Earn royalties on your illustrations, photos and videos

Do you have a hobby where you love to draw, take photos or make videos? There are opportunities online where you can earn extra money by posting your images on microstock websites. Every site has different requirements to join but all are free to become a member. The more images you can create and put online, the more money you will make. I have my images on Big Stock Photo, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, iStockphoto, and Fotolia. My advice is to join Shutterstock if you are new to microstock. They are the most flexible site and are one of the easier sites to get started with. They pay .25 for every download you get but it adds up to a lot of money very quickly. Good luck with your adventure in microstock!

Zodiac Stickers

I've created a complete series of horoscope sign icons in a shiny gold metal style. They include the date and name of each zodiac.

Laguna Beach, California Landscape

This image of the shoreline sold for the first time last week and has been online for less than a week. I don't take a lot of photographs so it was a nice compliment to see it sell so fast!

View My Portfolios

My iStockphoto portfolio
My Fotolia Portfolio
My Shutterstock Portfolio
My Dreamstime Portfolio

Cheerleaders

Cartoon image of cheerleaders at a football game. Girls form a pyramid in the background.

New Series: Funeral

I've created a light hearted series of images relating to mortality. This image is of a family at a funeral service.

Directional Arrows Reaches 100 Downloads!

05/05/2009 - The curving and colorful 3D arrow image is now the 4th image in our library to sell over 100 times! Thank you for using our images in your projects and happy Cinco De Mayo!

Orchids and Tulips

05/04/2009 - This image was made in 2001 using the gradient mesh tool. It has sold over 10 times since being posted last year. The orchids and tulips are a set of multiple panels in a horizontal composition with a close-up on each flower.

April 2009 Sales

05/01/2009 - We had our best month ever in April. Our number of images sold grew 11% and our library of images expanded 16%! Thanks to everyone for buying our images. We continue to expand the variety of images we offer while maintaining our standard of quality.

This image is a weight loss themed note pad page. It just downloaded this morning.

3D People Icons

These single icons are selling just as well as sets of a dozen. I think the focus on one icon makes the purchase much simpler for someone just wanting something very specific. This icon is a Security 3D Button with a man holding a giant lock.

Bus Rider Cartoon

People ride the bus through the city in this colorful cartoon. Just downloaded today!

3rd Image to Reach 100 Downloads

04/28/2009 - This image became the third one out of over 1,800 images to sell over 100 times! This is the Chevron Menu Icon Set.

Cinco De Mayo Icon

04/27/2009 - We set another record in sales for the week! We also received two referral bonuses today from people who mentioned they found iStockphoto through our business. Thank you all for your business and support!This is a Alcoholic beverages and chile pepper icon set which just sold today.

Formal Event Icon

04/24/2009 - This image of a person wearing a tuxedo and wearing a breast cancer awareness ribbon has sold 9 times on iStockphoto as of today.

Education Thoughts

04/23/2009 - Person has thoughts of learning in this colorful cartoon brain collage in vibrant colors.

Safari Photographer

04/22/2009 - My image of a man taking photos of wild animals in his jeep sold today. This image is very detailed and is considered a 25 credit level image.

Banners

04/21/2009 - Creating a sets of colorful vector web banners. This one is a banner with clouds, sky and 3D arrows. Plenty of room to add text and use to promote your next product.

Family Globe

04/20/2009 - I've created a globe series using a 3D earth icon with a variety of other graphics surrounding the planet. This one is a family globe and represents a global community of people.

22 Images Sold This Morning

I woke to a surprise over 22 images sold this morning. The most ever sold overnight. Most of the images were black and white cartoons relating to families. Thanks to everyone for supporting our business!

Mechanic Cartoon

First attempt at video blogging using You Tube's direct capture. No audio.
Mechanic Video

Building Icons

These building icons are averaging 11.3 downloads per month. They could become one of the top selling images in the vector illustration library.

Record Breaking 61 Downloads

We sold 61 images in a single day on Tuesday, April 14. The most images ever sold in our history. Thanks to everyone for supporting our business! This graphic is a 3D teamwork icon.

