Old Pre History

This is for finding images with broken links.

In the commercial art industry sometimes even the best options naturally change locations. Could be because the image creator or rights holder decided to move to another site for more generous terms (and the URL had to change). Could be because a source site went out of business, or one acquired another. Could be the in between time when an image(s) goes off the market for a period during such situations. The reason a link isn’t working could also be a technical issue that will resolve itself or can be easily fixed.

While it’s impossible to monitor the “best of” archive in real time for source site technical issues and image change of location scenarios, the good news is that you know the image exists. It’s also worth noting that you’ve already saved precious time and avoided tedious hassle vs traditional search options because you’ve avoided having to search long and hard within and across sites to find this “best of” option.

If you’re still interested, please let us know the link is broken and we will address the situation whether it’s a technical issue or the image has moved. If it’s currently off the market, we’ll find the the most impactful, entertaining and inspiring “best of” alternative.

You can also find images that have changed locations / source sites yourself now utilizing one of the solutions below. (Please do let us know when there’s an issue either way.)

Finding Images That Have Changed Locations Yourself

1. Often the easiest and most immediate solution is to do a reverse image search whereby you save a copy of the thumbnail image to your desktop (right click, save as) and then upload it to Google or TinEyes' free reverse image search service(s). Both enable you to instantaneously see other locations where the image lives or has lived online, which often includes a source site where you can still buy or license it. You can also use reverse image search at new source site locations eg., when EyeEm closed most images moved to Magnifik, which has reverse image search. 
2. Another good option is to utilize existing source site support staff. Share the “best of” link with them so they can determine if it’s a technical issue, if the image is still available, or if they can point you to the creator / rights holder. 
3. A third option, if the link has descriptive content detail within it, is to copy and paste the descriptive text into a new open Internet search (just the descriptive text, without the URL). Such searches often immediately turn up a link to the image in question on the first page because most will have been indexed previously by search engines.
4. Another Internet search option exists when the artist, studio or source entity name is placed on the thumbnail image and / or in the url. Doing a search using (just) such text can often put you in contact with the originator, if not link you directly to the image itself on their personal site.

We tell you the above because having the best image leads to the best outcomes; finding it is almost always worth the effort. Worst case, if the image can’t be located presently, you can still use it for inspiration - to help you find or create the best alternative. 

Even with such occasional circumstances, this is far and away the most efficient and effective resource for you to be able to do your best work. Because reallocating wasted search time to your craft - armed with the best the world has to offer - will always be a significant competitive advantage.

Going forward we believe source sites, in conjunction with artists, rights holders, and ourselves will figure out new ways to help make such situations even less frequent. Especially because the best options are a very small percentage compared to the number of dated, derivative, irrelevant, gimmicky, hokey, cheesy and pedestrian options clogging up the system. And because original images are always in demand and can always come back on the market. Just takes the creator / rights holder to be aware of the interest, and say yes.

In short (pun intended), in a world of billions, where even the best options can understandably change locations, we are still very much, and will always be, a site for sore eyes. All for extraordinary results. Faster and more consistently. To help you thrive. And make the world a little brighter; our dual mission. And boy oh boy is it a good and worthwhile mission:)