Many crafters assume that digital stamps are not worth the price, because there’s a multitude of clip art and imagery available on the Internet. A quick search will bring up a lot of images for you to use at home…so why would you buy a professional digital stamp image? Let’s find out why!
There is a huge difference in the quality of a professionally designed digital stamp image versus clip art graphics. First of all, designers create digital imagery for the crafter in mind, so images are black and white allowing you to color it in and finish as you please. Part of the fun in the art of stamping is coloring and embellishing your images to create unique versions. Clip art is usually a low-quality colored graphic meant for use on the Internet only.
On your computer screen, you might not always see the difference, but images designed to be printed are high resolution at 300 dpi. Basically, it means that the image is very large in size, so you can print it out with the crispest lines and curves, with no jagged edges even if you print at full-size for a big handmade card or papercraft project. Since clip art is designed for the web, it is usually only 72 dpi and very small in size. Printing often results in a jagged or rough image outline.
Since crafters love to color and decorate their images, digital stamp images are also designed with that aspect in mind. We want you to express your artistic talents and taste with the base image to work with. Again, it’s part of the fun in this craft. With the crafter in mind, designs are created for ease of color, cutting and assembling…not just any random design.
In addition, many digital stamps also come as PNGs, meaning the background is transparent. This allows you to easily combine images together to create a unique scene for your project. With transparent backgrounds, you can also print on colored and patterned paper without problems, especially for those who like to paper pieces.
Although there are some types of clip art or graphics that will do – such as large printable coloring pages for kids – you will never find the variety and detail of imagery in free graphics. Digital designers work very hard to create their stamps and are crafters themselves! For the best quality images to create a polished project, definitely look to professional digital stamp images.