Smashing Magazine - we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.

100 Beautiful Free Textures

Advertisement

Use of texture in Web design is extremely common. Part of the reason textures are so useful to designers is the relative ease of the integrating one into a design if a high-quality textured image already exists, not to mention the endless possibilities. Fortunately, plenty of photographers and designers are willing to share their work with the rest of us so that we can use them in a number of different ways.

In this post, we’ll look at 100 different textures in a wide variety of different categories. Of course, each image is linked to the source where it can be downloaded. As with any type of freebie, be sure to read the terms and conditions or stipulations by the owner before using it in your work.

For more on textures see:

[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the brand new Smashing Book?]

1. Wool Textures

Wool1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wool2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wool5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wool3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wool4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

2. Leather Textures

Leather4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Leather3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Leather5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Leather2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Leather1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Leather6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Leather7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

3. Denim Textures

Denim in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Denim2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Denim3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Denim4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

4. Cardboard Textures

Cardboard6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Cardboard7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Cardboard in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Cardboard2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Cardboard5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Cardboard3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Cardboard4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

5. Paper Textures

Paper2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Paper3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Paper1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Paper4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

6. Wood Textures

Wood4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood8 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wood9 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

7. Wall Textures

Wall1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall11 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall9 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall10 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Wall8 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

8. Metallic Textures

Metal2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal9 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Metal8 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

9. Grunge Textures

Grunge1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grunge2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grunge5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grunge3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grunge7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grunge6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grunge4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

10. Gritty Textures

Grit in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grit2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grit3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grit4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grit5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grit6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

11. Granular Textures

Granular in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Granular2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Granular3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Granular6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Granular7 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

12. Water Textures

Water2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Water in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Water3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Water4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Water5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

13. Glass Textures

Glass in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Glass2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Glass3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Glass6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Glass4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Glass5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

14. Grass Textures

Grass1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grass2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grass3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Grass4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

15. Tiled Textures

Tile1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Tile2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Tile3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Tile4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Tile5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

16. Modern Textures

Modern1 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Modern2 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Modern3 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Modern4 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Modern5 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

Modern6 in 100 Beautiful Free Textures

(al)

Steven Snell has been designing websites for several years. He actively maintains a few blogs of his own, including DesignM.ag, which regularly provides articles and resources for web designers.

Post Rating
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Tags: ,

Advertising
  1. 1
    Maik Diepenbroek
    February 6th, 2009 5:12 am

    Wow, this is going to be useful ! thanks for this post !

  2. 2
    Valerie Wininger
    February 6th, 2009 5:14 am

    Great resource, as always! Thanks guys!

  3. 3
    ilz
    February 6th, 2009 5:23 am

    Now THAT is useful! You couldn’t have done that 2 days ago; when i was searching for a grass shot!

  4. 4
    DKumar M.
    February 6th, 2009 5:24 am

    Nice Collection Steven…. Thanks for sharing !!

    Useful Collection of some of the Nice Textures for web Design ppls.

  5. 5
    pete
    February 6th, 2009 5:26 am

    Someone zip them all up and host them, you’ll be a hero.

  6. 6
    WeSayIT Magazine
    February 6th, 2009 5:28 am

    As usually, a great post with a great collection! Congratulations !

  7. 7
    arvin
    February 6th, 2009 5:29 am

    nice collection very useful thank you

  8. 8
    Anwar Bendaoud Andersson
    February 6th, 2009 5:44 am

    It would be great if you followed this up with a tutorial showing examples on how to apply these textures to your work (specially web-pages). I usually find texture-packs really cool and i love the grunge feel of a website, but actually getting there is usually tougher than expected.

  9. 9
    Mario
    February 6th, 2009 5:53 am

    Some fail and look tilted. Also resolution may raise dramatically your document size, you have to implement it wisely.

  10. 10
    Harvey
    February 6th, 2009 5:53 am

    … what Anwar said.

