The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Olimpia Zagnoli
May 14, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Last week a reader named Sarah wrote in the comments that she’d like to see a female artist here in the DWP, so Sarah, I’d like to present this week’s contributor, Olimpia Zagnoli. Olimpia is an Italian illustrator who’s work I posted about recently and immediately wrote her to see if she’d make a wallpaper. I was immediately drawn to her linework and color choices, and I knew she’d come up with something amazing.

As you can see above, her wallpaper turned out awesome. The simplicity of the the wallpaper is awesome, and the shapes are totally beautiful. And it’s such a small detail, but I would never have thought to put a pink circle thing at the top corner like that, but for some reason that little detail really makes it pop. I kind of feel like the wallpaper is telling some sort of Godard-esque tale about cheating lovers in Paris, couldn’t you see that? Okay, maybe I just have an overactive imagination…

I’m not sure what next Wednesday’s wallpaper will be, so if you have something you’d like to see I’d still like all of your suggestions. I have so many wallpapers still to give away, so I’m sure I can make a couple of you at the very least! ;)

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Kelsey Brookes
May 7, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday again! With all the moving it the time went by so fast. Anyhow, this week’s artist is the amazing Kelsey Brookes, a guy who is not only an amazing painter, but a rather nice guy as well. Kelsey hails from San Diego where he used to be a scientist, but that went out the door and now he paints incredibly detailed and beautiful pieces of art.

Kelsey made the wallpaper above from a piece he did for the Semi-Permanent event in Sydney, but I figured that about 4 of you have probably ever seen this and you all would love it. As per usual the image has tons of details and and the most amazing choices in colors. I love the area around the skull at the top, like an old blanket you might find in your grandparent’s house. Also be sure to check out the iPhone wallpapers as well, the amount of detail in them is pretty rad.

I also wanted to let all the bay area folks Kelsey is having an opening at White Walls this Saturday from 7 to 10 pm with A.J. Fosik which looks pretty rad. White Walls seems to be a pretty rad gallery space with a ton of great artists having shows in the next few months, so if you’re in SF this weekend be sure to stop by and say hello!
And as usual check back next week for another awesome wallpaper!

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Tavis Coburn
April 30, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Welcome to another Wednesday! I’m writing this at 1 am right now, totally exhausted from a night of packing, cleaning and retouching, but The Desktop Wallpaper Project must go on! This weeks wallpaper comes from the uber-talented Tavis Coburn, and is definitely one of the fancier wallpapers. Tavis went to the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena, California where he earned a fine art degree. Nowadays he’s headquartered up in snowy Toronto where he works for clients like ESPN, Nike, Entertainment Weekly and The Discovery Channel. He also has an amazing online print store that sells his work, definitely something to check out.

As for his wallpaper, I love it for multiple reason. The first is because of the amazing style it’s done in. It totally looks like it could have ben created 50 years ago, with the faded whites and halftone patterns all over. Secondly, I love how frigging random this is. A giant dude chewing on the backboard of a basketball hoop? The way it’s framed is pretty clever as well, with not as much info as you’d like to be shown. My last favorite part is that this looks like a fat-boy version of me, or at least I think so. I’m not sure if this was on purpose or not, but I hope it was!

I think for next week we might do things a little differently. How about you all let me know what style of background you want, and I’ll pick one that matches what you guys want to see most? Don’t say artists names because a) They might not be participating and b) I’m not telling who is participating anyway, haha…
So if you want some illustration, design, painted, digital, analog… whatever you all want I’ll try and make it happen.

Bobby

Nalden
April 24, 2008 | Categories: Blogs / Internet / The Desktop Wallpaper Project

One of my favorite things about the internet is how it enables you to meet people. I have friends all over the world, which is a very new thing to me, and I absolutely love it. So one day about a month ago I got an email from a fellow named Nalden, who was writing to tell me that he liked my blog and he’d like to feature some of the wallpapers on his site. I’ve had offers from people to do this before and honestly it’s just not something I’ve wanted to do. But I took a visit to his site anyhow, and I was blown away!

