It's been awhile, but I do want to continue this series of posts aimed at giving my input as a clipart buyer.
I've been keeping a list of topics and elements that are tough to find in hand-painted clipart sets. I'm starting this in June of 2026, so things will naturally change and I'll try and update this post as I think of more, or if I notice certain gaps are being filled.
NOTE: I am suggestion this for hand-painted art, not computer-generated. :| I know I can generate whatever, but I don't use that in my designs.
Here we go (this isn't super organized or well-written):
- Men - There's lots of female people art. I have about 1/100th as many men pictures.
- Men's clothing - neckties, specifically. Not bowties.
- Parades - floats, marching band, street scene. I've been looking for this for years. So far I've had to cobble together some elements to give a parade vibe for a bingo square, but I really wish I had actual art. For general parades as well as different holidays, like Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.
- Casino - More than just dice and cards. Slot machines, building, game tables, specific game pieces, people gambling, etc.
- Games - board games, card games, classic and modern. There are ways to avoid copyright issues and still cover more elements such as game pieces, game night elements, genres, etc.
- Cruise and resort elements - more than just very common/basic. Specific things like buffets, elaborate food displays/fruit art, towel animals, pools, waiters bringing food, live entertainment, elevators, bars, ping pong tables, outdoor dining, etc. Not just a flamingo pool float.
- Boardwalk/carnival/fair - more than just a Ferris wheel. Roller coasters, games, one of those fortune-teller vintage machines! That would be so fun. Booths, show animals with ribbons, other craft contest stuff, live entertainment, etc.
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U.S. landmarks:
- Grand Canyon
- Niagara Falls
- Redwood forests
- Washington DC monuments
- Bayou/swamp with the bald cypress trees - very hard to find!
- Trees with Spanish moss
- Major and minor landmarks besides the standards like Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, Golden Gate Bridge. There's so much more.
- Older/elderly people - There's a reason I haven't made a Grandparents' Day bingo yet, but I'm working on it.
- More diverse people in general - not just thin, young, white women.
- People with disabilities
- Cars and trucks that aren't VWs or vintage - "Normal," modern vehicles.
- Regular city elements such as gas stations, grocery stores, stoplights, crosswalks, roads, street signs, markets, crowds. For some reason it's extremely hard to find sidewalks and streets to add to my scenes (like from a side view perspective).
- Popular themes with less-popular elements. So like if you do a unicorn set, instead of just including unicorns, rainbows and clouds, maybe include some other related elements: wherever the unicorn lives, whatever he eats, things around a unicorn land. Use your imagination. That could mean practical stuff like horse gear--brushes and horseshoes (with unicorn style, of course)--or it can be more fanciful like a crown. Maybe some other related items for humans that contain unicorns: a music box/snow globe, carousel, articles of clothing (for humans), unicorn-themed furniture and food (ice cream, cookies, donuts), dishes, gifts, etc. Then the person working on the project can go uni-crazy. :)
- College/university settings. The campus itself, professors, classrooms, dorms, cafeterias, even a pool table. More than just books. There's plenty of book clipart.
- Sports equipment and venues - There are lots of general sports sets with balls of different types. It's much harder to find arenas, uniform details, playing fields, types of plays/positions/moves, umps doing different calls, crowds/fans, bleachers/seats.
- Speaking of crowds, this is a tough one to find. Something general is really useful for the background of anything from a horse race to a sporting event. I finally had one custom made for an Olympic set I was doing, and it'll be useful for other things.
- People playing musical instruments. The musicians, not just the instruments.
- Festival elements - speaking of music, maybe some more performance-based elements. Concert stages, merch tables, actual singers, dancers, fans, food trucks.
- Mobiles - like for babies. Especially ones with something other than stars and moons. Mobiles that fit different popular baby themes, such as flowers, nautical, ocean/beach, animals, etc.
- Party blowers - For all of the party art that exists, it's crazy how few party blowers are included. I have a total of two watercolor party blower elements, and neither one is very accurate. Here's the type of thing I mean. The ones where when you blow them, they unroll.
- Picnic Table - There's so much picnic art, but not so many of the tables that you encounter at parks, etc. Other minor park elements such as drinking fountains are also missing.
If you sell clipart, be sure to check out my other related posts and also introduce yourself! I'm always interested in new clipart resources. :)