Lisa Congdon
To View Lisa’s two other wallpapers click here and here.
I’m so excited for today’s wallpaper, it’s been in the works for a couple months now and I’m so excited to finally be able to release them. I’ve been a fan of Lisa Congdon and her blog A Collection A Day for quite a while now, and now she has a book celebrating her collections which comes out today. So lucky for us she’s given us some of her amazing collections to use as desktop wallpapers, pretty great, huh?
So you’ve got three different wallpapers to choose from to adorn your desktop, iPhone or iPad. I went through and picked my favorites, and then she went through and narrowed those down to what you see above: Tags, Fives and Rocks. I thought this was a nicely diverse collection of objects, both graphic and natural, colorful and calming. A huge thanks to Lisa for hooking us up with such great images.
To purchase a copy of A Collection A Day click here.
Bobby
Lisa Congdon
To View Lisa’s two other wallpapers click here and here.
I’m so excited for today’s wallpaper, it’s been in the works for a couple months now and I’m so excited to finally be able to release them. I’ve been a fan of Lisa Congdon and her blog A Collection A Day for quite a while now, and now she has a book celebrating her collections which comes out today. So lucky for us she’s given us some of her amazing collections to use as desktop wallpapers, pretty great, huh?
So you’ve got three different wallpapers to choose from to adorn your desktop, iPhone or iPad. I went through and picked my favorites, and then she went through and narrowed those down to what you see above: Tags, Fives and Rocks. I thought this was a nicely diverse collection of objects, both graphic and natural, colorful and calming. A huge thanks to Lisa for hooking us up with such great images.
To purchase a copy of A Collection A Day click here.
Bobby
Kim Høltermand
It’s the fifth and final day of Kim Høltermand’s beautiful series of wallpapers, and I couldn’t be happier with the selection he made or the reception you’ve all given him and his work. Showcasing work like Kim’s is why I started this site in the first place and hopefully his work has made as big of an impression on you as it has on me.
Today’s wallpaper, to me, is the serene and calm ending that leads you into the weekend. I’ve been reading some about wabi-sabi, which summed up is the natural beauty of things after they’ve been used for a long period of time. Wikipedia puts it as “beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent and incomplete” which is probably an even better way of putting it. And that’s what his image reminds me of. It’s titled Deserted City but to me it looks like a giant sunken ship that’s been found in the middle of a green field.
A huge thanks to Kim for contributing all of these beautiful images, you’re awesome.
Bobby
Kim Høltermand
Today’s fourth wallpaper from Danish photographer Kim Høltermand is a bit surprising to me, especially because it’s titled Power Station. Now, when I think of a power station I would imagine an imposing, brutalist construct that’s meant to house things of a mechanical nature and not entice the senses of a human. But this power station features a multi-colored array of neon lights! I’d be willing to guess that this power station is probably no longer in use, re-purposed for some other purpose. Nonetheless it’s another beautiful and striking image that yet again shows us just how talented Kim is at capturing amazing photos.
Bobby
Kim Høltermand
I have a bunch of really crazy, colorful work to put up today, so I thought I’d get bright and fun with today’s desktop wallpaper from photographer Kim Høltermand. This one is titled Koncerthuset, which roughly translates to concert hall. It’s a lovely abstract image that actually works really well as a desktop image. The orange isn’t too jarring and it actually looks incredibly beautiful. I usually tend to keep my wallpapers really… grey. But this is a nice, warm change. If you’re living anywhere cold or gloomy right now I’d highly suggest slapping this up on your desktop/iPhone/iPad and soak in some warmth!
Bobby
Kim Høltermand
For day two of Kim Høltermand‘s Desktop Wallpaper, we take a very contemplative turn. Playing with negative space and light, Høltermand peers into a manmade creation of metals and fiberglass to reinterpret them as a bird flexing its wing or even the scales of a beetle. The nebulous look at such a rough surface brings about a delicate beauty that only Høltermand could accomplish: it breathes organic life into the inanimate.