Nalden’s site, titled appropriately Nalden, is more like a desktop browser than a blog. It’s made for full screen viewing, with all the things he posts about lining the bottom which you can scroll through with ease. He also has a random background that shows up as well, which is where I fit into the picture. So I decided to say yes, because not only does this bring readers from the Netherlands, but Nalden is a pretty rad guy as well.

There’s only one small problem… it’s all in Dutch! It’s still worth a visit though, that interface is just so damn impressive. And if you don’t see the Dan Funderburgh background at first, just keep refreshing, it’ll show up eventually!

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Dash Shaw
April 23, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Good morning, afternoon, or evening! Another Wednesday, another wallpaper, and this weeks is a special treat. I’ve received wallpapers in all sorts of styles, mediums and from people all over the world. But so far, I’ve only been given one wallpaper that made me laugh hysterically, which is what today’s wallpaper is. Before you read any further, I want you to look at the wallpaper, try and figure it out, and then come back and see if you got it.

The artist of this fantastic wallpaper is a guy named Dash Shaw. Dash is a 25 year old SVA grad who is currently living in Brooklyn. I found Dash through this amazing Dr. Strange spread he did for the still-yet-unreleased Marvel Indie Anthology, but since then he’s been quite busy! Coming up in June he has a 720 page graphic novel called The Bottomless Belly Button which is being published by Fantagraphics (check out photos here), and he also runs a weekly comic on his own site called BodyWorld.

Honestly though, the first time I laid eyes upon the wallpaper you see above, my immediate reaction was, “What the hell is this?!” But then I read Dash’s description which said:

This is someone’s life story told in desktop icons.
The icons read from left to right, like a comic. This
person has passed away and his desktop is all that we
know about his life. He loves his cat.

At that point I started laughing my ass off, realizing what an effing genius he is. I hope you all enjoy this wallpaper as much as I do. I think it’s so damn clever how the icons have double meanings, how spot on the icons represent life, and how in the end we all end up in the recycling bin.

Check back next week as usual for a wallpaper that’s the complete opposite of this!

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Dan Funderburgh
April 16, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


I’ve been wanting to post this wallpaer for weeks now, but I know that I need to pace myself, that The Desktop Wallpaper Project has a long life ahead of it. The magnificent piece you see above is by the one-of-a-kind illutrator, Dan Funderburgh. Dan has become one of my favorite artists over the last couple years, mostly due to his immense talent in creating the most amazing repeating patterns and wallpapers. And I’m not the only one who sees his genius, seeing that folks like Flavor Paper have made real life versions of his amazing patterns.

For the wallpaper you see above, it’s so simple, and yet it’s so damn complex at the same time. It’s like he’s restrained and eccentric at the same time? The details in the umbrella are absolutely amazing, and the simple brown and creme color palette is drool-worthy. I’d also like to point out that I made two different iPhone and PSP wallpapers, the first showing the complete image, and the second is a completely crisp detail image of the umbrella, just because I couldn’t resist.

I hope you all enjoy this wallpaper as much as I have been, I felt like it totally wasn’t fair to keep this to myself for any longer. Check back next week for the funniest and most clever wallpaper I’ve received so far, I promise it’ll make you laugh.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Mopa
April 9, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


As the weeks go by, and I get more and more artists contributing, it gets harder and harder to figure out WHO to feature next. My computer is filled to the gills with so much amazing artwork that few people have ever seen, so narrowing it down has become a big deal.

This week though, I decided to go away from hand-drawn images and move toward something a little more digital. This week’s wallpaper was created by the awesome folks over at Mopa, a Brazilian design firm. Mopa is made up of five extremely creative people, Alline Luz, Daniel Gizo, Felipe Mello, Felipe Medeiros, and Rogério Lionzo. I came across their work last year and fell in love with their amazing use of color, as you can see above. I really love this design because it works really well in the more traditional sense of what a desktop background usually is, but at the same time is completely wild and beautiful unlike many background designs.

As per usual the design comes in a bunch of different screen sizes and PSP and iPhone versions. The iPhone version looks really sharp, and fits exactly into the little space between the clock and the unlock button, so check it out. And also be sure to check back next week when I have another amazing artist making your Wednesday a little cheerier!

