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In our first installment in the Tumblr series, we took a look at what Tumblr actually is, and what it does. The article finished off by showing 4 fantastic custom themes that have been created by some awesome designers for use on their Tumblr blogs. In this instalment, I want to show you 20 fantastic free Tumblr themes that will get you started on your Tumblr blog. Then I’m going to show you 20 fantastic premium Tumblr themes, for those of you that want that quality feel to your Tumblr blog, but with little effort from yourself! Here goes…

Free

From the beginning, Tumblr has had a fantastic library of free themes; it’s site says there are over 400 indexed. Here are 10 that stand out to me as being fantastic quality for free themes.

1. Easy Reader 2

Link | Demo

A typographic beautiful mix of grey, red and white.

2.101

Link | Demo

A pastel colored sexy left aligned theme.

3. Postage

Link | Demo

Beautiful imagery taking the persona of letter postage!

4. Godlike Bliss

Link | Demo

A twitter inspired theme that’s up there in the clouds.

5. bbxtumblr

Link | Demo

Fantastic css3 typography coupled with stunning icons.

6. Doodling in Class

Link | Demo

Perfect for scribbling down notes here and there.

7. Screenshot

Link | Demo

Show of your latest work with this screenshot gallery theme.

8. TumbleDesk

Link | Demo

Bring the readers to your desk with this theme.

9. Photoboard

Link | Demo

Content is displayed on cards, with beautiful enhancements such as flipping for details!

10. Panda Classics Recycled

Link | Demo

Keep it cool with this panda theme!

11. Nine of Mine

Link | Demo

Sheer simplicity. Let your content shine.

12. 1000 Suns

Link | Demo

A single column with simple styles.

13. Paper Walls

Link | Demo

Let this paper styled theme make your blog look the professional deal.

14. Rockstar

Link | Demo

Classy, colourful and bright. Attract attention to your blog!

15. Fluid

Link | Demo

A proper Tumblr favourite. You’ll see this beauty a lot which says a lot about its quality.

16. ColorBars

Link | Demo

Nothing classy, just a fantastic, fluid layout.

17. Stationary

Link | Demo

With a fantastic paper border, this theme offers brilliant typography.

18. Photog

Link | Demo

Designed to give one post your attention at a time. A great concept.

19. Organ

Link | Demo

Likely the most original Tumblr theme ever. You’ve seen nothing until you’ve tried it.

20. Cavalcade

Link | Demo

Fantastic use of greys with subtle tints, and eye pleasing combinations.

Premium

A few months ago, Tumblr introduces something that web designers had started doing external to the Tumblr themes library; premium themes. Here are 10 from around the internet that caught my eye.

1. Photofolio - $49

Link | Demo

Keep it sexy with this shimmering folio theme that just shouts out to you.

2. Sonic – $49

Link | Demo

Give your band a fantastic blog with this theme.

3. Postcards – $19

Link | Demo

Playing on the postcard persona again, but this time, much more classy.

4. Generate – $19

Link | Demo

Here’s a clean, sleek blog theme from Woothemes.

5. HashTwo – $15

Link

A fresh, contemporary theme from OboxDesign.

6. Stratocaster – $17

Link | Demo

IvorPadilla makes grey cool with this fantastic theme.

7. Helvetica – $12

Link | Demo

This theme is for people that love Helvetica!

8. Vintage Scrapbook – $14

Link | Demo

Vintage Scrapbook is a whimsical, highly detailed theme inspired by the colours, styles, and textures found in old documents

9. Rank & File – $49

Link | Demo

Three columns of simple beauty.

10. Well Liked – $9

Link | Demo

Sleek and classy, this’ll kickstart your Tumblr experience.

11. Scribble – $9

Link | Demo

Show of your site with this sketch style theme.

12. Ribbon Section – $15

Link | Demo

Fantastic implementation of ribbons. With different color schemes, this feels premium!

13. Splatter – $19

Link | Demo

A single column, subtle grunge layout that mixes aqua and pink splendidly.

14. Micro Inkdrop – $15

Link | Demo

The demo starts with a fantastic image slider, and the beauty doesn’t stop there.

15. Micro Depth – $15

Link | Demo

A colourful and vibrant theme for you to make an impact on your readers.

16. Tumbl News – $14

Link | Demo

A theme aimed more at providing news than small time blogging.

17. Nuance – $14

Link | Demo

Nuance provides an original grid view to different Tumblr posts.

18. Crisps – $12

Link | Demo

Yet another single column layout, but this time, with an added slide out sidebar!

19. Simplefolio – $49

Link | Demo

Simplefolio shows what can really be achieved with Tumblr, turning it from a Tumbleblog into a full portfolio complete with pages!

20. Solaris – $9

Link | Demo

Taking minimalism to a whole new level of beauty.

Further Thoughts

So now we’ve learnt what Tumblr does, in terms of micro blogging, and how it works, and we’ve seen what can be achieved through its theme system. The next installment in the series will teach you how to code your own psd to a fully fledged Tumblr theme! Keep your eyes out for it, and apologies for the wait.

If you have seen any fantastic free and premium Tumblr themes that you think are worth a mention, hit them up in the comments. We love to hear what you think, and like =)