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More (Really) Stunning Desktop Wallpapers

By Smashing Editorial, May 15th, 2008 in Graphics | 212 Comments | Forum

Desktop wallpapers are always nice to look at and to draw inspiration from. They may provide with some fresh perspective and offer you some eye-candy for tedious coffee breaks. We are regularly hunting for free high-quality icons, fonts and wallpapers and present them to you, so you don’t need to search for them. As long as we find something beautiful, interesting or useful, we let you know in our posts. And now it’s time for some sweet wallpapers designer’s toolbox.

In this post we present more (really) stunning desktop wallpapers related to typography, photography, illustrations, HDR as well as some abstract and fantasy-related wallpapers. Hopefully, everybody will find something interesting for his or her desktop. All wallpapers can be downloaded for free.

You can also scan through the following posts:

Don’t forget: until 21th of May you can participate in Smashing Texture Contest, take a photo, send it to us and win a professional digital camera. We have received over 200 entries so far.

Wallpapers

La Femme
An artwork by James White, available in resolutions 1900×1200px, 1680×1050px, 1440×900px and 1280×1024px as well as in an iPhone version.

The Minimalistic Sky
Available in resolutions 1680×1050px, 1440×900px and 1280×800px.

Summer wallpaper
Light, bright and beautiful; available in various resolutions.

Awesome Wallpapers

Ethereal Bloom
A nebula wallpaper available in resolution 1600×1200px. Designed in Adobe Photoshop by Sam Mulqueen from New Zealand.

Preiades Star Cluster
A set of wallpapers from Crestock: together with 12 further wallpapers, this one is available in 8 resolutions. Both wide screen and full screen versions are available for free download.

Design is retro
Designed by Ankur Patar from Chandigarh, India. Resolution: only 1280×1024px.

Argyle Stylie
Impressive pattern with an Apple sticker on the left. Created by sunb1rd. High-resolution version should be available soon.

Awesome Wallpapers - Argyle Stylie by ~sunb1rd

Grids Are Good For The Soul
A series of typographic wallpapers by Antonio Carusone from AisleOne. Don’t like the typeface below? Try Helvetica. Resolution: 1920×1200px.

CMYK Lovers
Designed by Guilherme Marconi and available in resolutions 1900×1200px, 1680×1050px, 1440×900px and 1280×1024px as well as an iPhone version.

365wallpapers
Gosquared offerse a variety of creative artistic wallpapers. The ones below are available in 9 desktop resolutions.

Nebulae Wallpaper
When it comes to beauty, nothing can beat nature.

Blue Dock
Available in the resolution 1900×1200px.

Apple & Co.

Apple, think different

Apple Stitched

Mac Os Blue

Apple Color

Retro Apple

Awesome Wallpapers - Retro Apple by `-kol

Think Tiki

Blue Tie

Ubuntu Tie

Abstract

Smoke
“One flash at 1/2 power from the left, reflector on the right, black background. Rotated image and painted the smoke in Photoshop with brush in overlay mode.”

Angel Strom
Abstract work in Photoshop.

Infinity Blue

Swimming
“Swimming by *Thelma1 is a beautiful, flowing, delicate reminder that things often conjured from reality are fragile and ready to crumble at the touch. This is delicate work reminiscant of the marine life, that is sure to make a wonderfull backdrop to anyone’s desktop.”

Fiery Decent
To download the wallpaper you need to download the software provided by Desktoptopia. While this is definitely obtrusive, some wallpapers are just beautiful.

Blue Dynamic Background
Offered for free download by Crestock.com. 8 resolutions, both wide screen and full screen.

Travel - Sky

Solar System
“Space is one of the topics I find very inspiring to illustrate. Here is my vision of solar system. All proportions are very approximate!”

Clean Arrows
A series of abstract wallpapers, designed by Seventh Street Studio.

Photography

Mystic_Wolf

SocksOff Wallpapers
A high-quality collection of high-resolution wallpapers which are free for personal use only.

Dramatic Sky
“This shot shows the wonderful early autumn sky here at the French riviera. I shot this picture with a Nikon D80 with a Sigma 10-20mm lens. Put together as HDR in Dynamic Photo HDR.”

Lazy Days
Springtime is the best. Simple scene created in Vue.

A Beautiful Day
Available in resolutions 800×600, 1024×768, 1151×864, 1151×921, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1680×1050 and 1920×1200.

