The Desktop Wallpaper Project
Posted: March 5, 2008 // Art + Design + Illustration + The Desktop Wallpaper Project

Since I started my blog almost a year ago I’ve written almost a thousand posts, made a ton of amazing and talented friends, and learned that keeping a blog going isn’t as easy some people make it look. I’ve also felt that I wanted this blog to be more, and do more, than a normal blog does. Finding the new, cool thing is fun and all, but my blog has grown so much since I started it that I felt like I should try and do something more, something that would benefit you, the reader.

First and foremost I decided that I wanted this project to be something that was free. Well, free doesn’t leave a whole lot of options that don’t include me going into debt, so I had to be creative. What I decided to do was start a project based off the of the Radiohead desktop wallpapers I created last year in honor of In Rainbows coming out. But this time around, I decided to write all of my favorite artists and designers, many of which you’ve seen featured on this blog, and see if they’d contribute a wallpaper. As it turns out, my favorite artists and designers happen to be some of the nicest people out there, and so many of them were more than happy to help and be a part of this project, which I’ve called The Desktop Wallpaper Project.

Here’s the plan: I’ll be releasing one desktop wallpaper every Wednesday morning (California time) until I run out of wallpapers. They’ll be free to download, and come in a multitude of monitor sizes, as well as iPhone and PSP versions just for the fun of it. As of writing this, there are 60 artists involved with the project, some of them providing multiple wallpapers. Who are these 60 artists that are participating? Well I’m not telling because I really like secrets and surprises, and I want you all to be surprised and excited come Wednesday.

To get things started though, I’m releasing three wallpapers by three amazing artists, Tim Biskup, Mcbess, and IMAKETHINGS. Having to narrow down which three wallpapers would go first wasn’t easy, but I wanted to give you a good idea of what the coming months have in store. There are going to be some of the biggest artists out there today, mixed in with some artists you may have never heard of. But the one thing they all have in common is just how damn amazing and creative they all are. So without further ado, here are the first three wallpapers.


Tim Biskup is one of those artists that I’ve admired for years now and consider to be one of the best out there. I first came across his artwork on a Gama-Go t-shirt which I bought in Villains on Haight Street. It was a design called Gama Turtle, a giant blue monster with some janky looking teeth and a massive spiked shell. Since then he’s created vinyl figures, giant murals and fine art that’s hung in galleries all over the world.

In his wallpaper is a little character he created called Calli, which in real life are cardboard cut-outs which turn into tiny stackable figures. I oddly enough bought a bunch of these as X-mas and birthday presents for friends, unbeknownst to Tim when he was creating this. In between the figures is the kanji for Black Fox, aka Kitsune Noir.


Mcbess is the alias of Matthieu Bessudo, an amazing illustrator who lives in France and graduated from the art school Supinfocom in 2006. I came across Matthieu because of an awesome little animation project he helped work on called Sigg Jones, which was one of the best things I watched all last year. He ended up sending me a link and I was totally blown away by his style, somewhere between old Disney cartoons and anime. I honestly have no idea what’s going on in the wallpaper above, but I’m absolutely in love with it, and I’m sure that Mcbess is going to become a huge star in the illustration world.


Our last wallpaper for today comes from IMAKETHINGS, better know by friends and loved ones as Andrew Groves. Andrew is a British illustrator who’s style borders on the edge of creepy and cute. His art is inhabited by tons of black creatures with bright white teeth and red eyes. But then he places them into the magically colorful backgrounds, and for some reason they don’t seem so scary any more, just awesome.

The image above is some sort of haunted forest, or so I’d guess. I’m especially fond of the floating crystals which are also hanging out, though I doubt they’re haunted. The color of this wallpaper alone instantly made it one of my favorites.

I just want to say thank you to all the artists that are involved with this project. Without them this obviously wouldn’t have been near exciting. I also want to take a moment to invite anyone reading this to send me their artwork for an opportunity to be a part of The Desktop Wallpaper Project. I’m sure there’s a ton of amazing art out there that I haven’t seen yet, so please send things to hello@kitsunenoir.com. Be forewarned that I may not be able to get back to everyone, so if you don’t hear back from me don’t hate me!

Please come back next Wednesday to see who’s wallpaper will pop up next! And if you want to stay alerted of DWP goings-on, sign up for the memo in the sidebar. You never know, it could be worth your while!

Bobby

P.S. My friend Jacob sent me this wallpaper, which I have to say isn’t quite true, especially after this project.

57 Comments »

  1. Thanks Bobby!

    I LOVE the Mcbess one…so rad.

    Comment by Jeff — March 5, 2008 #

  2. [...] Check it out here. [...]

    Pingback by +KN | Kitsune Noir » The Desktop Wallpaper Project | The Click — March 5, 2008 #

  3. Also from me a BIG THANK YOU! I’m always looking for cool wallpapers and I’ looking forward to what comes up the next few weeks. And I like the kind of “branding” which you created to announce each wallpaper/designer.

    BTW: I totally agree with Jeff, the McBess one is great!

    Comment by Robert — March 5, 2008 #

  4. I just added Andrew’s. Really nice initiative.

    Comment by Aaron — March 5, 2008 #

  5. wow , this is really hot. I’ll be checking back regularly for sure.

