1000+ Free Book Clipart Images You Can Download Right Now

book clipart
by CJ McDaniel // November 16  

If you are an author then you’ve most likely ran into the need for book clipart or book images to use in your promotional materials. Whether for a website, flyer, business card or some other digital or printed material, book clipart is often the element that saves the day. Well, our exhaustive collection of book clipart will save the day again!  Visuals are an important part of marketing anything. In fact, people retain 55% more information when there are images compared to just text.

Types of Book Clipart & Book Images

Look through the categories below to find the book images or book clipart that will perfectly illustrate your next project. Here is a quick access guide to the categories of clipart below:1) Open Book Clipart2) Closed Book Clipart3) Stacked Book Clipart4) Books on Shelves5) Children Reading Books6) Creatures Reading Books7) Book Icons8) Book Mockups &Book PNGs

Open Book Clipart

Open book clipart consists of images of books that are open usually with the pages visible. While this might sound boring, it really is a great way to spice up your media.

Using these can give your page a magical feel because it will seem as though the beauty of the media has come out of the book. When potential readers make this connection, they’ll want to experience the magic of your book

Open Book Clipart: line art book open on desk

line art book open on desk

Open Book Clipart: book open with blue pages

book open with blue pages

Open Book Clipart: open book with bookmark

open book with bookmark

Open Book Clipart: open book showing outside

open book showing outside

Open Book Clipart: open book orange cover

open book orange cover

Open Book Clipart: open book turquoise cover

open book turquoise cover

Open Book Clipart: open book spread pages

open book spread pages

Open Book Clipart: book open lilac cover

book open lilac cover

Open Book Clipart: book open with windy pages

book open with windy pages

Open Book Clipart: book open on 1st chapter

book open on 1st chapter

Open Book Clipart: book open right page view

book open right page view

Open Book Clipart: book open top view

book open top view

Open Book Clipart: book open blue cover

book open blue cover

Open Book Clipart: book open on 2nd chapter

book open on 2nd chapter

Open Book Clipart: book open with page flip

book open with page flip

Open Book Clipart: blue tint open pages

blue tint open pages

Open Book Clipart: book open maroon cover

open bible clipart

Open Book Clipart: book open lying flat

book open lying flat

Open Book Clipart: open book green tint

open book green tint

Open Book Clipart: book open orange cover

book open orange cover

Closed Book Clipart

That being said, closed book clipart is great, too. You can use these cute images to frame the resource that you’re making and give it a bookish feel. Since your readers (hopefully) love books, this can’t hurt!

Also, closed book pictures really show off the covers of the books in them, so you can get them in a color that goes with your scheme. Or pick out a cool cover style, that will work, too!

closed book clipart: rotated blue closed book

rotated blue closed book

closed book clipart: red closed book no spine

red closed book no spine

closed book clipart: old vintage closed book

old vintage closed book

closed book clipart: purple closed book

purple closed book

closed book clipart: pastel red closed book

pastel red closed book

closed book clipart: violet closed book

violet closed book

closed book clipart: yellow standing closed book

yellow standing closed book

closed book clipart: green floating book

green floating book

closed book clipart: brown with spine book

brown with spine book

closed book clipart: turquoise standing book

turquoise standing book

closed book clipart: red floating book

red floating book

closed book clipart: magenta hardbound book

magenta hardbound book

closed book clipart: salmon slightly open book

salmon slightly open book

closed book clipart: blue lying book

blue lying book

closed book clipart: hardbound maroon cover

hardbound maroon cover

closed book clipart: green closed book

green closed book

closed book clipart: blue softbound book

blue softbound book

closed book clipart: yellow standing book

yellow standing book

closed book clipart: light teal closed book

light teal closed book

closed book clipart: magenta closed hardbound

magenta closed hardbound

Books, Books, and More Books

Sure, book clip art featuring just one book is awesome, but what about clip art that features multiple books? In this section, we’re going to talk about why images like these are great for your brand.

Stacked Book Clipart

Every big reader has, at some point in their life, struggled with having stacks of books piled around their home. Images of stacked books are awesome for giving the feeling of security that readers feel when they’re under a blanket by the fireplace, a stack of books next to them.

Plus, this is a great way to show off a lot of colored spines, which can be really eye-catching!

Stacked Book Clipart: red colored stack of books

red colored stack of books

Stacked Book Clipart: messy stack of books

green and blue book stack

Stacked Book Clipart: green and blue book stack

messy stack of books

Stacked Book Clipart: stack of falling books

organized stack of books

Stacked Book Clipart: organized stack of books

stack of falling books

Stacked Book Clipart: neat stack of yellow books

neat stack of yellow books

Stacked Book Clipart: messy stack of books

messy stack of books

Stacked Book Clipart: books stacked with plant

books stacked with plant

Stacked Book Clipart: neat stack of purple books

neat stack of purple books

Stacked Book Clipart: neat stack book spines

neat stack book spines

Stacked Book Clipart: slightly messy stacked books

slightly messy stacked books

Stacked Book Clipart: stack of pink book shades

stack of pink book shades

Stacked Book Clipart: stacked with open book

stacked with open book

Stacked Book Clipart: organized yellow books

organized yellow books

Stacked Book Clipart: messy stacked books

messy stacked books

Books on Shelves

Since, once again, your readers hopefully are book lovers, they probably have lots of bookshelves in their home (or classroom, if you’re selling to educators.) Adding clipart of books on shelves can help to give your web page a feel that reminds visitors of home.