Desert Car Crash
Wide screen resolutions only. 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800.

Reality Bites…

Federal Territory Mosque, Malaysia

Eager Beaver
Only 1280×1024.

“Soft” Wallpaper Pack
This pack contains 48 various wallpapers in resolutions 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200 and 1680×1050. Impressive photography.

Four Poles
A 30 second exposure taken just after sunset at Onehunga Harbour, Auckland. The photo is taken by Chris Gin.

Lion and trainer in circus

A Dreamy World 63rd

The Farmhouse

Fantasy

Wolf alone

The sea

The Falls

Awesome Wallpapers - The Falls by `-kol

Illustrations and Artwork

20 Cool Car Wallpapers
A selection of car wallpapers by YouTheDesigner.com. Below is the VW Beetle Sport Concept.

Airplane Art Painting - Art Air Combat
A huge collection of wallpapers related to airplane art painting.

Graphic Design of Hybrid
These ones look tasty. Simple but incredible.

Fantasy Landscapes

Alien and Chameleon

Best of Wallpapers Made in Russia

Abduzeedo wallpaper
Adhemas Batista mixes photos and vectors.

Lady Bug

Wide screen wallpapers
This wide screen wallpapers pack contains 20 wallpapers in a variety of resolutions.

Resources

18×18 Excellent Wallpapers
A remarkable collection of desktop wallpapers from various sources and in various resolutions.
HDRwalls
HDRWalls offers 349 desktop backgrounds in widescreen and standard format. High Dynamic Range only.
WallCoo
This ~~Japanese~~ Chinese site has numerous collection of artistic high-quality desktop wallpapers. In various resolution. Problem: you need to follow the links blindly in order to find wallpapers you are looking for.
Social Wallpapering
A public effort to classify, rank, and distribute high-resolution images for use as desktop wallpaper. A high-quality collection of high-quality wallpapers.

Published in Graphics, May 15th, 2008
Tags: creative, desktop, photos, pictures, wallpapers

1.

Joefrey Mahusay (May 15th, 2008, 8:36 am)

Awesome list. Thanks for sharing
2.

psd2markup (May 15th, 2008, 8:43 am)

Cool list.. Can’t wait to change my wallpaper at work!
3.

Majesticskull (May 15th, 2008, 8:45 am)

AWESOME! THE BETTER COLECTION OF WALLPAPERS!
4.

Mark (May 15th, 2008, 8:51 am)

If possible can you put thumbs in your RSS feed, kinda aggravating trying to scroll thru feeds while images are loading and popping feed reader back to your feed.
Just my little whine for today.
5.

antani (May 15th, 2008, 8:55 am)

Wow, along with the other collection of wallpapers now I have a different one for each day of this month…. And maybe even for the next.
6.

ferdinand (May 15th, 2008, 8:59 am)

wow these are impressive, I especially like the ones in the “abstract” categorie. There’s even a tutorial on the “Travel” wallpaper. The first “fantasy landscape” design is great too. Well they all are. I just don’t understand why you’ve included the “Mac OS Blue” in the list. I’ve seen a lot better Apple orientated wallpaper than that one. It’s too simple to compete with all the others in my opinion.
7.

Aikyrie (May 15th, 2008, 9:25 am)

:O Wow this are amazing. Ty!
8.

Lindsey (May 15th, 2008, 9:29 am)

I second mark’s request. Is there a way for you to have your RSS auto scale down the thumbs. my feedreader hates this posts as much as I love them :)
9.

moritzpeuser (May 15th, 2008, 9:51 am)

Great collection!

But who the hell said, that Apple is green? Apple pollutes the environment with their production methods. Don’t ever say that Apple is green!
10.

freewally (May 15th, 2008, 10:09 am)

the third wp is made by KOL, the originals are here:
Link [-kol.deviantart.com]
and are available in different sizes too.
i don’t know if the japanese website credited the creator.
11.

busface (May 15th, 2008, 10:21 am)

nice collection.

what are the “Preiades”?
12.

Stryker (May 15th, 2008, 10:56 am)

WOOOOOOOOOOOW
this is the best ever
man
smashing guys
you guys
you……………… you ……………….. you ………… you r ……….. I’m speachless
u r the only reason that makes me log in the net every day
I….. LOOOOVE you guys
thanx
13.

cindy*staged4more (May 15th, 2008, 11:10 am)

i love the lion :) he looks so happy for eating his trainer.
14.

