Andrea Kalfas
I’m so excited for today’s wallpaper, I think that Baltimore illustrator Andrea Kalfas has made one of the most beautiful wallpapers I’ve ever featured. I’m also really happy that she created a wallpaper for the Animal Collective album Campfire Songs. Not quite an album and not considered an EP, Campfire Songs was recorded by the full roster of Animal Collective, though the Geologist didn’t perform on this one, but it is the first album to feature Deakin. A fun fact, the entire album was recorded in one take on a cold night in Novemeber outside on a screen porch in Maryland.
As for Andrea, she has her BFA in illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art and now is a freelance illustrator. Her work is really lighthearted and extremely expressive, with lots of bold lines and inspiring color palettes. The details and textures in her wallpaper are so beautiful, and the subtle touch of purple in the large moth in the front is simply perfection. Here’s what she had to say about her wallpaper:
“Not surprisingly, listening to Campfire Songs led to to the obvious image of sitting around a campfire in the woods at night, but I felt as though I was far away, beyond the reach of the fire and the songs. It felt as though the music wasn’t meant for me, that it was a private concert just for the singer and the insects were the only audience to it. I wanted to draw lots of little nocturnal bugs, flying around and enjoying the music I could only hear from far off, unable to see the performer.”
A big thanks to Andrea for such a lovely wallpaper, and a bigger thank to Andy Mangold for curating this batch of wallpaper and finding such great artists and designers.
Bobby
Jimmy Giegerich
It’s our second week of Animal Collective inspired desktop wallpapers, and today we’ve got a totally weird one from Baltimore illustrator Jimmy Geigerich. To be clear though, that’s exactly what this wallpaper should be, because Jimmy got one of the weirdest, most difficult Animal Collective records to interpret, 2001′s Danse Manatee.
Every week I do some research on each album, and a part of that is listening to each album. Danse Manatee was and is incredibly difficult to listen to all the way through. I can handle noisy, but this album is like chaos through organs and drums. This is the first album to feature The Geologist though, who also claims it to be one of his favorite albums. According to Wikipedia, “the band was into extreme frequencies. Their goal was to experiment with intense high and low sounds and how they occupied space in the room and moved around in the listener’s head.” Well, that explains a lot.
Thankfully Jimmy Giegerich had the skills to handle this album. I love Jimmy’s style, he’s like that guy in middle school who would draw the grossest things possible all over his notebooks. Kind of a Pushead meets Japanese culture vibe to his work, it’s fantastic. Here’s what Jimmy had to say about his wallpaper:
I chose to do the piece that I did for a few reasons. Most of my illustration is narrative driven, so I couldn’t help but start to come up with kind of weird ideas for scenes and things while I was listening to the album. What I really like about the album and Animal Collective’s music in general is that their music seems to allow the listener to interpret it in their own way, and that’s kind of what I did here. I drew a whole scene based on different elements of the album, with the main element being based off of the song Meet the Light Child. What really stuck out to me about this song is that it goes from sounding kind of creepy and harsh, to sounding kind of nice and mellow, and back and forth. Like something that is both exciting and frightening at the same time, which is where I came up with the emotions of the figures around the “light child” in my piece. I wanted to go for something that fit well with the mood of the album, but told it’s own weird story at the same time.
I think he did an awesome job, and even though there’s a lot going on, it’s still dark enough to easily see your icons (trust me, I tried it). A big thanks to Andy Mangold yet again for curating this series, he’s done an awesome job so far. Check back next Wednesday for Animal Collective’s Campfire Songs.
Bobby
Nick Iluzada
I’m really excited to share this new Sights & Sounds series, and so happy to see people who are equally excited to create something rad. I’ve been a big Animal Collective fan for years now, and I felt like they had the right vibe to really inspire some great looking wallpapers. Our first wallpaper in the series is for Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished. Recorded back in ’99, the album is technically the work of Avey Tare and Panda Bear, the other guys hadn’t joined the group yet, and was heavily inspired by Avey Tare’s move from Baltimore to New York. It’s amazing how you can so easily hear the very foundations of their style in this album. The production, while not the greatest, is the one thing that makes it feel not quite right. Nonetheless, it’s actually a pretty amazing album, Panda Bear’s drumming in particular is something to hear at the very least.
To illustrate the album our fearless curator Andy chose Nick Iluzada, who has one of the coolest last names ever. Before this project I wasn’t familiar with Nick’s illustration work, which is a total shame. Nick has a wonderful sense for color and motion, check out his Footbawlerz series to see exactly what I mean. The variety and creativity in his sketchbooks is also something worth checking out as well.
