Christmas is fast approaching so I’ve been hastily drawing and uploading Christmas clipart to the gallery. I’ll be adding loads more in the coming weeks but what doesn’t get done soon will definitely be ready for next year!

I’ve started with the basics like christmas trees, snowmen and crackers but I’ve got a big long list of other festive items still waiting to be drawn. I suppose that’s the downside of having started a clipart website so close to a big holiday; it’s close enough to create a demand for clipart but too close to get much done. I’m seeing lots of searches for santa, reindeers, elves and so on that are returning tragically empty results pages. Still, there’s always next year.

See all the latest Christmas clip art.

A core feature of RandomClipart.com is the ability for customers to instantly download clipart files after checkout. My previous web development projects have taught me PHP, XHTML, CSS and MySQL and I’ve also had cause to integrate shopping carts with PayPal for tangible goods and services but I had no idea how to go about writing my own instant download script. A key requirement of any instant download script is security: original files must never be made accessible without a valid transaction. With so much at stake I didn’t want to risk writing my own script and making a costly mistake so I began to look for and review third-party digital download scripts and services.

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With the main clipart gallery now functional I took some time to add an RSS feed of my latest clipart uploads. Although I have plenty of previous experience with PHP and MySQL I’d never really given much thought to the structure or creation of an RSS feed. After playing around with a few examples and following a few tutorials I had something that nearly worked. The problem was the examples and tutorials I found all had bits that worked and bits that didn’t. After figuring out precisely how to make an RSS feed with PHP and MySQL I thought it worth noting down. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi, I’m Stephen. RandomClipart.com is the latest and greatest outlet for my illustration, coding and web design cravings. My intention is to create a website that will provide valuable benefits for both myself and visitors. I’m already enjoying creating the site and adding content, I hope you also find something of value here.

The primary aspect of RandomClipart.com is to provide high quality, royalty free, vector clipart and illustration for sale at competitive prices. At the date of this post there are only twelve clipart pictures in the gallery so obviously I have my work cut out. However, nothing is a greater motivator than an empty website so I hope to be adding new clipart and illustrations on a regular basis. My long term goal is a clipart gallery featuring hundreds (and eventually thousands - eek!) of useful, original clipart images. Check back in year or so to see how that works out! Read the rest of this entry »