David Airey (May 15th, 2008, 11:16 am)

Nice collection, guys. Thanks for piecing it together.

Hope all’s well your side.
15.

n3rd (May 15th, 2008, 11:33 am)

Nice collection… would like to see you guys do a post like this for people who have dual monitors.

Here’s the wallpaper I’m using know that I made out of a few other images I found online… Link [www.degroat.net] (Yes I know it’s not proportional)
16.

Simon (May 15th, 2008, 12:28 pm)

Fantastic wallpapers…
Sadly I can’t use any of them; I’ve got dual screens at home and at work so 2560×1024… can you showcase anything for those?
17.

Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (May 15th, 2008, 12:30 pm)

@Simon: thanks, we’ll see what we can do. ;-)
18.

ne-design (May 15th, 2008, 12:40 pm)

Great new wallpapers for my desktop!

The 3rd wallpaper “Summer wallpaper” needs a little fix. Looking at the kanji that the website uses it seems to be a Chinese website. You could also check by clicking the English button on the top left.

As freewally said in the comment they don’t have the original author credited so it might better to have the link to the original author.

I hope you guys take a little more time to check. Keep up the good work!
19.

Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (May 15th, 2008, 1:00 pm)

@ne-design: thank you, corrected.
20.

sheeraz (May 15th, 2008, 1:13 pm)

this is the best collection of wallpapers of smashing mag….very coool…keep it up…
21.

Ben May (May 15th, 2008, 1:32 pm)

Holy crap, that is a great list! How am I meant to choose just one!

It just kept going with more and more great images! LOVE IT
22.

Amaiko (May 15th, 2008, 2:22 pm)

Awesome
Thanks
23.

Karol Adamczyk (May 15th, 2008, 2:45 pm)

Finally some ACTUALLY stunning wallpapers!
24.

K.S. (May 15th, 2008, 2:49 pm)

WallCoo is not a Japanese site, it’s Chinese one. And very typical. :)

Greate list, by the way.
25.

Matthew Hartman (May 15th, 2008, 4:06 pm)

Awesome list!! Thanks again!
26.

Kyle P. (May 15th, 2008, 4:53 pm)

More awesome work! Thanks so much!
27.

WallCoo (May 15th, 2008, 5:32 pm)

WallCoo is Chinese site !
28.

Dy™ (May 15th, 2008, 5:57 pm)

wooww!!!
its really really awesome!

kereeen!
thanks for posting this :D
29.

Ian J Cottee (May 15th, 2008, 6:17 pm)

Great list. By the way, there’s a link at the top of the Wallcoo site for an English version.
30.

ncus (May 15th, 2008, 6:53 pm)

Wallcoo is not japanese, it’s Chinese website.
31.

David (May 15th, 2008, 7:38 pm)

Great list!

PS, WallCoo is a Chinese website not Japanese.
32.

Fath (May 15th, 2008, 7:47 pm)

Awesome! Been looking for a new wallpaper for May. Thanks!
33.

Evan Meagher (May 15th, 2008, 7:48 pm)

These are incredible. Quite possibly the best compilation yet. Thank you very much!
34.

Eli (May 15th, 2008, 7:58 pm)

Not that I don’t love all these wallpapers (even more so now I’ve upgraded to a 22″ widescreen), but I want to see Smashing Magazine mix up the articles a little more. Give us some more unique articles, not follow ups (note the “really”).

Still,
35.

K.K.Shankar (May 15th, 2008, 8:12 pm)

Awesome Collections Guy…..

U r smashing in day by day
36.

Maurits (May 15th, 2008, 10:51 pm)

Wow! sooo nice! I love the pattern created by sunb1rd! Nice work! Thnks for sharing!
37.

tom (May 15th, 2008, 11:16 pm)

awesome collection of some great pieces !!
38.

Igor Jovic (May 15th, 2008, 11:21 pm)

Very nice!!
39.

Modisana (May 15th, 2008, 11:30 pm)

You guys are freaking amazing…Beautiful wallpapers

Wow!

Im Speechless like Michael Jackson!
40.

vinss (May 15th, 2008, 11:31 pm)

Thank you very much for sharing this list ! =)
41.

