Good Desktop Wallpaper

May 7, 2019 8:34 PM

I’m looking for some new desktop wallpaper / background art for my laptop! Where do you go for new, good looking images in nice high resolutions for decorating your monitors? (Are there single-stop shops for such content anymore?) I personally prefer art images (drawn / digital / whatever) to photographs, so bonus points for non-photograph things. Thanks!
posted by Going To Maine to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

I'm personally a fan of Digital Blasphemy wallpapers. The high-res art is generally behind a paywall tho, if that's a consideration.
posted by Aleyn at 8:53 PM on May 7, 2019

Are you okay with photos that look like paintings? I've been using interiors of the Pink Mosque as my wallpaper for the last little while and it gets oohs and ahhs aplenty.
posted by Sauce Trough at 9:06 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

You can get images from Pixabay -- they do both the kind of art you like and photography. Photographs often come from Unsplash these days.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:10 AM on May 8, 2019

I used to browse Socwall regularly. These days I use Wallpaper Engine which has thousands of user submitted animated wallpapers. (It's cheap but not free, and only available through Steam though.)
posted by quinndexter at 12:49 AM on May 8, 2019

It depends on how you define “wallpaper”, but

DeviantArt

artstation.com

and Igor Tkac’s inimitable Concept Ships

contain multiple lifetime supplies of artwork and imagery, often at HD or better resolution. The latter two tend towards CGI / production design. DeviantArt caters to beginners and professionals, and there is some amazing and original stuff out there.

[I sometimes wonder about copyright on these things. I figure that if the artist puts it out on a public website in high resolution, often with a download button, it’s difficult not to read that as “okay for personal use”. I could be wrong]
posted by doctor tough love at 6:03 AM on May 8, 2019

The Public Domain Review Images section is a trove of treats.
posted by archy at 6:45 AM on May 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

Smashing Magazine has a monthly wallpaper selection, with and without calendars.

I love VladStudio wallpapers too.
posted by humph at 8:17 AM on May 8, 2019

I've also had some lovely photos from VisualHunt, I love that searching for a single word brings up the most bizarrely almost related images that are perfect for desktops.

As DarlingBri points out, PixaBay is good for this too - a search for bobble led me to this cute little chap.
posted by humph at 8:30 AM on May 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

Wikipedia's Picture of the Day archive is a grab bag, but I have a bunch of their selections as my rotating desktop wallpaper on my work laptop.
posted by Gelatin at 9:25 AM on May 8, 2019

ObDisc for Reddit being a cesspool, but: there are several dedicated subreddits with pictures of the sky, castles, the Earth, et al. They are listed as part of the (sorry 'bout the name) "Safe For Work 'porn' Network" of subreddits.

The name is cringe-worthy, but a lot of the photos are genuinely beautiful, and you're boiund to fid a subreddit for any given area of interest.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:32 AM on May 8, 2019

I always enjoy Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) and today's picture of Jupiter is stunning.
posted by theora55 at 9:40 AM on May 8, 2019

The art Institute of Chicago has a lot of high resolution art in the public domain. I have a Van Gogh desktop now!
posted by Valancy Rachel at 9:56 PM on May 8, 2019

Bing has galleries of images
posted by theora55 at 12:33 PM on May 9, 2019

Interface Lift
posted by shrimpetouffee at 7:48 AM on May 13, 2019