    I also really liked that wood grain image too, hope that becomes a wallpaper one day ;)

    Comment by pketh — March 5, 2008 #

  6. Wow! What a great idea and presented brilliantly as always. Congrats on being such a trailblazer:)

    All the designs are amazing. I’m sure this project will bring it’s own rewards but thank you for being so generous.

    Comment by john — March 5, 2008 #

  7. wow. these are all great. hope there’s many more on the way :)

    Comment by Rob McDougall — March 5, 2008 #

  8. Well done sir!

    Comment by Franz Von Helmerstein — March 5, 2008 #

  9. Great initiative from you and for the artists that you write about. There is no better way to share your discoveries!
    Really, you can be proud of yourself :)

    Comment by Angele — March 5, 2008 #

  10. great idea and and i am looking forward to each weeks installments. looks to be quite the collection after this strong start

    Comment by twenty2wo — March 5, 2008 #

  11. YAY! again, good job!
    yup, that’s all you get.
    60+ more weeks to go.

    Comment by maxjue — March 5, 2008 #

  12. wicked

    Comment by Chris Halsted — March 5, 2008 #

  13. awesome!! reading your blog everyday is reward enough! this just gives me one more thing to look forward to each week. thanks, bobby!

    Comment by erika — March 5, 2008 #

  14. Thank you all so much for your kind words! I promise that the wallpapers will continue to be just as awesome as we progress, so no worries!

    Comment by Bobby S. — March 5, 2008 #

  15. Genius idea!

    Comment by Taylor — March 5, 2008 #

  16. Superb idea, and really nice to see all the support you get from artists around the world. This new feature on Kitsune Noir is a nice addition to an already great and interesting blog.

    Well Done Bobby!

    Comment by Benjamin — March 5, 2008 #

  17. love em, keep them coming.

    Comment by Ross — March 5, 2008 #

  18. friggin’ rad. muchas gracias.

    Comment by pp! — March 5, 2008 #

  19. Can’t wait for each Wednesday now :)

    Comment by James — March 5, 2008 #

  20. [...] by Bobby over at Kitsune Noir to develop free wallpapers at most resolutions and sick of most photo wallpapers at lower [...]

    Pingback by Hooverdust.com - Music Photography, Film, Music and pop culture » Blog Archive » March Wallpaper — March 5, 2008 #

  21. pretty cool. I’ve been looking for a new cool wallpaper for a long time now.

    i think that line “real artist don’t make wallpapers” was directed to people who base there talent and skill off of wallpapers they submit to mediocre art forums. Like maybe the kind of stuff you’d see on deviant art. (not that all the artists there are hacks, just maybe a third of them are)

    Comment by b — March 6, 2008 #

  22. fabulous, look forward to seeing more!

    Comment by katie — March 6, 2008 #

  23. Brilliant idea Bobby. It’s a really exciting project. Good luck with it.

    I’m sure I’ll become addicted to this in no time!

    Comment by Ben Rowe — March 6, 2008 #

  24. wow… great stuff! keep em coming, definitely going to be rotating these out over the coming weeks

    Comment by john doe — March 6, 2008 #

  25. THis is a great idea! I love switching up the look of my desktop- ill spread the word

    Comment by Lisa — March 6, 2008 #

  26. Great stuff!

    Comment by Marco Milone — March 6, 2008 #

  27. [...] Decorate your life, your screen life, anyway, with logo-free wallpaper goodness. [...]

    Pingback by stacey george » Blog Archive » Wallpaper Project — March 6, 2008 #

  28. Excellent idea. I have my fingers crossed for wallpapers from Doze Green, Jeff Soto, Sam Flores.

    Comment by TheGiuce — March 6, 2008 #

  29. [...] A desktop a day until they run out… and a Tim Biskup is one of the first three made available. Its the Desktop Wallpaper Project. [...]

    Pingback by nortypig » Blog Archive » Desktop Wallpaper Project — March 6, 2008 #

  30. How f*ckin’ AWESOME!

    Comment by electro^plankton — March 7, 2008 #

  31. [...] nice.+he almost never reposts what other other design blogs put online.so it’s never boring. Filed under: me during day | [...]

    Pingback by the good machinery — March 7, 2008 #

  32. [...] The Desktop Wallpaper Project over at Kitsune Noir – What cool and unusual art posted every Wednesday for our desktop beautification. Check out what’s there and keep going back for more! [...]

    Pingback by Lair of the Green Knight » Blog Archive » Friday LinkLuv for March 7, 2008 — March 7, 2008 #

  33. [...] Noir, encabeza el proyecto ‘TheDesktopWallpaperProject‘ donde cada miércoles colocará un wallpaper nuevo. Para esto ha recibido la colaboración [...]

