19 Free hand-drawn sketch icons

Charlie |

22 April, 2009 |

145 Comments |

icons, sketch

I‘ve been seeing a lot of sketch-type web designs around recently, as well more and more hand-drawn fonts. I don’t think that’s a big surprise.

Web 2.0 style, which is/was great in its own right, gave us a lot of slick glossiness that was almost too perfect. It’s only natural that a new style would emerge, one that would act as a counterpoint to all that.

That’s where these sketch icons come in. They’re the perfect contrast for any Web 2.0 design you may have, and they’ll fit right in with anything you’re working on that needs a more organic feel.

About the hand-drawn icons

These were all drawn by me. On paper. With a pen. Then I scanned them in and cleaned them up (but not too much) in Illustrator.

Each icon is a jpeg and comes in two sizes: 48×48 and 96×96 pixels. Each is dark greyish on a white background. You want more info than that, you’ll just have to download them!

I hope you enjoy these and are able to add some human touch to your design projects. And when you do use them, feel free to send me a link and I’ll feature your work (if it’s awesome).

Update: ALL of the icons are now in transparent PNG format. Yup, that means they’ll work on top of any background. Except black of course. That would be silly.

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Filed in: Goodies | Tagged as: icons, sketch

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145 Comments

Anthony said:
23 April, 2009

Dig ‘em, dude, thanks! I have just the place for these. I might commission a couple others that aren’t in the set that I’d like to use in an ebook I’m doing.

Rock on, and thanks again!

Anthony

Charlie said:
23 April, 2009

Thanks, Anthony! Appreciate it.

Send me a link when you put the icons to use. Would love to see what people do with these.

teddY said:
24 April, 2009

Wow, amazing set of icons! I love the way you’ve shaded in the shadows – lovely! Thanks for sharing!

I’m just wondering – will it be better if you convert it to transparent PNGs for those who’re less adept at Photoshop/Illustrator?

Charlie said:
24 April, 2009

teddY

Thanks, dude! I really appreciate your comment. And your suggestion is a good one. I’ll be issuing some PNGs and updating the post soon.

And let me know if you use the icons anywhere. Would love to see them in action.

MorayWeb said:
24 April, 2009

Really nice work! Like teddY I would be really happy with PNG versions too! Keep up the good stuff…

teddY said:
25 April, 2009

Definitely. If I’ll be using your icons (they look perfect for a hand-drawn/grunge theme), I’ll keep you posted thanks for being so helpful – I guess many will be delighted with the transparent PNG icons.

Rishi Sinha said:
7 June, 2009

Amazingly balanced!

Charlie said:
7 June, 2009

Thanks, Rishi! I appreciate that!

Anna said:
23 June, 2009

I love them! Very original. My favorite is the Reddit icon

jakob said:
24 July, 2009

Hi,

i just used one of your wonderful icons on a friend’s website:
http://weder-communications.de.

cheers
Jakob

Charlie said:
24 July, 2009

Jakob -

Fantastic, man! I appreciate your using the icon and for sharing the link as well. That site is looking excellent! Nice work, and thanks again!

Wouter said:
5 October, 2009

Nice ones! I will be probably using these on my new website, send me an email to remind me to contact you when it’s done cheers

Gopal Raju said:
9 October, 2009

Thanks Will definitely use them!

Simon Philp said:
11 January, 2010

Liking the icons alot. Any news on “issuing some PNGs and updating the post soon.” Transparent set would be nice

Charlie said:
11 January, 2010

@Wouter
@Gopal Raju

Thanks guys, I am glad you like them! Looking forward to seeing how you use them!

@Simon Philp
Dude. Thanks for the reminder…UPDATED! Enjoy!

Vince said:
13 January, 2010

“That would be silly”. Haha, I laughed

Frank Schrijvers said:
19 January, 2010

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for the great icon set. I’ve used your icon set on themebuilder.nl.

Gracias!

Frank

Charlie said:
22 January, 2010

Frank

Hey, man, nice work! Those look fantastic on your site. You did a great job with the placement and overall feel.

Thanks for letting us know!

Ermil said:
16 February, 2010

Thanks for the icon share. Very skilled icons set without a doubt

Alex said:
23 March, 2010

Hey, fantastic collection of hand drawn Icons. Thanks for this collection

hollywood-acting-workshop said:
5 April, 2010

this is the first time i have seen hand drawn icons. nice.

Charlie said:
15 April, 2010

Thanks, Alex. You’re very welcome. Let us know if you do something cool with them. Love to see them in action.

aki said:
7 June, 2010

Thankg you my man for this!

Cat said:
12 July, 2010

Great icons! I was wondering if you will do one for facebook?

