Pirate Web Graphics

From LoveToKnow Web-Design

Some of the most popular graphics on the Internet are pirate web graphics. Everyone loves pirates, kids and adults alike. This is why you can find pirate themes for bedroom decor, Halloween costumes and even birthday decorations.

Pirate Web Graphics

Why Use Pirate Web Graphics?

There are a variety of pirate web graphics available online, from scary and dangerous pirates to silly and cartoonish ones. Kids love it when Peter Pan and the Lost Boys battle against Captain Hook, and adults love watching Johnny Depp play Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates remain an intriguing part of seafaring history, and the world's fascination with them is apparent even on the Internet.

The History of Pirates

Piracy has been around for many decades, and it has always been centered on gold, silver and other treasures. Piracy was born the moment countries started to establish trade routes across the seas. The very first pirates were those who lived in the region of the world now known as Turkey, and controlled the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. However, the most famous pirates of all were the Vikings, who were powerful and greatly feared pirates that scoured the western Mediterranean and the European coast for trade ships to capture. The peak of piracy, however, began when Queen Elizabeth of England established a group of sailors, called privateers, who would pirate the ships of other countries for England. Many privateers eventually went on to become independent pirates. The seas during this time, the 1600s and 1700s, were a mass of privateers, buccaneers and other pirates who were not only terrorizing merchant ships, but also attacking and battling each other. For the most part, until the demise of piracy in the 1800's, pirates had their own unique culture, their own governing power structure, and their own code of conduct.

Sources for Web Graphics with Pirates

Regardless of which style of graphics you prefer, within the genre of pirates there is a whole range of styles - from fun and innocent to dark and even a little risque. People like using pirate themes for Halloween web pages, personal blogs, or even to decorate their cellphone or computer background. The following sources for pirate graphics online are organized into two categories, clip art and cartoon style, or realistic pirate images. Either category has volumes of free resources for you to find excellent graphics for your use.

Cartoon and Clip Art

The following websites offer great listings for pirate themed graphics, perfect for websites that are intended for children or for quirky MySpace pages.

Lee Hansen Graphics offers free clip art and crafts for "creative arts and scrapbooking." However, most of these are GIF files that work great on web pages as well. Some of her text graphics are wonderful.
Clip Art Guide provides a whole collection of cute and goofy pirate graphics that both kids and adults would find entertaining.
WebWeaver has four pages of some very cool skull and crossbone clip art, there's also four pages of pirate clipart as well.
KidsTurnCentral offers a great selection of pirate clipart that kids love.
Classroom Clipart offers several pages of cute pirate clipart for web pages.

Artistic and Realism

The websites below provide free images of realistic pirate themed graphics for web sites and blogs. All of the sites below provide lists of images that are royalty free. In some cases you need to provide links back to the source, but in many cases you only need to be sure not to resell them or give them away as your own.

Karen Whimsy provides a number of amazing artistic renditions of pirates throughout the ages. She includes categories like pirate artwork, famous pirates, and other pirate pictures she created herself.
The Gunner's Gallery lists user submitted photos and images based on pirate themes. There is even a section for pirate flags.
See Pirate Pictures hosts a collection of old public domain images of pirate history including famous pirates, pirate ships, pirate maps, pirate battles and more.
Fotosearch lists over four hundred royalty free pirate pictures.