[vic]

I have seen many great images of cartoon like characters on the EffectiveICT site, particularly in the Flash tutorials. Please could you tell me who created them as I would like to use something similar for my project? I am a student teacher and need to create an e-learning resource for my students.

[Andrew Field]

Hi - I make use of sites such as http://www.istockphoto.com and http://www.animfactory.com. Unfortunately they do cost, but some of the images can be adapted and manipulated for worksheets and suchlike. I do end up purchasing quite a few and then tinkering with them as I really do find putting the additional effort in makes them much more usable for students.

The other angle to approach it is to make use of Clipart with Microsoft Office. Quite often the standard graphics aren't up to much, but if you have recent versions of Office they will look online for you too - or directly on this site: http://office.micros...T/DEFAULT.ASPX. You can quite often 'break' clipart apart and then adapt it for the exact use you want. There are often some great ideas shared on the 'Rapid e-Learning blog' at http://www.articulat...apid-elearning/ - excellent suggestions such as this: http://www.articulat...arning-courses/ Also make use of sites such as http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ for ideas and suggestions.

Of course though, do continue to post here - I'm more than happy to assist in any way I can plus I'm certain others will help too

[vic]

Thanks Andrew those links were extremely helpful ... I've found some great characters, especially on http://www.istockphoto.com and read some interesting articles. This article you recommended was particularly handy to get a consistent look and feel : http://www.articulat...arning-courses/

Following a link from one of the sites you suggested I found http://www.elearningart.com which offers character packs with the same character in a series of poses without backgrounds making them perfect for e-learning.

[Andrew Field]

Glad you found them useful. What I've seen in the ten years I've been teaching is that clipart was pretty good (or perhaps the best available) 10 years ago. Then http://www.animfactory.com with its animated gifs was rather good, especially for animated graphics to use on webpages or bring KS3 worksheets alive. iStock is an excellent source now - but the costs can mount up. Their high quality .ai images can be fantastic, but it is important, especially as a student teacher, that you don't spend too much. If appropriate, perhaps the institutions who have set you the task could provide you with funds for the resources?

I've not seen elearningart before - the character packs do look quite useful - thanks for posting it. What I find is that one high quality .ai image from iStockPhoto can be used in a variety of poses. You do need to edit and tweak the images. Plus this ends up taking ages. I often find I spent into the early hours tweaking and adapting images to try and get them just right. Problem is that it becomes a never-ending task.

Anyway, do feel free to post any further queries in relation to any aspect of your course or resource creation