Here is some info from GS user/employee "Cobra" from another thread/post in these forums (just substitute "music"/"sound effect" for "image" and the advice applies):
Some examples: - You could create your own art from scratch. - You could hire an artist to create additional art for your game. - You could get written permission from a musician to use one of her tracks in your game. - You could purchase royalty-free sounds for your game through a sound library service. - You could find assets offered for free under a Creative Commons or similar license, making sure to follow the terms of the license.
Some examples of what NOT to do: - Don't use music from your iTunes library. (Buying a song does not give you the right to use it in your game.) - Don't assume that "royalty-free" means "completely free." (Typically you'll purchase the asset for a one-time payment, and/or provide credit.) - Don't assume that anything is in the public domain. (For example, Beethoven's 5th is 200 years old, but any given recording of it is still under copyright.)
Comments
Then there are your various photo manipulation and drawing/painting applications too.
I think those two combined are what most people use for images/pictures/sprites/backgrounds.
If you get yourself a drawing/painting program, be sure to get one that supports vector images,layers, and transparency (as well as multi-level undo).
Some examples:
- You could create your own art from scratch.
- You could hire an artist to create additional art for your game.
- You could get written permission from a musician to use one of her tracks in your game.
- You could purchase royalty-free sounds for your game through a sound library service.
- You could find assets offered for free under a Creative Commons or similar license, making sure to follow the terms of the license.
Some examples of what NOT to do:
- Don't use music from your iTunes library. (Buying a song does not give you the right to use it in your game.)
- Don't assume that "royalty-free" means "completely free." (Typically you'll purchase the asset for a one-time payment, and/or provide credit.)
- Don't assume that anything is in the public domain. (For example, Beethoven's 5th is 200 years old, but any given recording of it is still under copyright.)
Thanks to Cobra.