Whether it is because time is limited or cutout libraries are too small, it often seems like adding entourage into an illustration is treated as an afterthought at the end of most workflows. When it is finally time to insert people, a large portion of time goes to thinking about how dense the entourage should be and how to get the lighting to look just right so that the people don’t feel collaged in. Yet, it is the entourage of an illustration that can best articulate narrative and connect viewers to a place. Yes, density and lighting of the people are important, but more important are the activities of the entourage and having a contextual understanding that properly represents the ethnicities and cultures of the project.
Since my last post about my favorite cutout and visualization resources, I have come across many new places to find entourage cutouts. Many of these sites place a special focus on ethnically diverse cutouts while others propose cutouts that present entourage in a unique graphical way. Knowing where to find great resources like these means less time is spent cutting out your own people but instead thinking about how to best communicate the story of the project.

 

 

Just Not the Same

A relatively new site containing a mid-size collection of diverse entourage.  justnotthesame.us

 

 

Escalalatina

A large collection of entourage with a focus on Latin Americans. escalalatina.com

 

 

Nonscandinavia

A large collection of diverse entourage from around the world. nonscandinavia.com/originals. Because of specific copyright issues, they also have a new section with an interesting graphical approach to their cutouts: nonscandinavia.com/cutouts/

 

 

Cutout Life

A mid-size collection of diverse entourage. cutoutlife.com

 

 

Clipped

A large collection of entourage along with other misc. items mixed in. clipped.io

 

 

Diaz Paunetto

A small but good collection of entourage by an office out of Puerto Rico. diazpaunetto.com

 

 

Tony Textures Free Set

A small collection that is downloaded as one file making it easy to drag into your own files: Tonytextures.com

 

 

Cutout Mix

A  small abstracted collection of entourage with a cool graphical style. cutoutmix.com

 

 

3NTA

A collection of the “unique” stuff from famous architects to the cast of Breaking Bad:  3nta.com

 

 

Pimp My Drawing

A medium sized group of vector cutouts for your illustrator and CAD drawings. pimpmydrawing.com

 

 

Projectalog

A very small but well conceived collection of abstracted figures. projectalog.com

 

 

It is important to note that not all of the cutout people in these websites are setup for commercial use. If you are using these cutouts for educational use, you are probably okay, however, it is still important to read and understand the usage rights of each website.