Mickaël Floc'hlay said:
24 August, 2010

Great icons !
I’ve used one of them on my website and mentioned this page on it too : http://www.deadroostersoft.org.dev:8888/spip/Adapter-un-site-SPIP-a-un-terminal

Mickaël Floc'hlay said:
24 August, 2010

I’ve messed with the previous URL. The right one is : http://www.mickaelflochlay.com/spip/Adapter-un-site-SPIP-a-un-terminal

Ohm said:
14 September, 2010

Great Work! Cool!!

Can I use it for my personal site?

Add your name and link to your site in the credits.

Charlie said:
14 September, 2010

Hey, Ohm!

Of course you can use the icons, but I thank you very much for asking.

You don’t have to credit me if you don’t wish to, but I certainly wouldn’t mind. Either way, you can send me a link as I love to see what people are up to with these icons.

Thanks again! Best of luck to you…

Norman said:
20 September, 2010

I should digg your post so more people can see it, really helpful, I had a hard time finding the results searching on the web, thanks.

- Norman

diseño paginas web said:
20 November, 2010

Thanks for the icon share. Very skilled icons set without a doubt

alquiler departamentos miami said:
12 December, 2010

Hey, fantastic collection of hand drawn Icons. Thanks for this collection

paisajismo said:
21 December, 2010

great collection of incons! thanks for sharing!

dreamagic said:
5 January, 2011

Thank you!

mikkiroo said:
9 January, 2011

THANK YOU!! I looked all over for something like this, even paid $20 on iStockphoto for something inferior. YOU ROCK!!

Charlie said:
9 January, 2011

You’re very welcome! Now, that will be $20 please!

Just kidding But hey…I have a new set I’m working on, and there will be approximately 93 billion icons in it. I might make it premium ($5-$10 or so) but it’ll be worth it!

Thanks again for stopping by. I’d love to see the icons in use, so send me a link if you get them up somewhere.

Best,

Charlie

Cgbaran said:
14 January, 2011

Great icons i love sketchy icons thanks

dove hunting in argentina said:
25 January, 2011

Great icons! I was wondering if you will do one for facebook?

Sammi said:
11 March, 2011

Thanks Charlie for these wonderful icons. I’m loving it!

andrea said:
15 March, 2011

thanks for these!

web design said:
10 April, 2011

Hey great job as always! Thank you.

Charlie said:
10 April, 2011

Thanks much! Enjoy

Daniel said:
12 April, 2011

Thanks Charlie. These look great and the fact that they are REALLY hand drawn makes all the difference. I will need to change some of the background colors but will definitely make good use of it. Thanks for giving it away for free dude!

Charlie said:
13 April, 2011

You’re welcome, Daniel. Glad you like them.

Got a bigger set coming up soon. Probably be a premium set ($7-$12 or so) that will have gazillions of icons in it.

Thanks for the comment, bud!

Carlos - Peinados paso a paso said:
25 April, 2011

I just love this set of icons, let me tell that you have made an awesome work!.

Me and my team, appreciate your dedication to scan them and share them with everyone!

Charlie said:
25 April, 2011

You’re welcome, Carlos! My pleasure.

H4sher said:
30 April, 2011

Thank You for your great set! I’m using it at my site.

Good luck!

Dave said:
2 July, 2011

Great set, thank you! Will there be an “upgrade” with a Google+ icon?

Charlie said:
2 July, 2011

@Dave –

Thanks…glad you like the set. Sounds like a plan. I’ve got a bunch of new sketch icons already in the works. I’ll be sure to add Google +1 to the list.

christophe said:
3 September, 2011

Many thanks for sharing your work ! Really nice ! I love your icons !

Charlie said:
5 September, 2011

@Christophe –

You’re very welcome. Enjoy!

icon collection said:
24 September, 2011

I’ve been reading your blog a few times and this is the first time I feel like I need to comment. Very nice writing indeed. Professional Windows icons for software design. Download and order any icon files. How to make perfect digital icon collection with Paint Shop Pro.

Mariam Mohie said:
24 October, 2011

WOOooooOOW, that was so helpful.
Thanks A million Charlie, you are my hero!

I’ve designed my own icons inspired by your talent and so happy with the results

Niwa said:
24 January, 2012

Thank you so much for these icons – I’ve been searching and searching the web for something that would work on my website and these are the perfect fit! I have given you credit on the footer of my website Website is still being worked on, so my apologies in advanced for holes in the design. Thank you again!

joesmack said:
29 March, 2012

Please do these in 256 pixels? tht would be awesome! these icons are amazing

Hope said:
16 March, 2013

I have a small personal blog…I’m wondering if you’d mind me using your images for the social media link buttons? That is, if I can figure out how to make buttons for it. of course I will link back to you and give credit where credit is due.

coxrichuk said:
17 April, 2013