Metal Rulers

This vector image of metal rulers has the highest download per month rate of the newest batch of images uploaded.

Extended License

Zodiac Gold Coins was purchased with an extended license today at 10 times the normal download price.

4006 Downloads

Crossed over into the 4,000's! Sales are doing extremely well this month and could be another record breaking month!

3D Lightbox

I have a variety of business charts and diagrams. This lightbox is one of the most viewed out of all of my lightbox sets.

Web Icon Lightbox

This image links to a lightbox of website icons. What is a lightbox? A lightbox is a grouping of similar images so customers can browse for illustrations within a specific category.

Award Icons

Just added these medal buttons to the library.

Media buttons Reaches Over 100 Downloads

Fri, April 3, 2009 - This image is the 2nd image I have to receive a flame for reaching over 100 downloads! Thanks to everyone for your business!

Hotel Icons

Thursday, April 2, 2009 - Hotel Icons just approved to the library.

Ribbons

Just approved, ribbon design elements.

Business Charts

Stock market design elements just approved. Our library is now over 1572 images.

-Wednesday, April 1, 2009

24% Increase in Downloads

Wednesday, April 1, 2009: Another record breaking month of sales in March. Downloads of vector illustration increased by 24% from the previous month. Just added a new series of travel icon which are waiting for approval.

50 Downloads Yesterday

Tuesday, March31, 2009: Hit a recording breaking 50 downloads yesterday which is halfway to our goal of 100 downloads per day. We have over 1500 vector illustrations with a goal of 10,000 by 2013. The potential is so incredible and keeps me motivated to continue to draw 10-12 hours a day.

Sticker Icons

Monday, March 30, 2009: Creating a series of sticker label icons in a wide range of subjects.

Energy Backgroud Image

This style has always been hard for me to get approved. I finally figured out a technique that worked!

Medical Team

Colorful medical themed cartoon.

Over 100 Downloads

This is my first image to sell over 100 times. Thank you for your support!

Money

Money image sold today.

Chiles

I have been selling a lot of chile pepper images this month.

Astrology Icons

Zodiac sign buttons are finally approved and ready for sale.

Skull Banners

I created some young men's bat winged skull designs and this is the first one to sell on istockphoto.

Biology Series

Completed a series of biology themed icons. The set includes a microscope, injection, lungs, skull, eye, fetus, flasks, rib cage, heart, cell, pelvic bone, and brain.

Shield Images

Doing a series of hand drawn borders.

Cherry Blossom Tree

Just approved yesterday, a cherry tree drawn by hand.

Traditional Drawings

Going back to line art images. Here is an ocean wave made with pen and ink.

People Diagrams

This is a medical team with family helping a patient recover.

Healthcare People

Did a group of medical people icons over the weekend. Really like the clean edged style.

Hexagon Diagram

I've gone back to making isometric 3D diagram charts. The combinations are endless and they are quite popular with customers.

Detail Career Cartoons

The 2nd phase is complete. I have approval on all my career professional cartoon characters with detailed background. Now the little guys are in an environment!

100% Approval on Career Professionnal Cartoons

My career cartoon characters have all been approved so far. I hope there is a market for these little guys. I plan to keep making them through the end of this week. I should end up with close to 70 images on this topic.

Black and White Images

Lightbox of all vector line art in solid black and white.

Overall Statistics

Here is a snapshot of my download growth with istockphoto. Things are looking great!

3D Icons

What is iStockphoto?

A friend wanted to know how I make money selling my artwork on istockphoto. Here is what I said:

"iStockphoto and my company, CTE are business partners. My company makes the vector graphics and iStock sells them. I receive royalties for each sale. It's really the future of commercial art and has a huge following. They are located in Canada only and have artists all over the world. Hope this answers your questions and hope all is well!"

It's the perfect business relationship that allows me to focus on what I love, making art while iStockphoto does what it does best, marketing the images.

Professional Occupations

Next on my list is a series of people in various careers. Here is a repairman cartoon character.