Topic: Does anyone know where I can get digital art to use/redistribute in a videogame?

[WindAndConfusion]

So, I've got some code for a 2D space shooter (a bit like Trade Wars but somewhat more ambitious). Unfortunately, I haven't done much (read:any) graphics programming before, so my game is currently sporting an ASCII-based interface. I've been reading up on how to use some graphical toolkits, but even if I had a proper interface coded, I still don't have any art. I can just grab some crappy icons under a free license for the time being, but if my game shapes up, I'll eventually need some commercial-quality art under a redistributable license. I'm not keen on making it myself (mostly because I have no talent), and searching Pixeljoint/Iconfactory/DeviantArt/Google has given me the sensation that I am drowning in an ocean of stale urine.

Does anyone have any suggestions for where I should look? I'm even willing to pay, either to commission someone or to license existing art. I need tooltips and icons, in addition to quality pixel art of space ships, stations, asteroids, etc.. Sizes should be from around 32x32 to 128x128. Animations are a plus. Background art may be a non-issue, owing to NASA's massive, public domain image archive.

[Quemaqua]

I don't really have much in the way of helpful ideas.  Though it strikes me that if you're willing to pay a commission, I'd think it wouldn't hurt to check around independent gaming sites like TIGSource, etc.  Lots of guys around there with talent and often an equally significant lack of money.

[scottws]

Doesn't Firefox have a built-in Creative Commons search you can use?  Might try that and see if you can come up with some assets to use.

[Xessive]

I wish I could help you directly with this man!

I recommend perusing through deviantART. They usually have this sort of stuff lurking around and you can identify whether or not it has a creative commons licence.

[WindAndConfusion]

Ugh. Finding useful sprites on DeviantArt is like trying to make a milkshake by filtering seawater. I might try Creative Commons, and I'll definitely have to remember to register on that forum.

In the mean time, I have a status update. I now have the skeleton of a game, written in C. I can save/load maps and populate them with objects* that behave in a manner not entirely unlike space ships. I also have a framebuffer UI and a simple drawing function that basically just marks the position of every object in the viewable screen. I still don't have any code to import graphics, nor a drawing routine smart enough to rotate, scale, or animate sprites. I also need to figure out collision detection and how to handle it.
*(Technically they're structs.)

Currently, the only thing my AI can do is fly straight at the player and attempt to shoot (but with no collision detection, there's no way for them to actually hit anything). This seems embarrasingly primitive, but upon recollection, that's how pretty much every space shooter works.