Stock In Action

Envato, the company that brought you FlashDen, VideoHive, AudioJungle, and ThemeForest, has announced the impending launch of GraphicRiver. GraphicRiver will sell layered PSD’s, vector, icons, textures, and brushes.

Selling vectors and icons is really nothing new. Sites like iStockPhoto and VectorStock have been doing it for years and have massive libraries that will be difficult to compete with. What’s really going to set them apart is their plan to sell layered PSD’s.

So many times I have searched iStock using the term “on white” to find objects that I can easily cut out. More often than not I only want a piece of an image, not the whole thing. It is relatively easy to cut it out, but it’s a step I’d love to skip. Selling raster files created in PhotoShop as flat JPG’s makes about as much sense as selling vector files as PNG’s. I want to buy my files in the most customizable form possible. Hopefully GraphicRiver will solve this problem.

Despite the fact that the vector and icon market may be a bit crowded, I believe GraphicRiver will be worth keeping an eye on. Look what happened when Envato introduced ThemeForest into an even more crowded market – site templates. In just months they, in my opinion, became the best stock template site out there (please read my review).

Regarding the sale of brushes – not too long ago I just didn’t understand the importance of good brushes. That was before I bought a Wacom Tablet and then a Cintiq. When I draw with the stylus I want it to look like I am using a real pencil or paintbrush. I have made my own brushes, but honestly I’m not very good at it. The few that I have bought are much better than my own, and now I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I will definitely be visiting that category.

I hope GraphicRiver will live up to my high expectations and that this can be yet another resource for freelancers to more quickly and effectively get the job done.