Here’s what Nick had to say about his wallpaper:
“I created this image simply with the hope of capturing the feel of some specific tracks (most notably Chocolate Girl, Untitled, Someday I’ll Grow To Be As Tall As the Giant, and Alvin Row) with the album title as the jumping off point. While the record sways back and forth between gritty, high-pitched noise and serene textures, I felt that there was some sort of middle ground that could be worked with in terms of bringing the imagery away from it’s Baltimore (make everything neon rainbows) roots and a subdued yet coarse feel would do just the trick.”
A huge thanks to Nick for creating such a beautiful wallpaper and Andy Mangold for choosing such a talented guy. Check back next Wednesday at 10AM PST for the next wallpaper in our series, Animal Collective’s Danse Manatee.
Bobby
Micah Lidberg
About a month ago I was approached by SVEDKA, wondering if I’d be interested in doing a sponsored wallpaper. As most of you know, I’ve never really done anything like that before, but I figured it couldn’t hurt, so long as it wasn’t heavy handed and I was able to get you something cool out the deal. They wanted to create a wallpaper around the idea of “celebrating the epic all-night moments you’ve had”, which I thought was a pretty great concept, especially in the hands of the right artist. So I decided to ask my buddy Micah Lidberg to help out, and I think he’s done an amazing job.
Some of you might remember Micah’s first wallpaper, which is still to this day one of my absolute favorites. Micah has such a unique style which feels so stream of consciousness, like he picks up some pencils and somehow ends up hours later, waking up from a groggy stupor, with a beautiful piece of art in front of him. I love that this wallpaper has so much randomness going on, it’s totally embodies what happens on an night long bender.
I’d also like to point out that by using this wallpaper your co-workers might think you’re one of two things: an alcoholic, or the most fun person on earth. A big thanks to SVEDKA for supporting the site. And don’t forget, drink responsibly.
Bobby Solomon
I had the pleasure to be apart of another issue of Afterzine, the infrequently published art magazine that’s run by my good buddy, Hamish Robertson. This issue centers around Los Angeles, which I have lots to say about, but here’s what Hamish had to say:
“What began as a single-section issue with invited interpretations of “coincidence” by chance evolved into an exploration of the city of Los Angeles—a place I had mistakenly assumed to be lacking in happy accidents.”
The issue features a ton of creative people involved like Mike Mills, Miranda July, Zooey Deschanel, Andrew Andrew, Ben Jones, Peter Mendelsund and lots more. From these previews I’d definitely say it’s going to be a great read.
Kyle and I actually contributed together, putting together a map of our 10 favorite places in Los Angeles. We’re pretty opinionated, and we tend to frequent a lot of local places. I thought it would be fun to release our map as a wallpaper this week, since I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Everything was hand-painted by myself and then put into Photoshop to be tweaked.
But, in order to see why we love these places, you’re going to have to buy the issue. They’re only $10, and worth every penny. And just to reiterate, if you’re in Los Angeles on Friday, be sure to stop by the launch party at Skylight Books, more details can be found here.
Bobby
Philipp Dornbierer
We’ve got a very special bonus to the desktop wallpaper this week, something that’s never been done before. It comes from Philipp Dornbierer, also known as Yehteh, is an illustrator from Zürich who might sound familiar since he won the Great Gatsby Re-Covered Books contest. Since his work is so great and original, I had to have him be a part of The Desktop Wallpaper Project, and he didn’t let me down.
Not only do you get a beautiful wallpaper, but he’s also created some really wonderful folder icons that blend into the wallpaper seamlessly. You can see a sneak peek of the folders in the image above, but there are 4 to choose from in total, so you can mix and match how you like. To download the folder icons you can simply click here. A huge thanks to Philipp for putting so much work into this, I hope you all enjoy the goodies.
Bobby
Jon Contino
Since the 4th of July is less than two weeks away, I figured it was only fitting that there should be a rad wallpaper celebrating the date. Oddly enough, this is the first time I’ve actually done an Independence Day wallpaper, probably because 50% of you readers are from the U.S. and the other half is everywhere else in the world. Nonetheless, I had written the extremely talented Jon Contino to see if he’d like to do a wallpaper, and the idea of him doing something around the concept was too good to be true. I wrote about Jon’s work not too long ago, but in case you missed it he’s a New York based illustrator and designer who’s style is reminiscent of days gone by. He’s so damn talented, and it comes across in his handmade type and his eye for crafting unique compositions. He also co-owns CXXVI, one of the best lifestyle brands around right now.
