Illustrations are always protected by Copyright. Always make sure to obtain permission from the original creator, seeing an image on the internet it doesn’t mean it is free.
Royalty Free Image Definition
A customer pays a one-time fee for an image license that can use the times it agrees with the author. The “free” in Royalty free means that the image has not additional payment for each impression or reproduction, nor every time the photo generates your profit. But that doesn’t mean is free of usage.
Royalty Free images are not exclusive so if you want something special that your competitors don’t have, maybe this is not the kind of image you need. You can use these images on websites, adds, online marketing campaigns, prints with promotional content, in covers of books, in footage or in products to resell (for this option you will need an extended license)
If you do a research for the web you can find many Royalty Free Images Agencies like Adobestock, 123RF, Can Stock Photo or Dreamstime. But you can contact the author to purchase the image from them. Sometimes this stock agencies are the way to discover a great artist and then continue working with them directly.
