Illustrations are an essential part of the whole complex mechanism of UI design. We mean, you can tell everything you want through your illustrations. Even more, the illustration that you use makes customers-and-a-product interaction effective and funny.
And what about 3D illustrations? Well, next level, my friend, it is the next level.
3D Illustrations
Firstly, 3D is a huge trend of UI in 2021. The quality of 3D illustrations is increasing due to recent technologies and programs, so now, in 2021, we can use cool 3D illustrations that will tell about our products most interactively. 3D-s affect our feelings and emotions and use more channels of communication, so that’s why, we guess, they are one of the most effective ways to contact consumers. Kind of like, the text is the channel too, but 3D tells about the product faster. So 3D can help to strengthen our UI.
How to choose
… Between free illustrations and those you have to pay for? Go with pros and cons and answer the question: what is most important for you now. There are a few pros and cons for both, so you have to decide for yourself.
Pros for free ones:
- they are free
- they are simple
- if you try, you can find something interesting
Cons for free ones:
- they can be way too simple
- you can’t blame their quality, it was your decision
- you will spend your time seeking good ones, and maybe, you won’t find them
Pros for commercial illustrations:
- their quality
- it’s easier and cheaper than creating 3D-s yourself
- you can find the best 3D-s for your project
Cons for commercial illustrations:
- they are not free
- we won’t invent any other cons, because 3D illustrations are a serious and well-reputed tool
The process of 3D illustrations creating is not that easy and fast. And maybe it will be better just to choose good commercial illustrations that will improve your design. So let’s go check our 3d-illustrations selection. We also included the cons, so you can see them.
CHARACTERZ.DESIGN
Characterz library is a ThreeDee product. You can create your avatars with Blender or use existing PNG files. Use them to enhance your products.
- millions of character combinations, just choose
- but oops, it’s 79$ to pay
- oh, there is a money-back guarantee, so we can think about it
- compatibility with Figma, Photoshop, etc.
- supermale and superfemale included
- petz are here too
- easy customization
- free Blender with a tutorial to use
- but oops, you can’t choose characters, just buy them all in a package
Go here, if you are interested.
BLUSH.DESIGN
Blush.design is the project of designer and illustrator Pablo Stanley. He created Blush as an online tool that collects customizable 3D illustrations from talented illustrators.
- we guess, the biggest library in the ... WORLD?!
- creative illustrators are here
- they check all the illustrations to exclude low-quality ones
- you can customize your illustrations right here
- Free Doodler Plan
- and still, it is not that expensive, 12$/month for PRO plan
- available with Figma, Sketch
Go here, if you are interested.
STORYTALE.IO
It is an online library with web illustrations you can download.
- lots of illustrations to choose
- creative illustrators are here
- you start with just 19$/month
- cool illustrations
- easily move between illustrations to choose your
- your downloads stay with you
Go here, if you are interested.
SHAPEFEST.COM
It’s a free 3D library with lots of shapes by designer Joseph Todaro.
- so… enjoyable 3D shapes
- it’s true
- …so true
- a huge library of free 3D shapes
- not so cheap (60$)
- but sometimes there are discounts (50% off)
- the average price for a pack is 30$
- a pack is about 100-200 shapes
- high resolution of illustrations
- customization included
Go here, if you are interested.
UI8
It’s a market with sets for UI design. The 3D section represents resources for 3D design.
- lots of illustrations
- well, maybe it’s too much
- 2000x2000 pixels, if you know what we mean
- customizable
- cheap and expensive ones
Go here, if you are interested.
SPLINE.DESIGN
Now let’s stop. We talked about finished products. But if you want to create your 3D illustrations you can use Spline, a design tool. It was launched a year ago, in 2020, and looks like a codeless three.js editor. It’s minimalistic but useful. Go check our FlowMapp Design Digest to find out about Spline and more. There are lots of useful materials for web designers in a FlowMapp Digest.
- Spline is a free tool
- but there are also paid plans
- you can use text and create your geometric shapes
- use WebGL instead of a built-in player
- the export panel is accessible from a toolbar
Go here, if you are interested.
Let’s continue with our selections.
ICONSCOUT.COM
Another marketplace for 3d illustrations, icons, Lotty animations, available in different formats.
- check this one, if you didn’t like other sources
- but still, it’s a pretty nice source for 3d-s
- lots of illustrations
- there free illustrations, but they are limited
- subscribe for 9,99$
- get all access for 12,99$
Go here, if you are interested.
ICONS8.COM
You can also express your ideas with Icons8. They give access to a huge icons collection. So, there are:
- lots and lots of illustrations
- tutor selections to avoid bad illustrations
- subscribe for full a set for about 29$/month
- free plan, but with lower resolution
- but ugh… such a low quality
- you can buy just one illustration, not the whole pack
Go here, if you are interested.
GETILLUSTRATIONS.COM
Find your illustrations using this source. The library is fully packed with illustrations for design needs.
- lots of sets
- easy search between categories: Not Found, Download, etc.
- illustration pack with 306 elements for 3D designers
- 3D characters + 2D background elements
- 75$+free updates for a 3D pack
- you can custom illustrations
- nice and big library
Go here, if you are interested.
Conclusion
3D illustrations are with us now. We use illustrations to tell a story and to describe our products. We tried to gather interesting sources in this article, so you can use it anytime you need to find or buy your illustrations.