And as for his wallpaper, this has to be one of my favorites yet. It features a super muscle-y version of Uncle Sam with a body full of tats, proudly displaying the foundations of America. I think it’s a really lighthearted adaption of Independence, not trying to take itself too seriously but still showing respect. I also have to give props to Jon, who stayed up till 4:41 this morning working on the wallpaper because he was so excited by how it turned out. Like I said earlier, this is one of my favorite ones yet.
Enjoy the wallpaper, have a happy and safe 4th of July, and check back next Wednesday for another amazing desktop wallpaper.
Ryan Chapman
It’s gloomy here in Los Angeles today, June Gloom is in full effect. So it seems fitting to put up today’s desktop wallpaper by British illustrator Ryan Chapman. I’ve been a big fan of Ryan’s work for a while now. He’s got this really beautiful, simplified style that uses minimal color palettes and really nicely rounded shapes. I bought one of his paintings a while back as well, there’s just something really pleasing about them. For his wallpaper he took his signature style and threw in a little black fox to spice it up a bit. I love that flute guy too, the fact that his head is made out of flute smoke is pretty great. Thanks for the rad wallpaper Ryan!
Bobby
Bryce Wilner
Bryce WIlner’s name might look familiar, that’s because he won the Re-Covered Books Contest for Lord of the Flies a while back. So when, out of the blue, he wrote me with a package of wallpapers at the ready, how could I say no? Bryce is a Chicago based freelance designer/illustrator who’s work reminds me of the weirdest combo ever: Like an artsy, retro version of Virtua Fighter. If you don’t play video games you might not get that reference, but it totally makes sense.
His wallpaper was influenced by the fact that it’s getting hot as blazes in Chicago (it’s supposed to be 93º today), and thus, he’s dreaming of the beach. Makes sense to me, 93º is pretty damn hot. And if you were curious, the symbols in the top right are international maritime signal flags, and they spell out “The Fox Is Black”. Maybe I should get that tattooed?
Thanks for the awesome wallpaper Bryce!
Bobby
Matt Taylor
I’m stoked for this weeks wallpaper, as it’s one of the boldest images I’ve featured in this project so far. It’s the work of Matt Taylor, a Brighton, England based illustrator who I’ve posted about in the past and recruited to create something. He’s got this timeless style to his work, uses a lot of bold colors and high contrast to really make his images stand out. He also says that he was influenced by Jack Kirby, which I see a bit of in his work, but in more of a contemporary way.
As for his image, it’s amazing. I love that he chose a super warm color palette and punched out the man’s skin with pure black. The tiny details in his garb in yellow and darker red are a beautiful touch, as well. If wherever you live is cold or gloomy right now, be sure to set this as your wallpaper and absorb some of the warmth.
Bobby
Yours, Roxanne
It’s already Wednesday, we’ve hit the halfway point and you deserve some new art to grace your monitor. Thankfully, Roxanne Daner, better known as Yours, Roxanne, has you covered. Roxanne lives and works here in Los Angeles and her style is totally fun with lots of great textures and tones. I feel like her desktop wallpaper is what’s going on behind the scenes of Dan Cassaro’s wallpaper, and that’s partly why I love it. In her own words, “I called it Hard Drive and well… it illustrates whats going on inside your computer to keep everything running smoothly.” I would certainly hope that a gnome, a dog, a bird and a rabbit are doing a good job making my computer keep ticking. Beautiful work, Roxanne!
Bobby
Ewen Stenhouse
Today’s wallpaper is sort of near and dear to my heart. As a child of the 80′s I briefly remember the He-Man cartoons, but more-so I remember the action figures, and their fucked up, ‘roided out bodies. So when I got an email from Ewen Stenhouse, I started laughing immediately at how perfect this was. Ewen emailed me out of the blue a few months backs and as I browsed through his work I saw this brilliant combination of comic books and zombie films with a splash of influence from Jamie Hewlett.
As for his wallpaper, I’m sure many of you are having flashbacks right now. I love that he put a shout-out to Castle Greyskull and there’s even a tiny cameo by Battle Cat in the bottom left corner. That’s not even mentioning how weird and abstract the whole thing is. Is he in the middle of transforming from Prince Adam to He-Man? Is he becoming so powerful that he’s being ripped apart at the seams? I dunno, but it’s totally rad. Awesome job, Ewen.
Bobby
Ben Newman
You can check out Ben’s other wallpaper by clicking here.