  11. 11
    Htoo Tay Zar
    February 6th, 2009 6:06 am

    Wow, Right Time, I’m now searching water texture for projects, thanks SM.

    Anyway, Notice that Comment #4 has commentor’s web site link. How it comes? Just wanna know I’m not spammer.

  12. 12
    Laura
    February 6th, 2009 6:36 am

    Looks like you just pillaged this post on OpenSourceHunter.

    I agree with Anwar, would be cool to see some posts on implementing textures in web site design.

  13. 13
    Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz
    February 6th, 2009 6:44 am

    @Anwar and @Harvey: please check the links mentioned in the beginning of the post.

  14. 14
    alex
    February 6th, 2009 6:46 am

    One of the greatest collections ever.Thumbs Up SM.

  15. 15
    Tim Murren
    February 6th, 2009 6:53 am

    Some of these feel like snapshots, but others look very useful. I’m using the 5th wool texture for a brochure right now. Thanks for the great post!

  16. 16
    michael
    February 6th, 2009 7:15 am

    mmm delicious!

  17. 17
    cassetti
    February 6th, 2009 7:24 am

    Thanks!

    I added this to my evernote (evernote.com) in case i ever need these for photoshop!

    Thanks again!

  18. 18
    Possumposs
    February 6th, 2009 7:35 am

    Very nice! The hairy leg is gross but will make sure to use the rest haha

  19. 19
    whatever
    February 6th, 2009 8:15 am

    Cool! Thanks!

  20. 20
    vellkan
    February 6th, 2009 8:22 am

    Lovely! I was looking some wood textures for my projects, now – I’ve got more then I’m expected! Thanks :)

  21. 21
    Chau
    February 6th, 2009 8:29 am

    This is fantastic – thank you very much

  22. 22
    mark eric
    February 6th, 2009 8:36 am

    I like the grit and grunge. Don’t see much use for the others. Thanks for the links!

  23. 23
    steve
    February 6th, 2009 9:22 am

    sweet post! the carpet ones kind of freak me out though…. :)

  24. 24
    gogonel
    February 6th, 2009 10:43 am

    great! awsome! tnx a lot!!

  25. 25
    Mark
    February 6th, 2009 11:04 am

    Now we’re talkin! These are GREAT textures. This is the first time in a while I’ve been truly inspired by a smashing post.

  26. 26
    Webdesigner Depot
    February 6th, 2009 11:19 am

    What a wonderful collection of textures. Definitely going to look at using some.

  27. 27
    Greg Ponchak
    February 6th, 2009 12:34 pm

    Most useful post ever. Thanks you guys :D

  28. 28
    @leoferr
    February 6th, 2009 1:14 pm

    So many references at the same place. Clap, clap for you Smash!

  29. 29
    Hernan Valencia
    February 6th, 2009 1:56 pm

    Hooray and ring the bell!

  30. 30
    nicole
    February 6th, 2009 3:44 pm

    very nice! wonderful selection here for sure.

  31. 31
    chiefwakambi
    February 6th, 2009 5:52 pm

    Can’t get enough from you.

    Thank You.

  32. 32
    Schahryar
    February 6th, 2009 7:21 pm

    That’s really cool :)) Thanks!
    Waiting to see more textures from smashingmag … hopefully tileable ;)

  33. 33
    gaurav
    February 6th, 2009 8:32 pm

    nice collection light dose post feeling light cloudy

  34. 34
    Wani
    February 7th, 2009 3:28 am

    Good Resource.

  35. 35
    Curt Simon Harlinghausen
    February 7th, 2009 4:19 am

    Fantastic Collection.
    Really good work.

  36. 36
    Nixon
    February 7th, 2009 6:16 am

    Nice list! I frequently use the site imageafter.com. There are tons of free, high-resolution textures there. Check it out.

  37. 37
    WackoJacko
    February 7th, 2009 7:37 am

    Very nice, but I do wish that they were tile-able. Many of these are definitely not. They would have to be used as large images. I like subtle textures in the back of web pages.