Titled Silo, I figured this darker desktop would be best for a Tuesday: almost halfway through the week…but, not quite yet! For whatever reason, this image evokes something very triumphant and even “divine” (whatever that means). Tomorrow we’ll have the third of Høltermand’s five wallpapers. I hope you enjoy this wallpaper and please be sure to check back in tomorrow for another great image.
Bobby
Kim Høltermand
This week I have a very special Desktop Wallpaper Project contributor, one of my favorite photographers, the amazingly talented Kim Høltermand. But as you may have gleaned from the title of this post, today is day one, which means there will be a new wallpaper every day this week. Yep, five beautiful photographs to adorn your desktop.
I’ve written about Kim many a times here on the site, the first time being over 3 years ago. He’s based in Denmark and shoots some of the most haunting yet beautiful photos that I’ve ever seen. Every time he posts new work I’m always stunned that he can keep outdoing himself time and time again.
So after all this time Kim and I have shared a few emails here and there, so I thought it was fitting to ask him to contribute some of his beautiful images to the desktop wallpaper. The first which you see above is aptly titled Reflections, and I thought it was serene and calming way to start a new week. I hope you enjoy it and be sure to check back in tomorrow for another amazing wallpaper.
Bobby
Richard Perez, Dan Cassaro, Erik Marinovich
A little under a week ago I had a random idea, which I wrote to three of my buddies on Twitter – Richard Perez (aka Skinny Ships), Dan Cassaro (aka Young Jerks) and Erik Marinovich (aka The Big Animals). I asked them, “Can someone please get us some #tigerblood typography already? It’s already overdue.” Later that night, completely randomly and out of nowhere, I get an email from Richard that says, “Thanks to your call to arms on twitter Dan Cassaro, Erik from friends of type and I are collaborating on a special Sheen inspired desktop wallpaper for ya.”
So we’ve totally bought into the Charlie Sheen hype and these guys have made the very best Charlie Sheen wallpaper you’re ever going to see. Honestly this wallpaper could have been a horrible mess of who knows what, but these guys are professionals and are all #winning. I love that they decided to bottle up everything crazy and wonderful about Charlie Sheen. If we could honestly sell these bottles I think we’d be millionaires. You absolutely have to see the extra large sizes of these, plus there’s an iPad and inidividual iPhone wallpapers for each. A huge thanks to Richard, Dan and Erik!
Bobby
Corey Thompson
It’s alway fun getting new desktop wallpapers in my inbox. I’m never really sure what to expect, I only have a sense of what an artists work looks like and some vague ideas of a direction they may go in. So when I opened Corey Thompson’s wallpaper I immediately burst into laughter at the ridiculousness he sent me. Corey is a designer and illustrator from Portland, Oregon who’s got one of those do it all styles, he can doodle the day away or design high end posters. His versatility really shines through when you’re looking through his portfolio.
I’m not really sure what to say about this wallpaper other than “AWESOME.” I mean, it’s a T-Rex slam dunking in some Jordan’s. I feel like people are going to either love or hate this one, but I for one am a lover. You know people are going to laugh if they see this on your screen, wherever the hell you may be. Thanks Corey!
Bobby
Nate Utesch
I’m really excited for today’s desktop wallpaper by the multi-talented Nate Utesch, an illustrator and designer living in Indiana. I mentioned multi-talented because he’s not only an awesome artist, but he’s also the publisher of Ferocious Quarterly, a small book of illustrators and short fiction which is beautifully designed. He’s also starting a new project called Made Handsome, an illustration and short fiction journal—jam packed with artists and writers from all over the world and curated by Ferocious Quarterly. But he needs your help funding this new endeavor so he’s started a Kickstarter project to get it off the ground. I’ve already contributed and you should too.
As for his wallpaper it’s kind of an insane explosion of bike wheels and street sparks (I don’t know what that means but it sounds cool). I love the colors and energy of this piece, though if you put this as your background at work it may make your co-workers have seizures, which Nate and I are not responsible for. A big thanks to Nate for the awesome art and be sure to help him out!