I’m so excited for today’s wallpaper by Ben Newman, his contributions have been sitting in my Wallpapers folder for far too long. I posted about Ben a little while ago, and through that I was able to get him to wallpaper. I love his style for his use of bold, geometric shapes and punchy colors. Some people have compared his work to Charley Harper, which I think is a perfect compliment for him. Ben was awesome enough to share two wallpapers for today. The first image was an expanded version of an illustration he had done that he put some more time on. The second was a print design he came up with that he thought would make a rad wallpaper, and I wholeheartedly agree.
A huge thanks to Ben for making rad art and sharing it with us.
Bobby
Ben Newman
You can check out Ben’s other wallpaper by clicking here.
I’m so excited for today’s wallpaper by Ben Newman, his contributions have been sitting in my Wallpapers folder for far too long. I posted about Ben a little while ago, and through that I was able to get him to wallpaper. I love his style for his use of bold, geometric shapes and punchy colors. Some people have compared his work to Charley Harper, which I think is a perfect compliment for him. Ben was awesome enough to share two wallpapers for today. The first image was an expanded version of an illustration he had done that he put some more time on. The second was a print design he came up with that he thought would make a rad wallpaper, and I wholeheartedly agree.
A huge thanks to Ben for making rad art and sharing it with us.
Bobby
Dan Cassaro / Young Jerks
It seems like only recently that I came across the work of Dan Cassaro, who some of you should know as Young Jerks. His name might sound familiar as he was one of the three guys behind that Charlie Sheen wallpaper along with Richard Perez and Erik Marinovich. Or you might know him from a little side-project he started called The State Motto Project, where he asked 50 designers to create their interpretation of the mottos from every state. He also just quit his job to live in a camper and travel the U.S. with his scientist girlfriend and start freelancing again. So if you’re looking for a good designer you should hit him up.
I’ve been stoked to release Dan’s wallpaper because it’s absolutely hysterical, insane and quite possibly unusable. Utility aside, the amount of details and puns that went into this wallpaper are phenomenal. I would totally use the Jerkpixx program if my images came out looking as sweet as these do. I think most designers can agree with Dan’s to-do list as well, though the first item might be the most difficult part. A big thanks to Dan for the epic wallpaper and check back next Wednesday for more wallpaper-y goodness.
Bobby
Christopher Jaurique
As a part of the talk I gave yesterday at Otis College of Art & Design, we also had a little competition. It was simple, students were asked to create a desktop wallpaper, the best entry would be featured on the site. I received some pretty cool designs, but the one I thought was best was this entry by Christopher Jaurique. Christopher is a senior at Otis right now, studying Communication Arts and Advertising, though he admits that he loves making films. He’s currently working on his senior thesis project, in which he’s “building a room of mirrors and lcd screens in an attempt to disorient the viewer”… sounds pretty cool to me.
I loved this image because I thought it was a perfect computer wallpaper. It’s got interesting colors and minor details, and yet it’s vague enough that it’s not going to distract you, either. That subtle mixture of just enough is hard to do, but I think Christopher nailed it. Definitely check out the rest of his work in his portfolio, and better yet, hire him to make amazing films for you.
Bobby
Alex Westgate
Well, we’re finishing up our second Sights & Sounds wallpaper series devoted to Broken Social Scene, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. For BSS’s last and most recent record, Forgiveness Rock Record, we’ve got Alex Westgate, a fantastic illustrator and designer. Alex is currently studying at Ontario College of Art & Design but you can tell he’sn already is a really talented artist.
As for his wallpaper, Alex decided to take a nostalgic look at the album:
For my wallpaper I chose to focus in on the song that I felt best represented the feel and “forgiveness” theme of the album. “Sentimental X’s” is a song that undoubtably deals with the bands off and on dynamic. Emily Haines sings ” A friend of a friend you used to call. Or a friend of a friend you used. You used to call.” To me the song is about forgotten, neglected friendships and the strong emotional ties that can be formed between two people. The idea that even when a relationship is taken for granted the bond that exists between both parties is never broken. I wanted to show this through the relationship we have with material objects and the meaning we give to them, things like toys from our childhood and other objects we no longer have use for. We store them away and may never touch or even look at them for years but because of our sentimental ties, we cannot bare to part with them.
Super rad, thanks so much Alex. And yet again, a huge thanks to Andrew & Matt McCracken of Doublenaut for gathering together such an awesome crew of creative folks from Toronto. If you haven’t seen the other Broken Social Scene wallpapers be sure to click here. We’ll be back to some non-music related wallpapers next week, and in a little bit we’ll start up a new Sights & Sounds.
