instruction:
The following sites and blogs offer helpful tutorials, instruction, and inspiration.
Abduzeedo.com – This daily blog features great design inspiration, tutorials, and some freebies.
AlreadyBeenChewed.net – Barton Damer shares his expertise on all things design, media, video, and church.
Behance.net – A site full of inspiring creative projects and portfolios.
CFCCLabs.org – Follow the link to the Center for Church Communication’s Flickr-based designer community full of inspiration and constructive feedback.
ChurchMediaDesign.tv – Brad Zimmerman’s video podcast offers quality tutorials, tips, and tricks for graphic design and video production.
ComputerArts.co.uk – A quality online and print magazine full of design inspiration, instruction, and freebies.
Cpluv.com – A daily online magazine about art, design, and all things creative.
Creattica.com – An inspiration blog full of all things creative design.
DesignReviver.com – More design inspiration, tutorials, and some freebies.
GoMediazine.com – A great source for design advice, inspiration, tutorials, and freebies.
LayersMagazine.com – An online how-to magazine for all things Adobe.
LogoPond.com – One of the best collections of logo designs on the web.
Motionographer.com – A daily blog full of beautiful and inspiring videos for filmmakers and designers.
Noupe.com – A great design blog full of inspiration and tutorials.
TutsPlus.com – A collection of the best online tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and more.
VideoCopilot.net – A large collection of After Effects and motion graphics tutorials.
Applications/Software:
The following sites offer free software alternatives for the more financially strapped designer.
InkScape.org – An open source vector graphics editor alternative to Illustrator.
GIMP.org – An open source alternative to Photoshop.
Scribus.net – An open source desktop publishing alternative to InDesign.
SketchUp.google.com – Google’s free 3D drawing program.
Blender.org – An open source 3D content creative suite.