The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Bobby Solomon

This week was an off week because I actually didn’t have any wallpapers that I thought were ready, so I decided to make one myself. There isn’t really any backstory to this, I was just trying to make something that was simple and work well as the background to your computer/devices. I used my secret asset, a corner of the internet with the most awesome, random imagery, and was able to massage it into what you see above. It seems like some sort of fake fashion label or something, but it’s all made up! I hope you all dig it.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Juan Chavarria Jr.

A few weeks ago I posted a wallpaper from Dan Matutina which illustrated a scene from the story, Urashima Taro. I’m pretty intrigued by the story, so I took to Twitter to see if anyone else would be interested in illustrating the story, and I had some pretty great people reach out. The first was Juan Chavarria Jr., an illustrator from San Diego who has a really unique, minimal style.

He illustrated the scene where Urashima Taro opens the tamatebako, instantly turning him into an old man. The subtlety to this piece is what sells it for me. You don’t need to see Urashima to know that something bad has happened. A huge thanks to Juan for doing such a great job on this, I’ll keep posting more of these as I get them.

Bobby

Sights & Sounds: My Bloody Valentine featuring Alex Synge and Philip Kennedy

Anniversaries are always good occasions to celebrate, so why not the 23rd and 20th anniversary of a pair of classic albums? Today’s wallpapers are technically Sights & Sounds installments, but done in one amazing post. The albums I’m speaking of are Isn’t Anything and Loveless from the Irish band, My Bloody Valentine.

With the release of these albums they helped to usher in the idea of shoegaze, which was defined by band members staring down at their feet as they used effects pedals to create a blaring cacophony of sound. With the release of Isn’t Anything back in 1988 My Bloody Valentine the band had managed to find the sweet spot of Jesus and Mary Chain, the wail of Sonic Youth and make something quite their own. With the follow up in 1991 of Loveless, they refined that sound to a new level and made one of the most revered album of the last 20 years. You can hear their sound in many bands today, M83 being a great example, and just how important they were to the generations that followed.

Figuring out who to get to make these wallpapers was a cinch, since our very own TFIB author Philip Kennedy is Irish. He, along with his buddy Alex Synge, tackled My Bloody Valentine’s only two albums, and they did a fantastic job. Alex’s design is stunning, it honestly makes me think of something Peter Saville might have come up with for a New Order album, minus the crazy color coding system. Philip’s wallpaper is a perfect representation of Loveless, simply put, it’s a beautiful mess.

The guys also put some of their thoughts down as to why they created their wallpapers, I’d suggest reading them both, especially Alex’s. He went into crazy detail and gives you so much insight into his production.

Continue reading Sights & Sounds: My Bloody Valentine featuring Alex Synge and Philip Kennedy…

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Ten Paces and Draw with Mary Kate McDevitt

I’m a bit late on this, I meant to post it earlier in the day, but it’s still nearly the first of November so it still counts! As I mentioned last month, I’ll be posting a monthly wallpaper to adorn your desktop thanks to the super talented Alyssa Nassner of Ten Paces and Draw and her trusty partner-in-crime, which will rotate from month to month. For November she’s joined by Mary Kate McDevitt, a Philadelphia based illustrator who’s a major whiz when it comes to hand-drawn type.

This time around the design was sketched out by Alyssa and then finished by Mary Kate, who in all honesty, may have done one of the most beautiful pieces of type I’ve ever seen. My honest reaction in my email to Alyssa was “OH MY FUCKING GOD IT’S GORGEOUS.” You have to see this super large to see all the details that Mary Kate poured into this piece. The texture and the color of the leaves looks immaculate, I really can’t say enough about it. A huge thanks to Alyssa for yet again coming through with an amazing wallpaper, and to Mary Kate for putting so much love and detail in this. Check back later today for our weekly Wednesday wallpaper, and December 1st for another wallpaper from Alyssa and Ten Paces and Draw.

Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Dan Matutina

In the three years I’ve been running The Desktop Wallpaper Project I’ve made a concerted effort to not use an artist more than once. This is only because I want to keep introducing new creatives, but there are times when I go back to someone who’s work I really enjoy. Dan Matutina is a perfect example of that. His previous wallpaper featured an epic battle between a pirate and a ninja, which is still one of my favorites. This time around we decided to collaborate a bit on the wallpaper.

Over the past few months I’ve become interested in the story of Urashima Taro. It’s about a young boy who helps a sea turtle who’s being harassed by a group of children. The next day a giant sea turtle rises up from the ocean to greet Urashima Taro, who unknowingly saved the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, Ryojin, who wants to see him to thank him. Urashima Taro is brought to the bottom of the ocean where he meets the princess again, only this time she is a beautiful maiden. He stays for a few days but then wants to go home, as his mother is ill. The princess then gives him a mysterious box called tamatebako which will protect him from harm but which she tells him never to open. When he gets back to the surface nothing is the same, his mother and his village gone. It turns out that 300 years had passed while he was underwater, though it only felt like a few days. Distraught, he opens the box given to him by the princess, only to find that it contains his age, instantly becoming old and grayed. From the sea comes the sad, sweet voice of the princess: “I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age …”

I thought this would be fun to reinterpret a bit, instead saying that Urashima Tar? woke up in the distant future, filled with all kinds of fun sci-fi stuff. So Dan was awesome enough to take a stab at this, illustrating the point when Urashima Tar? returns to the surface, accidentally being caught the fishing captain. Here’s how describes it:

It’s Taro-san meeting the 3 futuristic fishermen. We see the fisherman on their hover dock. It’s like a normal dock with boosters. :D We see the Taro-san getting caught by the captain’s fishing line that’s why he surfaced.

I love it. I think Dan does amazing things with texture and color, he gives his work such life. There’s also a minimalism that really makes these work as desktop wallpapers. A huge thanks to Dan for hustling this wallpaper out to me quickly, I’m so happy with how it turned out.

Bobby