Miguel (May 16th, 2008, 12:13 am)

Amazing wallpapers. How do you keep some wallpapers that Desktoptopia rotates? I want to keep some! They’re beautiful!
42.

momonov (May 16th, 2008, 3:16 am)

smashingwallpapers.com !!
43.

John Thomas (May 16th, 2008, 5:43 am)

Thanks for this post. I’m always looking for great new wallpapers. May I suggest you consider Link [freewidescreenwallpapers.blogspot.com] in your next round. That guy is updating his site daily and the quality has remained high for months. Happy Friday!
44.

ptamaro (May 16th, 2008, 6:26 am)

Wow, they just keep getting better, and better, and better… Thanks for another amazing smash-up!
45.

Twila_Zoned (May 16th, 2008, 6:52 am)

Outstanding!
46.

kaitong (May 16th, 2008, 7:40 am)

They’re all amazing! Thanks
47.

Bruno L. (May 16th, 2008, 8:41 am)

Hello. Good collection!

But the article needs a little correction. Adhemas Batista not is the autor of Abduzeedo wallpaper. The true autor is Fabio Sasso, inspired in Adhemas Batista’s work :)

Sorry for my broken English. :( Cya!
48.

sosty (May 16th, 2008, 12:03 pm)

awesome list :D

really so nice !!
49.

Echilon (May 16th, 2008, 12:29 pm)

Good wallpapers are something that pops up very rarely. Great collection!
50.

bssn (May 17th, 2008, 3:21 am)

so so so so so so so beautiful.
51.

spawnrider (May 17th, 2008, 6:23 am)

Very beautifull wallpapers !
Thanks
52.

Rian (May 17th, 2008, 7:31 am)

Pleiades is a star cluster, named (if I remember correctly) after seven sisters, possibly daughters of the Greek god Zeus. You can find out more about them on Wikipedia.
53.

PIXEAM (May 17th, 2008, 8:17 am)

I really loved the Nebulae Wallpaper…Its So magical!!!!!Link [pixeam.wordpress.com]
54.

Zaigham (May 17th, 2008, 11:02 am)

Just beautiful collection again! Thanks! :D
55.

bloggersmosaic (May 17th, 2008, 6:11 pm)

awesome
56.

Mike the pcrobot (May 17th, 2008, 7:45 pm)

I would say over 90% of those wallpapers are absolutely gorgeous! I’m a wallpaper freak (each week I search and search for the “perfect” wallpaper for that week). Thanks for the list!
57.

n (May 17th, 2008, 11:17 pm)

helloooo tank s for your desktop pictures very very beautiful
58.

James McDonald (May 18th, 2008, 3:59 pm)

The Argyle Wallpaper link doesnt work :(
59.

Karl (May 18th, 2008, 9:13 pm)

Fantastic wallpapers…
Sadly I can’t use any of them; I’ve got dual screens at home and at work so 2560×1024… can you showcase anything for those?
60.

Christian (May 19th, 2008, 3:12 pm)

The link for Argyle Style is broken . I found the creator’s page on DevianArt but it doesn’t have that wallpaper anymore. :-( Anyone has a version to send me?

Also, where are those high res versions?!
61.

Lawrence (May 20th, 2008, 1:46 am)

thanks man ! a stunning collection……

friends sms START TIRUNELVELI to 09845398453 to get cool sms’s……………..
62.

Max (May 20th, 2008, 9:41 pm)

Nice collection… just thought I should mention that wallcoo.com actually has an option for english language. Upper left corner…
63.

Jenny (May 21st, 2008, 7:20 pm)

Those are really awesome.
64.

Amir (May 22nd, 2008, 2:53 am)

Wooow!
I have never ever seen such great collection of wallpapers.
They are really b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l .
Thanks
65.

Braintrove.com (May 22nd, 2008, 3:27 pm)

Great stuff. Thanks.
66.

Angelfire (May 22nd, 2008, 7:41 pm)

OMG, these wallpapers are amazing!!!!
Great, so much thanks.
67.

Carla (May 23rd, 2008, 9:37 pm)

Sweet! Thank you. :)
68.

jamie (May 24th, 2008, 2:36 am)

Thank you for the wallpapers, I bookmarked this page and I use the wallpapers here for my office desktop.
69.

Jamie Carter (May 24th, 2008, 8:07 am)

Amazing!
70.

greven (May 25th, 2008, 10:24 pm)

Really nice compilation. :)

I’ve made a personal compilation too on my blog. 49 Wallpapers, hope you find it usefull too.