This will get people to think of your books as comforting and make them want to cozy up and read them! Don’t shy away from these more complex designs.

Books on Shelves: books on wooden shelf

books on wooden shelf

Books on Shelves: ornate books on shelf

ornate books on shelf

Books on Shelves: book shelf with globe

book shelf with globe

Books on Shelves: pointed shelf with books

pointed shelf with books

Books on Shelves: books on top of shelf

books on top of shelf

Books on Shelves: hanging shelf with books

hanging shelf with books

Books on Shelves: 3-layer shelf with books

3-layer shelf with books

Books on Shelves: messy books on shelf

messy books on shelf

Books on Shelves: red book pulled off shelf

red book pulled off shelf

Books on Shelves: steel shelf with books

steel shelf with books

Other Book Centric Clipart

Let’s take a look at what kinds of images you can have to show off people and animals who have a love of reading!

Children Reading Books

There’s a lot of clipart out there that features kids reading books. This is especially awesome if you’re working on a children’s book because kids, parents, and teachers who might be interested in buying your work will think of these adorable images when they think of you.

Even if you’re marketing an adult book, though, these little pictures are so cute, no one will be able to resist clicking through the page and learning more!

Children Reading Clipart: girl reading blue book

girl reading blue book

Children Reading Clipart: girl lying down reading

girl lying down reading

Children Reading Clipart: boy happy reading

boy happy reading

Children Reading Clipart: boy happy reading

boy happy reading

Children Reading Clipart: boy lying down reading

boy lying down reading

Children Reading Clipart: ladylike girl reading

ladylike girl reading

Children Reading Clipart: girl hugging books

girl hugging books

Children Reading Clipart: girl reading on desk

girl reading on desk

Children Reading Clipart: boy reading lying down

boy reading lying down

Children Reading Clipart: boy reading peacefully

boy reading peacefully

Clipart of Animals Reading Books

Like we said above, there are lots of images out there that feature non-human animals — and mythical creatures — that have to do with books. Whether you’ve written a fantasy novel and want a wizard or a dragon or a horror novel that lends to ghost art, there’s always a way to find bookish clipart of these creatures.

Even if your book doesn’t fall into these categories, everyone loves animals like cats and frogs. To spice up your page, try including images of animals reading!

Animals Reading Clipart: cat reading book

cat reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: pig reading book

pig reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: rabbit reading book

rabbit reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: elephant reading book

elephant reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: dog flipping book page

dog flipping book page

Animals Reading Clipart: bird flipping book page

bird flipping book page

Animals Reading Clipart: giraffe reading book

giraffe reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: sheep reading book

sheep reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: frog reading book

frog reading book

Animals Reading Clipart: lion reading book

lion reading book

Book Icons

When creating a website homepage or a brochure with different points book icons representing different aspects of a book or program are helpful to illustrate the text that follows.

Book Icons: book with pencil

book with pencil

Book Icons: closed detailed book

closed detailed book

Book Icons: book in circle

book in circle

Book Icons: book closed

book closed

Book Icons: book pages flip

book pages flip

Book Icons: book slightly open

book slightly open

Book Icons: book outline open

book outline open

Book Icons: book with bookmark

book with bookmark

Book Icons: book spread open

book spread open

Book Icons: book icon application

book icon application

Book Mockups and PNG Images of Your Book

Sometimes authors already have a book cover of their book and are trying to highlight the book they have already written. 

This is typically called a mockup, a book mockup displays your book in a photorealist image without you having to do all the work of taking the photos.

The 7 things to think about when choosing book clipart

Any author worth their salt knows the value of words, but most people also understand that writing a book and marketing that book are two totally different things.

Well, that’s where book clipart comes in! Everyone loves clipart, and when people are looking at a web site, or brochure they’re more likely to stay focused and read about your product if they like the page’s visual.

When you’re making resources to get your book out there, the book you poured your heart and soul into is that product.

Here, we’re going to share a few things to think about when selecting book clipart for your book’s web site and graphics so you can better reach all the people who need to read your words.

What’s Great About Clipart?

Everyone has fond childhood memories of clipart, but you probably never learned all the ways that it works wonders. Not only is it a popular decoration because, well, it’s adorable, but it also doesn’t take up too much storage space.

This means that you can decorate your site without worrying that people are going to get bored because it loads too slowly!

