5 Free Amazing Hand-Sketched Icon Sets
Brilliant Design: Provide An Amazing Experience
It’s certainly no secret that I’m a huge fan of graphics and websites that look hand-sketched. I’ve designed this site to look that way with icons and backgrounds that support that look and feel. I’ve given you links to sketched fonts and I’ve also presented you with posts that portray beautiful, inspiring hand-sketched websites.
I’m very thankful to say that I’ve received a lot of compliments on the design of Site Sketch 101. But the compliments are often followed up with questions like this one:
First off I must say I love all the tips and advice. Secondly I wanted to ask a cheeky question. Where did you get your sketched RSS, Email, Twitter etc icons? I love them and would like something similar if not the same for my website. ~ Thanks!
I’m very happy to let you know where I’ve found the icons that I’ve used on this site. The first icon set below, Color Stroked, is the the set that I got the RSS and Twitter Icons from. The next two sets, Handycons and Handycons II, are the sets that I got the images from to create the social bookmark links at the bottom of each post.
Color Stroked
Handycons
Handycons II
Sketchicons
G-Force Hand Drawn Social Icons
Eric B. said:
I’m normally not a fan of hand-drawn icons, but these ones are quite nice!
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Eric B. » Thanks. I’m a fan of hand-sketched icons if the site they are on looks hand-sketched. I certainly think that they need to coordinate and build on each other.
Vasiauvi » No. I’m not a Linux user. Why do you ask?
InternetHowBlog » They are increasing in popularity but I think that the biggest reason is because when you hand-draw something and you really make it look nice, that it is much easier to make it unique. It’s harder to copy off of someone else’s work when you draw it yourself.
vasiauvi said:
Waw, I like this!
Are you a Linux user?
InternethowBlog said:
I think hand drawn icons and banners are getting very popular nowadays. Also, sites that are designed entirelyfrom handdrawn designs are increasing rapidly.
The advantage with handdrawing is, you can just draw your own icons and images and just scan it to your computer. and upload it to wordpress.
Bruce said:
I actually use the handycons on my site. I’m a fan. I hadn’t found the handycons II though. I was thinking about adding a facebook icon but didn’t find one that matched well. I’m glad the second set has one I can use if I decide to add that option. Thanks!
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Bruce » That Facebook icon will be perfect to go with your set!
Arisu » Good thinking. I don’t use deviant art much but those that do will probably love this set!
Arisu said:
Just awesome!! Thanks for sharing ^^
Also, color stroked is the first social media icon set I´ve seen with a deviantArt icon. I´m sure a lot of deviants will love that
vasiauvi said:
I am asking because on “Color Stroked” are a lot of Linux icons.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
vasiauvi » Oh. Okay. Not being a Linux user, I didn’t know that. Thanks for letting me know.
Toke » Great! I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed!
Toke said:
Awesome! Thanks I’m defintely gonna sign up for your rss feed now!
Typhoon said:
Cool. HandyIcons are looking gr8. But didn’t like the Sketchicons. It’s black n white. yuk.
But everyone has it’s own choice. You might be liking it.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Typhoon » Yeah, I’m not a big fan of black and white either, but if someone had the right site I’m sure that they could make it look nice.
freelance copywriter said:
Hand-drawn icons and banners are really cool. They seem to have a very personal touch. Are these icons really for free? How could I get them?
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
freelance copywriter –> Just click on the image and it will take you to a page where you can download them. Yup, they are all free.
Stefan said:
Personally I really like the first example with coloured hand drawn icons.
Unfortunately I’ve never been so talented when it comes to drawing, but maybe this is something you could write a post on? Not sure if it’s really related to the niche on this blog though.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Stefan –> I’ve never actually made any icons myself. I just like to think that I have an eye for finding good ones that others have made and implementing them into themes that they will go well with. If I had that expertise then I wouldn’t hesitate to write up some posts on how to do it.
Dave Doolin said:
You have an excellent eye for design. I’m envious. The whole site looks completely custom crafted, but it’s not. It’s practically stock. And that’s the genius part!
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Dave Doolin –> I can do some design, but I’m learning more and more that there are so many open source icons and graphics available that you can create beautiful designs without doing very much of the work yourself. It’s just all about making sure that elements, icons, and the layout coordinate nicely with each other.
