The art in "Cult of the Drive-in" relies extensively non real drive-in photos (my own, and some I've licensed), but it also invokes a lot of clipart from The Noun Project.

If this were another genre, maybe something that involved combat or a fantastical setting, I don't think I could get away with that. But as I began designing pages, I wanted the typeface and layout to be pseudo-reminiscent of concession stand menus. I found The Noun Project's vector icons to be exactly what I needed, and licensing them was very affordable.

Eventually I steered so heavily into the "drive-in concession stand menu" aesthetic, I actually included a fake menu in the book itself.

I probably won't get this lucky in future endeavors. I have a few projects rattling around in my head that are both very genre-heavy, which is probably going to mean licensing stock art or even trying to commission original art.