Clipart can also be stored in a lot of ways. Because it’s a Bitmap or Vector image file, it’s super easy to put it into various types of media. You can usually drag and drop the clip art directly from the search bar and into graphics. If — and this is a big if — it ever requires any work with code at all, it will be really simple and won’t take much time.

Know Your Audience

Clipart is also cool because it can be used for whatever audience you want to target. If you’ve written a book, you definitely have a target audience in mind for who you want to read it. Think about the genre of what you’ve written and what appeals to your audience.

If you’ve written a children’s book, use images that have a lot of fun, friendly colors, or ones of children holding books. Young adult audiences and fantasy will like art where books are being held by supernatural creatures like dragons. Or maybe you write romance, in which case you’re going to want reds and pink book clipart with a sexy flourish.

Basically, the bottom line is that the perfect book clipart is out there no matter the genre of the book you’re writing. Just think about who’s attention you’re trying to catch, and success is a sure thing!

Make Sure You’re Hip

Clipart is amazing because it’s fun and eye-catching, but you don’t want your graphic or web page to look like it was assembled by a child. This can take a lot more effort than you think it would since people tend to associate it with projects from their childhood.

But if you do your work, and do it right, this isn’t going to be a problem. There are plenty of ways to make sure that you stay trendy when you’re assembling your web page and to make sure that your choice of images add to this stylishness.

First, you obviously need to look at the more recently made clipart that’s out there. You don’t want to hastily choose just anything and have your web page or graphic look like someone made it in the ’90s.

There is some really cool book clipart out there that was made recently, and some of them are even animated. Go check that out!

Also, make sure that you know what you’re doing when designing your web page. If you don’t know how to use programs like Photoshop or Adobe, it might be worth your while to invest in a graphic designer when you’re making your web page.

After all, you wouldn’t want your graphic to look like a kid cut and paste out of a magazine with safety scissors! Your book is classy and you put a lot of work into it, so you deserve to have marketing to reflect that work.

Look at the Possibilities

We touched on this briefly before, but it warrants elaboration: make sure you look at all the possibilitiesbefore deciding what image to incorporate into your design. If you don’t, you might end up with something that doesn’t fit your genre, message, or brand, and that will really hurt your book and your future sales.

You should look into both pictures of books alone as well as of people reading books. There is also some out there of various supernatural creatures reading. There are even images of people from different time periods with books that are great for marketing historical fiction.

It might be tempting to just go into Google or Bing and put the first clipart you find into your web page, but this can make your branding look sloppy and underdone. You’re going to want to dig a little deeper than the first thing that appears in Google image search.

This shouldn’t be too difficult since you’ve already decided on a genre. Looking at the possibilities within the genre you’ve written in is a great way to make sure that the clip art will fit your scheme. It also will show you a lot of options that you won’t see if you just type “clipart of books” into the search engine over and over again.

Check Out Author Web Pages

You know that you need to look into all the different possibilities out there before making any decisions, but you probably are internally screaming. Where do you even start? It’s all so overwhelming!

Well, don’t worry. There are a lot of places to start looking at possible graphic design ideas to market your book, but one of the first and most effective things you can do is to look at the web pages of successful authors.

Be prepared, though: lots of websites, including the one in the link, don’t use book clipart. This is because these authors are well-established, have created a professional brand, and have years upon years of experience in their arsenal. But for you, someone who is just beginning to establish your brand, clipart is a great place to start.

Looking at established and experienced author websites. Try finding authors in your own genre, if you can. This can get you ideas of what kinds of design schemes you like, whether or not they incorporate it.

This will make it easier to decide: what color schemes look good, and what ones don’t you like? What are your favorite ways that authors have used graphics on their site?

Once you have an idea of what you like, you can begin to think about how clipart fits into that scheme. This is a great way to begin your design journey and start to establish your professional brand.

Be True to Your Brand

And speaking of your brand, be sure to stay true to it. An author brand is basically a scheme that you use that lets readers show that you’re a serious writer and aren’t to be taken lightly.

Do you have any authors that you love and will blindly buy whatever they put out? Well, this is you buying their brand. You like the stuff they’ve done before, and they have high credibility to you, so you just know the book will be amazing.

Authors with strong brands get more influence in the literary world, so you definitely want to brand well!

When you use book clipart on your book marketing resources, make sure that the image you choose is really what you want readers to think of when they think of your work.

Go Beyond Book Clipart

Choosing book clipart can be a daunting task, but you will be just fine as long as you look at all the possibilities and think about how the clipart will fit in with your web page. Do your research and look at different types of clipart, and you’ll be golden!

Now that you know the best tips for perfecting your web page or graphic, check out this resource to get free tools for designing your media.

Have fun creating, creator!

About the Author

CJ grew up admiring books. His family owned a small bookstore throughout his early childhood, and he would spend weekends flipping through book after book, always sure to read the ones that looked the most interesting. Not much has changed since then, except now some of those interesting books he picks off the shelf were designed by his company!