Bobby
Jared Chapman
When I got today’s wallpaper from Jared Chapman it came with this warning, “Before you open the file, make sure you bear proof your place. Seriously. It’s that life like.” Funny enough, there are zero bears in his wallpaper, but perhaps they’re hiding in a tree or behind a totem pole? I’ve followed Jared on Twitter for a while and I can safely say he’s both funny and talented. He’s got such a bright and fun style it makes me wonder why he doesn’t have his cartoon on Cartoon Network or something. I love his wallpaper as well, I mean, who doesn’t love totem poles? I feel like this is a good way to liven up your desktop if wherever your at is a bit gray. A big thanks to Jared for such a rad wallpaper.
Bobby
Matthew Dent
Love is in the air, yes, next Monday is Valentine’s Day so to get you in the mood I’ve thought ahead and have a special Valentine’s Day wallpaper by the wonderful Matthew Dent. Matt is a British Illustrator working in South London who has a style of illustration that makes you happy when you look at it. There’s a simplicity to his work that makes it appealing to all ages but his use of color and composition proves he knows what he’s doing.
Matt and I had been in touch about doing a wallpaper so when I realized Valentine’s Day was coming up I figured it was a perfect subject for him to tackle. I think his quirky, playful style is truly fitting for this wallpaper. I hope you enjoy the wallpaper and be sure to tell the people you care about that you love them.
Bobby
Yonil
After a long run of Sights & Sounds wallpapers we’re going to take a little break and get back to some classic desktop wallpapers, just some damn good art. Up first is a fella’ named YONIL, aka Jonathan Lax, an Israeli illustrator and graphic designer living and working in Tel-Aviv. His style is pretty eclectic, encompassing mixed media, sketchy, graffiti style work as well as some nice typography. For his wallpaper he created this rad image that’s kind of graffiti inspired with sort of a Barry McGee look to it. I’m loving all the subtle details in the splatters and the bits of greens and blues popping up in the streaks to the right. A big thanks to YONIL for this awesome wallpaper.
Bobby
Stephanie Brown
Last year, I started Sights & Sounds to expand upon what the Desktop Wallpaper Project could be. I loved the idea of an artist summing up the sound of an album with a single image, their interpretation of what a collection of songs looked like. And now here we are with our final Wilco wallpaper by Stephanie Brown for Wilco (The Album).
Stephanie is an incredibly talented painter and, when Joe suggested her name for the series, I thought, “Wow, that would be amazing if we could get her.” To me, her art is beyond good: it’s stunning. She also seems like a really rad person, as evidenced by the fact that she recently tattooed herself, a 3 hour process in which she almost passed out. A painter and a bad ass.
Wilco (The Album) is the band’s most recent album, which came out in 2009. I thought this was a great album, but it falls behind some of their albums for me. That said, some of the songs on the album are some of the best they’ve ever written, specifically You and I with Feist. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to that song. I also really enjoy Deep Down, which reminds me of The Beatles in the best way, and I’ll Fight, with it’s country twang.
Here’s how Stephanie describes her wallpaper:
“Wilco (The Album)‘s themes seem to revolve around struggle. A couple in You and I who are grasping to keep a relationship together, the bleak aftermath of a man who killed his girlfriend in Bull Black Nova, a physical altercation in Deeper Down. Throughout these vignettes it seems that the greatest struggle is to find meaning in sometimes meaningless strife, and ends in choosing to accept both the dark and the light for what they are worth. At first glance this album comes off as cheeky, because of its album art and oddly self aware title track, but the more time I spent with it, the more I grew to love it. So I used the language that I know best: two snakes, both the good and the bad, entangled with one another in an endless deadlock.”
A huge thanks to Stephanie for her beautiful contribution and fitting ending to a beautiful series of wallpapers. Be sure to stay tuned for the announcement of the next series of Sights & Sounds, which should start some time next month. The musical artist has already been chosen and all of the wallpapers are ready–but I want to give a little breathing room between projects.
Bobby
Paul Octavious
I’ve been waiting quite a while to release this wallpaper so I hope you share my enthusiasm for it. The album featured this week is Sky Blue Sky and the artist is Chicago based photographer, Paul Octavious. I am equal parts a fan of Paul’s amazing photographs as well as this Wilco album. Paul has this amazing style of photography that in my mind is best described as dreamy. There’s always something ethereal and magical happening, no matter what his subject is. It’s this positivity and creativity that I really respect about him and his work.