Mukund said:
I usually don’t prefer this hand drawn icons. I have a professional blog and these icons do not suit well to it! More over, these icons rarely match with the template!!
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> Everyone has there own opinion. Some people really like sketched look and some people really like the glossy look. They are definitely two different prominent styles.
Daniel A. said:
These icons are sweet but I am not those people that like the nice, glossy, clean looking icons.
Daniel A. said:
I ment to say that I am a person that like the clean glossy icons
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Daniel A. –> That’s alright. I’m glad that you enjoy those and I hope that this serves as a great resource for you to find icons for your online endeavors.
Sat Chen said:
Great icon set. Knew all of them except this one Sketchicons . Which one you use on your site? Justy curious
SeerName said:
Previouly I love to design lot of icon and logo, it is really need lot of creative and imagination.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
SeerName –> You’re right. It really is all about creativity and imagination.
Ron Boracay said:
Nicholas,this will be definitely a big use for those art blogs or sites.
And the amazing thing is: most of them are for free without whatsoever strings attached.
Great find.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Ron Boracay –> Yup. All five of these sets are 100% free. Simply download them and start using them.
Ron Boracay said:
Thanks a lot. I will be using them in my next blog that caters to artist and their arts.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Ron Boracay –> Good. I hope that you can make it look really nice!
Ron Boracay said:
Of course it would be looking nice. He he. Oh, I almost found many ideas/tools here at your blog for my next blog.
I will inform you (maybe an email) about it and I will be requesting your help for my site improvement.
I hope you wouldn’t mind it.
ZXT said:
Those handycons are really nice. But how do you use it as a Bookmarking Icons like in your site Nick? I’m using SocioFluid. Sorry for the noob question.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
ZXT –> Just name them the same as the name of the buttons already in your set and then upload them over the existing buttons and they will replace them.
ZXT said:
For some reason it didn’t change anything. But if I download the button thru FTP then the button is the new one.
I uploaded it on the folder where the Sociofluid icons were and replaced it.
Let me try to check whats goin on.
Ron Boracay said:
Make sure that the location where you uploaded the buttons are the same with your existing one. As well as the file name. And that will do the replacement.
ZXT said:
Thats what I did. I can see that the icons name are the same with the current ones. So I uplaoded it to Sociofluid icon folders and I’ve been asked if I’m going to replace the files or not. So I replaced it. But the icons showing up are the same old icons. Weird!
akira07 said:
I love it. But i’ll check if the icon can be blended with my template. Because sometime an icon is not good for some template. Thanks
Ron Boracay said:
Akira, upon checking your blog, the last set of icons, G-Force Hand Drawn Social Icons will be the best match for you.
ZXT said:
Yeah G force is nice and might be the right blend in your blog.
Samantha said:
Using these collections it’s easy to make the blog be special! The share is great, thanks! I do enjoy the icons.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Samantha –> You’re welcome. I’ve excited that these icons work for you.
Ankit said:
Nice collection
Nicholas Cardot said:
Ankit –> Thanks
David Engel said:
These are fantastic. I love the sketched, warm feel of these icons + your site in general.
what got me to stay on your site when i landed here from Google was the sketch RSS feed and twitter Icons. Then I said, let’s check more out….
Very well done.
My Latest Blog Post: Passwords reinvented: easy to remember, hard to crack
Nicholas Cardot said:
David Engel –> I’m glad that those drew you into the site. A well designed site can really create a great first impression and that can be the difference between a click away or a click further into your site.
fuzzygalore said:
I love hand drawn sets. Even if they are in mass use, they still give a sweet personal vibe. Color Stroked is my fav out of the ones you posted.
I love the hand drawn font that is in use for your titles on this site.
My Latest Blog Post: 2009 in Review: 100 Things I’ve Learned About Motorcycling
Nicholas Cardot said:
fuzzygalore, that font is called Sketch Rockewell. I’m glad that you’re enjoying it.
gautam hans said:
The Handy cons look good, they will suite a hand sketched website design. Hey I need a designer for that.
My fav is colorstoked
My Latest Blog Post: Why i Like StumbleUpon
tech money said:
Personally I really like the first example with coloured hand drawn icons.
Thanks a million for the good stuff.