    Pingback by TheDesktopWallpaperProject | DALILEO — March 9, 2008 #

  34. Any chance of 2560 x 1600 versions?

    Comment by Alistair — March 12, 2008 #

  35. [...] [Kitsune Noir - The Desktop Wallpaper Project] These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

    Pingback by …Kitsune Noir has begun The Desktop Wallpaper Project? at Didnt You Hear… — March 12, 2008 #

  36. Big fan of McBess.

    Comment by Amendmen7 — March 13, 2008 #

  37. [...] The Desktop Wallpaper Project“Here’s the plan: I’ll be releasing one desktop wallpaper every Wednesday morning (California time) until I run out of wallpapers. They’ll be free to download, and come in a multitude of monitor sizes, as well as iPhone and PSP versions just for the fun of it. As of writing this, there are 60 artists involved with the project, some of them providing multiple wallpapers.” [...]

    Pingback by Friday Freebies: Font, Icons and Wallpapers | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine — March 14, 2008 #

  38. [...] decidió contactar a sus artistas favoritos para darle estilo a fondo de pantalla. Así creó Desktop Wallpaper Project, una serie de diseños e ilustraciones exclusivas que sus lectores pueden descargar gartis en [...]

    Pingback by Desktop Wallpaper Project: fondos de pantalla arty | flowmi — March 14, 2008 #

  39. [...] The Desktop Wallpaper Project“Here’s the plan: I’ll be releasing one desktop wallpaper every Wednesday morning (California time) until I run out of wallpapers. They’ll be free to download, and come in a multitude of monitor sizes, as well as iPhone and PSP versions just for the fun of it. As of writing this, there are 60 artists involved with the project, some of them providing multiple wallpapers.” [...]

    Pingback by Autodesign » Friday Freebies: Font, Icons and Wallpapers — March 15, 2008 #

  40. 2560 x 1600 please!

    Comment by Shannon — March 15, 2008 #

  41. Is cool wallpapers.

    Comment by wallpaper Men — March 17, 2008 #

  42. great McBESS! love it.. well done Bobby!

    Comment by walina — March 17, 2008 #

  43. [...] The Desktop Wallpaper Project“Here’s the plan: I’ll be releasing one desktop wallpaper every Wednesday morning (California time) until I run out of wallpapers. They’ll be free to download, and come in a multitude of monitor sizes, as well as iPhone and PSP versions just for the fun of it. As of writing this, there are 60 artists involved with the project, some of them providing multiple wallpapers.” [...]

    Pingback by Design Shrine | Friday Freebies: Font, Icons and Wallpapers | Interior, Architecture and Web Design Blog — March 22, 2008 #

  44. McBESS! McBESS! McBESS!
    We want More McBESS!

    Comment by Plastic Freaks — March 23, 2008 #

  45. While these are really nice pieces of artwork, they don’t really make for great wallpapers. I think people often do not think about keeping your desktop functional when making desktop wallpaper. If they’re too busy you won’t see your icons.

    AGain, very nice work though.

    Comment by Jay — March 25, 2008 #

  46. They are indeed busy. But there’s so many incredibly boring wallpapers out there, that it’s a pleasure to see someone do something else.

    I tried the one called UPSO, but it was to much. But i use IMAKETHINGS at the moment, and works well as a wallpaper, imo.

    I’d rather have the artist go nuts, than worrying about functionality :-)

    Comment by SimonHL — March 25, 2008 #

  47. [...] found this amazing desktop wall paper at kitsunenoir.com (get all sizes here). Designed by Andrew [...]

    Pingback by Karin Hagen » In Search of Lost Time — March 28, 2008 #

  48. Great wallpaper here. For dual screens as well!
    http://www.mandolux.com/

    Comment by Jay — April 1, 2008 #

  49. [...] 1. Because good desktop wallpaper is hard to find. [...]

    Pingback by Art And Stuff Found Around The Web | Art Palaver — April 3, 2008 #

  50. I may as well jump on the bandwagon here. I freakin’ <3 the Mcbess wallpaper. I half expect it to spring into full blown animation everytime I look at it. Fantastic.

    Comment by Danny — April 7, 2008 #

  51. This is so very excellent.

    I feel like I’ve just come to ‘The Wire’ after everyone else has seen it, and I’m 3 seasons behind.

    So I’m starting at the beginning, but of course, I have spoilers for each new weekly episode :)

    Thank you for doing such a lovely idea.

    Comment by Cait — August 14, 2008 #

  52. [...] The Desktop Wallpaper Project Zitat des Anbieters: [...]

    Pingback by Scharf: Design-Wallpapers für Deinen Desktop | bloguru — August 17, 2008 #

  53. many thanks keep em comin! desktops are definitely one of the larger mediums for art these days. Only going to get bigger…

    Comment by schlippeh — January 4, 2009 #

  54. Nice project, the wallpaper with hieroglyphs is awesome!

    Good luck!

    Comment by Jane — February 1, 2009 #

  55. Really really creative stuff, love it! Keep it up

    Comment by Sam — February 19, 2009 #

  56. [...] The Desktop Wallpaper Project [...]

    Pingback by Three very nice wallpapers — March 31, 2009 #

  57. omg mcbeth is amazing.. i got some work like him but man.. mine is more color-ish hehe .. i want my mind to be recognized also!! hit me up or send me a message if interested in my art pls!!
    eduardo_b16@yahoo.com

    Comment by eduardo b. — June 13, 2009 #

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