Sky Blue Sky could be described in a similar way. This is by far their most upbeat and happy album, I mean, the title of the album itself is as positive as you can get. It’s also a more laidback, simple album that’s almost the polar opposite of A Ghost Is Born. My personal favorites off of this album are You Are My Face, Sky Blue Sky, Please Be Patient With Me and Leave Me (Like You Found Me). Leave Me in particular is good, it’s a melancholy song that always gets me.
Here’s what Paul had to say about his wallpaper:
“I’m usually never good at meanings of titles of album or songs, and can never find the words to put them in. So when I was asked to make a desktop for Sky Blue Sky I drew a blank. Yet, this is my favorite Wilco album! So I dug deep, did some research and found my inspiration. The album title is a reference to a memory Jeff Tweedy had as a kid coming home from a family trip and his route home was blocked by a parade. I wanted to create that feeling of being trapped and not having a say on the outcome.”
Huge thanks to Paul for creating such a brilliant wallpaper. We have one more wallpaper next week and then we’re finished with Wilco! There will be some more standard wallpapers and then we’ll jump into the next edition of Sights & Sounds. I hope you’ve enjoyed the wallpapers so far.
Bobby
Chad Kouri
The Sights & Sounds wallpapers continues on with this great piece by Chad Kouri for Kicking Television: Live in Chicago. For those not familiar with the album it’s technically a three record set that came out in 2005 that contained music from four sequential concerts at The Vic Theater in Chicago. The records contain mostly older material with some covers and unreleased material thrown in as well. Jeff Tweedy titled the record going to a concert is essentially kicking the habit of watching television:
A rock concert is “kicking television.” If you’re out of the house and with a bunch of people enjoying something together, that’s kicking television to me. I don’t think very many people, myself included, will ever kick television cold turkey, but I certainly think more people should be aware of what it’s doing to them.
For the wallpaper Chad took a literal approach:
“So… a wallpaper for Wilco. I have never really given them a far listen. So I took this opportunity to check out what all the hype is about. I’ve been doing a lot of non-representational work lately so I thought something a little more literal would be a nice change a pace. After some image sourcing I found a really great script that had nothing to do with… well… anything and really wanted to use it. That is what you see farthest back in yellow. To be honest, my obsession with this script made me taylor the whole illustration around it. It’s one of the least important graphic elements in the composition but I had to have it. So, apparently that is how my mind works… Pick the least important part of the composition and tweak the crap out of it so that everything has to be that good or better. I guess I’m kind of a spaz. Good times.”
Thanks, Chad. Check back next for another beautiful wallpaper!
Bobby
Mig Reyes
Well, we took a little break from Sights & Sounds/Desktop Wallpaper Project for the holiday but it’s definitely back. In total Wilco has 8 albums, we’re including the live album Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, so now with this wallpaper we’re passing the halfway point. Today’s album/wallpaper is one of my favorites from Wilco, A Ghost Is Born. The album marked a bit of a departure for the band. They got a little weirder, a little darker, and in my opinion, a little like the Velvet Underground. But it’s also one of their most sensitive albums, with songs like Wishful Thinking, which without fail gives me chills every time I listen to it. This album has a lot of my favorite songs on it, like the previous mentioned Wishful Thinking, as well as Theologians, Handshake Drugs, Hell Is Chrome, and of course, Hummingbird, which is where Mig took his inspiration from.
Mig Reyes is probably pretty familiar to a lot of readers. He’s a designer from Chicago who works at Threadless with our Wilco curator Joe Van Wetering. He also runs Humble Pied, a series of video interviews with designers from around the globe. He’s a talented and busy guy and I was really excited to hear he was doing a wallpaper. Here’s what he had to say about his creation:
“To me, A Ghost is Born carries a darker, more experimental sound than that of the albums that preceded it. I wanted to focus on “Hummingbird,” which captures the bleak mood I was going for. It’s funny, though. Being a web designer, I wouldn’t tout myself as an illustrator. So aesthetically, I designed it the best way I knew how: geometry, math and structure.”