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Mike Perry
April 2, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project




Last night I panicked for about 5 minutes, suddenly realizing that it was already Tuesday night and I hadn’t gotten anything ready for today! But I pulled it all together, so now I can proudly present the man who makes you realize why the Midwest is the best, Mike Perry.

I actually met Mike last summer when I helped out with The Parking Lot Art Show, and was lucky enough to watch him staple up about a million pages of newspaper in the back of an extremely hot U-Haul! Some people might know him from his extremely popular art book, Hand Job, all about hand drawn fonts, and he’s also running a magazine called Untitled a. You can also see him from time to time gracing the pages of Dwell, NY Times Magazine, and Readymade, as well as skate decks and all manners of things.

Mike was kind enough to give us all TWO designs this week, one is a sort of a castle-car, the other a really awesome explosion of colors and patterns. I’ve used these as my background for weeks at a time, and they both look amazing, though the pattern one might give some people seizures, so don’t even try to sue us.

Check back next week for another awesome wallpaper!

Bobby

Kitsune Noir is 1 Year Old!
April 1, 2008 | Categories: Life / The Desktop Wallpaper Project

It’s pretty unbelievable, but today is Kitsune Noir’s 1st birthday! I remember last April being excited about the 30 hits this blog would get, mostly from Jeff and I checking it to see if somehow someone came across it. Now that number is 200 times larger, and I’m having so much fun with the blog it’s kind of silly. In honor of +KN’s birthday, I got together with my friends Frank, Jonny, and Mark for an impromptu cupcake baking session! We ended up making some absolutely delicious chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting. They were mostly made by Frank, who in my eyes is like the greatest cook ever, though Mark brought the vegetable oil and Jonny and I worked diligently to make the frosting just the right shade of purple. If there was a soundtrack to last night, it would have been With A Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles.

I was also thinking about it, and I figure what’s a birthday without presents? So I figured that instead of you guys sending me presents, that I would give you all a present for being such awesome readers. I also know how much you all loved Mcbess’ wallpaper, so I’m giving away yet ANOTHER Mcbess wallpaper!


This was actually the first wallpaper Matt did for me, but it accidentally got released early, so I freaked out and asked him if he could make me a new one. Thankfully he was totally awesome about the situation and agreed to do it. But ever since then it really bothered me that this design never got used, seeing as how amazing it is. So here it is, an impromptu Desktop Wallpaper Project entry, but nonetheless still awesome.

So here’s to another year of blogging, hopefully 10 or 20. I really love doing this, I love meeting new people, finding fun new things, and I can’t imagine doing anything else for a really long time. Hopefully over the next year I’ll be coming out with even more cool projects and the good times will continue on.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Jean Jullien
March 26, 2008 | Categories: The Desktop Wallpaper Project


Greetings from Florida! I hope everyone is having as good of a time as I am! By the time you read this I’ll be kayaking through the mangrove trees down in the Keys!

But it’s still Wednesday, so I’m still obligated to hook you guys up with an awesome wallpaper. And like I mentioned last week, this week’s wallpaper is a slight departure from the last few weeks. The wallpaper above was created by the extremely talented Jean Jullien, a London based artist and designer. I posted about Jean early this year after seeing the amazing ongoing visual diary he keeps.

Something about the way Jean creates reminds me a lot of Michel Gondry, like he just creates all the things pop into his head. Looking through his site I fell in love with all of the amazing papercraft things he came up with, so I asked him to use that skill to create an awesome wallpaper. I totally love what he came up with, totally effective and beautiful and works really well as a desktop wallpaper. I also really like that it’s handmade, getting away from computers for a little bit.

On a sidenote, I asked some French friends about why the words shooting of the gun says “PAN!” instead of “BANG!”? Turns out it’s the cultural difference. In France they say PAN! instead of BANG! to make the sound of a gun, much like dogs say something other than BARK! in other countries. I always love learning little things like that.

I hope you all enjoy the wallpaper and check back next week for big another awesome wallpaper!

Bobby