Bobby
Matias Palacios-Hardy
Well it’s Wednesday already, which means we’re on your third of four wallpapers celebrating the awesome music of Broken Social Scene. This week’s desktop is for their self-titled album Broken Social Scene, which came out near the end of 2005. The album was pretty different from their previous, You Forgot It In People, being a lot more about jamming and feeling less introspective. But to me personally it was an awesome step forward in their musical style.
Visualizing the album is Matias Palacios-Hardy, a wonderful Toronto based illustrator who I think did an amazing job. I was so excited to see that he painted his entry, it gives it such life and texture. Here’s what his wallpaper is all about:
My favourite Broken Social Scene record. For some reason I always call this record ‘Major Label Debut.’ It is neither the name of the album nor even a literal descriptor. It is one of their songs and it does feel apt for this release, the band at their peak.
This wallpaper is an illustration about the misconceptions of being a successful musician. Broken Social Scene is a successful Canadian band. And being a successful Canadian band is not the same as being a successful American band. We are a huge country, but with a tiny population. A gold record here isn’t what it is in other countries. And then quantify that by having to divide your cash out to 15 or so members. Sadly, that does not equate to Concorde money.
Makes you think. Hopefully one day the band can buy their own Concorde and travel the world, dreams really do come true. A huge thanks for Matias and to the Doublenaut bros for finding such a rad guy to participate. Check back next week for our last wallpaper in the series, Forgiveness Rock Record.
Bobby
Doublenaut
This week, I’m pleased to bring the second Broken Social Scene Sights & Sounds wallpaper: You Forgot It In People by Doublenaut. The Toronto brothers–Andrew & Matt McCracken–bring us a piece that intermixes daydreams with reality, all through a forgotten glow, perfectly suited for an album that I absolutely adore.
Speaking on creating the piece, here is what they had to say:
I have always been a big fan of this record. Very experimental and beautiful pop songs. Aside from being a great album, It helped put Canadian indie rock on the map and paved the way for many more talented Toronto musicians.
It was hard coming up with an image that illustrated “You Forgot It In People” as a whole so I decided to focus on a specific song. “Looks Just Like The Sun” is one of the more mellow tracks on the album. It has a really dreamy feel to it which I wanted the wallpaper to have as well. I used some imagery from the lyrics and layered all of the pieces over each other. Broken Social Scene are known for layering instruments and voices so I thought that approach would be appropriate.
The result is spectacular and a stellar entry into the series. Next week, we’ll be pushing forward to the next wallpaper for the band’s self-titled Broken Social Scene. Stay tuned and we’ll be announcing it next Wednesday!
Bobby
Peter Ryan
Our first wallpaper in this new Sights & Sounds series with Broken Social Scene comes from Peter Ryan for the album Feel Good Lost. Peter’s an awesome illustrator who’s work has a great feeling of being both classic and contemporary at the same time. He also uses a ton of color which is something I personally enjoy.
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I Slept With Bonhomme at the CBC by Broken Social Scene From Feel Good Lost
Amazingly, Feel Good Lost come out just a little over 10 YEARS AGO, which sounds insane and impossible, back in March of 2001. It was mainly recorded by the founding members of Broken Social Scene, Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew with the help of Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Bill Priddle, Leslie Feist, Jessica Moss and Stars’ Evan Cranley. It’s basically an instrumental album, which they found was a bit boring when they played live. So they got even more friends from the Toronto music scene to help them out on later albums to expand their sound.
Here’s how Peter explains his wallpaper for the album:
“Well, I rarely leave the world of editorial illustration, so self directed work can be quite intimidating. (particularly when interpretation is required!!) “Feel Good Lost” has very little in the way of lyrics – really, its an instrumental album for the most part. So, with my initial avenue of inspiration unavailable (lyrics) i listened to the album, again and again. At first the music made me feel down. lonely even. My fault for listening to it late at night in the month of December – but for a while i was left feeling as cold and dark as the weather, every time i put it on. This offered the image of a lone tree in snow. It wasnt till i began to further understand the album after many more listens that I started leaving it feeling hopeful and refreshed. There is so much activity in the songs. so much life. I thought for a while about exotic birds sitting in a barren tree – and that was close, but i didnt want to go overboard with hope – the dark elements still needed to dominate. after some sketching around i decided that birds resting on the limbs of the shadow of the tree was perfect. Bleak, but with an unexpected magic.”
A big thanks to Peter for a beautiful wallpaper and the Doublenaut bros for getting him to join. Check back next week for my personal favorite Broken Social Scene album, You Forgot It In People.
Bobby