I totally agree with Mig. On the song Hell is Chrome, the lyrics are:
When the devil came
He was not red
He was chrome and he saidCome with me
You must go
So I went
Where everything was clean
So precise and towering
That line, “So precise and towering”, makes me think of geometry, math and structure. But to me Mig took it to a happier place by using these properties and creating something beautiful, which is a lot like the album. Thanks so much Mig, the wallpaper looks great. Come back next week for Sky Blue Sky and another amazing artist, which I promise you will poop your pants over.
Bobby
Ross Zietz
I thought I should start this edition of Sights & Sounds out with a little preface to address a couple things. This is a brand new project that’s three wallpapers old so there’s going to be some issues that arise. First is that yes, every artist should listen to the album before they design a wallpaper. I thought this made sense as well and this is no jab at the previous artists who may not have listened to the records. But going forward this will be a prerequisite to creating a wallpaper so that they can soak in the sounds and feelings of the album. I can tell you that the next four albums/wallpapers are going to really impressive and I think you’ll be into them. And I think you can say the same about today’s wallpaper.
We’re finally to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which is undoubtedly the best album they’ve ever released. It was the first album of theirs that I had ever heard and still holds up 8 years later. In my opinion this is a nearly perfect album and some of the songs on here are my absolute favorites, like Jesus Etc. and Poor Places.
The artist on this album is Ross Zietz who if you’re familiar with Threadless you’ve undoubtedly seen his work. A quick glance through his Flickr account shows a ton of amazing pieces he’s done for Threadless and random ideas as well. I’m stoked to see his interpretation of the song War on War influencing his design. Here’s what he had to say:
“Having to do Yankee Foxtrot Hot was kind of a lot of pressure. I did about 3 or 4 sketches before I came up with something I was happy with. Instead of concentrating on the album title I went with my favorite song ‘War on war’. Its an upbeat song about war so I wanted my piece to have a similar tone.”
Thanks Ross! Check back next week for A Ghost Is Born.
Bobby
Eric Ellis
This week’s Sights & Sounds wallpaper is for Wilco’s album Summerteeth and was created by Eric Ellis. Summerteeth came out in the spring of 1999 and marked the beginning of what I think most people would classify as the Wilco sound. There was a lot going on during the recording of this album as well, like Tweedy’s drug addiction and the recording of Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg. But I think it’s possible that the struggles that were going on personally with the band is what gives it it’s sound. This was an album that I had heard years later, but there are so many great tracks on this album, my favorites being How To Fight Loneliness, When You Wake Up Feeling Old and In A Future Age. Of course, there are the mellow tracks that get me feeling deep and sentimental.
As for the wallpaper Eric did an amazing job summing up the relaxing feeling of summertime. He’s also created not one but four different iPhone versions of the wallpaper, selecting certain pieces of the illustration to highlight. Be sure to check them all out. Here’s what he had to say about his wallpaper:
To I have to be honest and say that I have never actually listened to Wilco, and specifically not this album Summerteeth, of which my drawing was supposed to represent.
It’s not that I have purposefully avoided their music, in fact based on what people tell me, I think I’d enjoy it. It’s just one of those things that I haven’t gotten around to yet, like backpacking through Europe or having a dog. But life is long, and I’m in no hurry.
My drawing is about me really, and the various things I do. If this drawing were a book, it would be autobiographical. But I think it relates to the Wilco album in that all of things I am doing in my drawing, I could be doing while listening to Summerteeth too. I suppose I could have listened to the album on repeat, trying to sort out a concept or derive some meaning from a lyric but I thought I would try something a little less obvious.
Bobby
Ed Nacional
The other day my buddy Ed Nacional posted a festive Thanksgiving image on his Dribbble so I thought, hey, why not release it as a Thanksgiving wallpaper? Sure, it’s Thanksgiving today, probably should have released something like this weeks ago, but what hell, you can still give thanks any time of the year, right? A big thanks to Ed for busting out these wallpapers for us. We’re definitely going to do another wallpaper with Ed some time next year so keep a lookout.
Bobby