  38. 38
    Brian Gottier
    February 7th, 2009 1:12 pm

    Some NEW examples of textures used in web design would have been nice. Also, as WackoJacko suggests, images suitable for tiling would have been nice.

  39. 39
    Reynald Bouttard
    February 7th, 2009 2:29 pm

    Really nice, and will be usefull, thanks ! I like Modern textures.

  40. 40
    Kayla
    February 7th, 2009 6:42 pm

    Ooh…I love the wool textures. Great post!

  41. 41
    Han
    February 7th, 2009 7:47 pm

    So thanks to your nice! :D

  42. 42
    jen wong
    February 7th, 2009 10:54 pm

    i love you !!!

  43. 43
    lewo
    February 8th, 2009 4:15 am

    Thanks. Very good idea. bye

  44. 44
    Okibi
    February 8th, 2009 3:06 pm

    Nice collection, thank you very much.

  45. 45
    BramVoltage Shomasta
    February 8th, 2009 6:44 pm

    very very useful..
    thank you very much.

  46. 46
    Ross
    February 9th, 2009 12:27 am

    Great collection, surely ill be needing this in the near future. Thanks SM!

  47. 47
    sAumiTRa
    February 9th, 2009 2:18 am

    great work steve… i didnt copy neither did i learn… but felt happy aba the way in which the shots were taken….

    inspiring work…. keep it up….

  48. 48
    Jehzeel Laurente
    February 9th, 2009 1:33 pm

    I’m so loving the modern textures :)

  49. 49
    Tracy
    February 9th, 2009 2:21 pm

    Great texture collection. Thanks!

  50. 50
    Sledneck
    February 9th, 2009 3:16 pm

    Awesome collection, i can already see about 10 or more that will find there way into my designs.

  51. 51
    Jesse J. Anderson
    February 9th, 2009 3:36 pm

    sorry for the self-plug, but if you find this useful you would also be interested in a free grunge texture pack I just released and posted in the smashing magazine forums. I also have a link to a texture tutorial in the same forum post.

    http://forum.smashingmagazine.com/freebies-f4/free-hi-res-grunge-textures-pack-t314.html

    Hope you find them useful!

  52. 52
    RoundSquare
    February 9th, 2009 6:26 pm

    Someone likely already commented on this, but one of your wall textures links to http://www.sxc.hu, which requires that you create an account with the following mandatory fields:
    ______________________
    * First name
    * Last name
    * Phone number
    * Street address
    * City
    * State / Province
    * Country
    * Zip / Postal code
    ______________________

    There’s just one word for this – LAME! The collection as a whole is great, but I still found myself saying, “WTF?”

  53. 53
    Ritika
    February 10th, 2009 12:06 am

    wow…thats exactly what I was looking for…thanks for sharing

  54. 54
    Red Labor
    February 10th, 2009 4:53 am

    My friend and I are artists (Red Labor) and we do a lot of work with textures in our art and graphic design for t-shirts, wallets and messenger bags. We really like to make our own textures from scratch and scan them in; they are much higher quality and our designs are more unique that way. If you want to see some of our textures check them out here: http://www.redlabor.com/analogue/

    This is a good list of free textures and I encourage everyone to push beyond this and try making your own on paper and then scan or photograph them. I hope you like our art, too!

    -Red Labor

  55. 55
    Graphista
    February 10th, 2009 5:26 am

    These are really great. Thanks for sharing!

  56. 56
    Abdul Haseeb
    February 10th, 2009 6:37 am

    very impressive textures,Few of them will certainly find there way into my designs.

  57. 57
    wow
    February 10th, 2009 11:56 am

    wow awesome! Thanks a lot!

  58. 58
    joe
    February 10th, 2009 11:00 pm

    these textures are superb! I say, the variety is fantasic and the clarity unbelievable! great collection!

