Clip art is used in many different ways, including newsletters, websites and flyers. Commonly found on a CD collection, clip art is often distributed by the hundreds or even thousands. These small images are more than capable of making a big statement, but you have to know their proper uses. Clip art is all about customization. It helps to distinguish one business from another and is largely used in the design of logos.
Newsletters. Many of today’s businesses realize the importance of a newsletter and keeping their customers informed of the latest happenings. A crucial part of any newsletter is color and style, which is made easier with the use of clip art. For instance, a jewelry designer may use a clip art featuring some type of jewelry in order to make his/her newsletter more customized.
Flyers. Whether you are posting flyers about a lost pet, an upcoming yard sale or other announcement, you will want your design to stand out. The best way to do that is with colorful clip art. A yard sale flyer may depict a large ‘Sale’ banner or perhaps another image that conveys the excitement of finding a bargain.
Websites. These days, websites are all about competition and design. The best way to make sure that any website is unique and fresh is through the use of strategically-placed clip art. Remember, clip art is just a small image and they do not take up a lot of space. This is why they are perfect for websites, especially those concerned with a page’s load time.
Newspapers. In almost every newspaper, there is a comic section or a cartoon that has been provided by a local artist. This is the perfect place to display some fun pieces of clip art that will provide readers with a smile. Clip art, even though it is small in size, can feature more than one image of an activity or an individual. In fact, some clip art actually features a small scene with more than one character. A good example would be an individual setting at a desk and drinking coffee, which many can relate to, and a small caption that notes a humorous saying.
Magazines. Much for the same reason as newspapers often use clip art, magazines also commonly place it throughout their pages. It’s fun, whimsy and can often fill a small space that was otherwise bare and boring.

Advertisements & Logo Design. When a company sets out to produce a new advertisement or logo design, they need to be looking at the use of clip art. Why? Because ads cost money and the larger the size, the bigger the price tag. Because clip art is small, it can provide some style to the advertisement or logo without overpowering the ad itself or causing it to be larger in size.
Resale. Many artists are taking their talent to the digital world. Clip art CDs are very popular and can be quite profitable in the world of retail. It is important to own all rights to any image before you sell it, however, so keep this in mind.
Stationary. Everyone loves stationary with a cute little cottage or a puppy dog. That’s what makes stationary so fun, but many people make their own stationary with their computer and the use of clip art. Books. Readers will often find that a book’s cover, both front and back, and even the internal pages often feature clip art. In between chapters or even in the table of contents, clip art is everywhere.
Sales Letters & Business Cards. Have you ever gotten a letter from a local car dealership? What stands out the most? Is it the black and white typeface? Probably not, but it may very well be the images on either the sales letter or business card that draws your eye to the actual letter. Clip art is widely used on business cards due to the fact that these cards are small in design and require small, but clear, images.

You can classify electronic clip-art into three categories depending on the type of program used to create the image.

Paint:
Paint programs provide tools such as paint brushes, air brushes, and pencils you use to “paint” on your Macintosh screen as you would on paper. Paint documents are “bit mapped”, which means that each pixel or “bit” is defined on a “map” of the page. Paint programs give you complete control over each pixel in the image you create; the resulting images often include fine details reminiscent of antique etchings.

Draw:
Draw programs, such as the Graphics module in ClarisWorks, produce “object-oriented” art. These programs create images by layering “objects” defined by mathematical equations, such as circles, squares, lines, and blocks of text.

Bezier
Draw: Bezier Draw programs produce “Bezier object” art which contains objects drawn with Bezier curves. (A Bezier curve is a line defined as a series of points, each of which have zero to two control points or handles.) The complex mathematical formulas supported by Bezier Draw programs let you define more complex shapes than those you can create with simple Draw applications.

Clip art, in the graphic arts, refers to pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively in both personal and commercial projects, ranging from home-printed greeting cards to commercial candles. Clip art comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is created, distributed, and used in an electronic form. Since its inception, clip art has evolved to include a wide variety of content, file formats, illustration styles, and licensing restrictions. Clip art is generally composed exclusively of illustrations (created by hand or by computer software), and does not include stock photography.

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