Why I still use stock libraries.

I still use stock libraries. Not just for final assets. I use them for mood boards, mockups, texture, reference, composition, and visual bridges when an idea is nearly there but not quite.

Sometimes I’m looking for a very specific thing.
Real people doing something.
A wall texture.
A mockup template that gives me complete control.

But just as often, I’m not looking for anything particularly precise.
I’m just looking, and for me, that’s still a useful part of the creative process.
There’s something about browsing through a stock library that feels different to prompting. Less efficient, maybe. More accidental. You search for one thing, get shown another, click sideways into something else, and suddenly there’s a colour, a crop, a bit of lighting, or a daft image you’d never have asked for, but which nudges the work along.

I know there are other options now. Obviously.
Many stock libraries have them baked in.
Generate this.
Extend that.
Remove the weird hand.
Replace the background.
Make it look less like everyone involved has been taken hostage.
I use that too. But I still find the traditional search-and-browse bit valuable.