  59. 59
    SeaFoodpunch
    February 10th, 2009 11:50 pm

    oh man, that is some useful stuff!! i am so addicted to textures right now…amazing what a difference it makes. Even the hairy legs will come in handy. haha. i’d love to see other people’s works using these….I’m a novice..but stuff like this always helps

  60. 60
    srinivas
    February 11th, 2009 12:16 am

    Great texture collection. Thanks!

  61. 61
    guelderose
    February 13th, 2009 5:32 am

    the textures are great, tnx!

  62. 62
    ravi
    February 18th, 2009 6:39 am

    the broken glass is too good.very useful

  63. 63
    Lyon
    February 19th, 2009 6:42 am

    I really love all of those textures, they are all profesional and unique.

  64. 64
    wyc
    February 22nd, 2009 7:47 pm

    很好~~~

  65. 65
    Brant Schroeder
    February 25th, 2009 1:21 pm

    Thanks

  66. 66
    ProjectCenter
    March 8th, 2009 3:03 pm

    Wow. This is some nice work. Great crisp detail. Thanks.

  67. 67
    Brandon
    March 9th, 2009 8:32 am

    Hey all… I compressed all of these images into a ZIP.

    Do NOT do this for public download!

  68. 68
    understandfrench
    March 12th, 2009 1:19 pm

    WOW-!! Thank you so much, so very generous. extremely useful & beautiful images. ;()

  69. 69
    0----
    March 14th, 2009 5:08 am

    Thanks!

  70. 70
    jessica
    March 18th, 2009 6:31 pm

    love the design you have on your site… more power!

  71. 71
    marina
    March 24th, 2009 2:00 am

    thank you ! love this!

  72. 72
    nohelia
    April 2nd, 2009 4:09 pm

    Gracias!!

  73. 73
    Amy
    April 5th, 2009 5:37 pm

    Las texturas son fantásticas!!!

  74. 74
    Cool Creative Designer
    April 9th, 2009 5:24 am

    Awesome collection :)
    I wanna also share those nice free High Resolution Textures Packs with all
    http://dezign-mag.com/?p=134

  75. 75
    GabaDi
    April 15th, 2009 10:59 am

    Thank you very much!!!! and congratulations ;)

  76. 76
    fatie
    May 12th, 2009 10:29 am

    ccooool man

  77. 77
    yong
    June 18th, 2009 7:34 am

    wow~!!

    great~

    Thank you~

  78. 78
    amar
    July 2nd, 2009 11:11 pm

    Great resource, as always! Thanks guys!

  79. 79
    krishna
    September 20th, 2009 12:06 am

    we usefull textures it helpme alot thanks

  80. 80
    clem
    November 28th, 2009 11:46 am

    Some free HD textures in my picasa web album : http://picasaweb.google.com/clement.biron/Textures#

  81. 81
    finn~luv
    December 28th, 2009 4:23 am

    So nice collection!!!!
    Thanks so much!!!

  82. 82
    Windy May
    January 3rd, 2010 11:37 am

    Fantastic collection of textures. I will definitely be incorporating some of these into my work as well as passing this post along as an excellent resource.

    Was hoping for some fur in the mix *rowl*…

    Awesome and thanks again!!!

    WM

  83. 83
    Greg15
    January 28th, 2010 11:36 pm

    Hi there sorry for the link but you also find there free good textures, my friend have shared his free textures pack in: http://www.texturepalace.com. This pack is amazing!

    Tx again: Greg15

  84. 84
    Sinfrônio de Souza Barbosa
    February 7th, 2010 5:42 am

    Parabéns. Metais:bronze, ouro, prata, metais ondulados (telha) é muito lindo. Grato.

  1. 00

    There are no trackbacks at this time. If you are interested in leaving a trackback, please use this URL.

Leave a Comment

Make sure you enter the * required information where indicated. Please also rate the article as it will help us decide future content and posts. Comments are moderated – and rel="nofollow" is in use. Please no link dropping, no keywords or domains as names; do not spam, and do not advertise!



Advertisement Advertise with us!
Join in Smashing Forum
Post your job