Link [www.paintbits.com]
71.

Imran (May 25th, 2008, 10:33 pm)

Woooooooooooooooooooooooow Men !!
Mindblowing work…
72.

Vicfred (May 26th, 2008, 6:58 pm)

luv these wallpapers
73.

Angie (May 27th, 2008, 11:01 am)

Wow this is amazing art work. Thank you so much for sharing it.
74.

sweetcorrosion (May 27th, 2008, 3:08 pm)

These are gorgeous…..using the ladybug…..really love it.
75.

beni (May 29th, 2008, 6:51 am)

awesome, just like usual
76.

vinoth (May 29th, 2008, 11:05 pm)

Amazing………something different! good job!!!!
thank u
77.

ps (June 2nd, 2008, 6:14 am)

sweet!!
was really nice collection
78.

OLEG (June 3rd, 2008, 10:55 am)

RUSSIA!!!!! SUPER!)
79.

Rohit Dassani (June 4th, 2008, 4:31 am)

Never seen such amazing wallpapers!!!
80.

Mandy James (June 11th, 2008, 4:06 pm)

hentaiplus.tk rulls baby
81.

sri (June 25th, 2008, 9:52 pm)

Amazing wallpapers. Good collection.
82.

koyl (July 12th, 2008, 3:59 am)

gr8 collection ! thanks )
83.

Mane69 (July 12th, 2008, 9:36 pm)

Magnificos, muchas gracias.
Saludos desde México, jeje.
84.

Fab (July 16th, 2008, 2:13 am)

It seems Desert Car Crash wallpaper link is dead. Is it possible to fix it, please ?
Thx
85.

Renee D. Miller (July 21st, 2008, 5:51 am)

the photos that you have made are lovely my husband and daughter love them as much as i do.keep up the good work. From Renee
86.

aaa (July 31st, 2008, 9:41 pm)

amazing collections,i am tired of saving these beatiful images now,they are awesome.thanks a lot.
87.

Frank (August 25th, 2008, 6:19 pm)

thank you for the great wallpapers , may abudance go your way .
88.

Andrew DK (September 2nd, 2008, 6:01 am)

…….really good…….!
89.

susan parks (October 15th, 2008, 3:47 am)

these pics suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
90.

m@ik (October 22nd, 2008, 1:13 pm)

Awesome! Thank a lot. :-)
91.

udappk (November 8th, 2008, 2:40 am)

::: Actually this the best web site i have ever seen in ma life. it has all the thing members and viewers want. Thanks for the owner and Admins. A greate work. :::
92.

Muhammad Usman (November 12th, 2008, 12:53 am)

thanks for sharing
93.

trancuong (November 14th, 2008, 12:10 am)

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing
94.

Najib Hassan (November 15th, 2008, 12:15 am)

damn!!! it so wonderfull!!!! thanks for sharing again.!!
95.

Kristine.:3 (November 23rd, 2008, 6:28 am)

Awesum :O very beautiful and artistic photos , amazing. Loved.
96.

http://wallpapers.ariunbolor.org (November 25th, 2008, 3:41 pm)

Very nice wallpapers.
97.

Yojo (December 1st, 2008, 5:09 am)

I loved those desktop backgrounds. It was really useful. Thank you very VERY MUCH!!!
98.

faezeh (December 6th, 2008, 7:50 am)

very beautiful wallpapers.
Thanks.
99.

john (December 12th, 2008, 1:42 am)

welldone !!!!!i got ashtonished eve have done a great job its just marvellous, fantastic,words cant explain it wow keep it up guys
100.

Mohsin Shafiq (December 16th, 2008, 3:02 am)

This is very bad wallpapers….
101.

Emii (December 22nd, 2008, 2:03 am)

Great list, Wonderful wallpapers ;) tranks for sharing
102.

Elz (January 19th, 2009, 9:47 am)

WOW!! There wicked!! How did u get them? i will b using these r 4 my wallpapers !! :) Thanx!!
103.

Kuris Kuris (January 26th, 2009, 4:23 pm)

these wallpapers are extremely beautiful! great job to the artists behind this piece of work. :)
104.

Mariana (January 29th, 2009, 12:35 pm)

Extremely beautiful! This is amazing. congratulations and great job!!!!!
105.

Praveen (February 5th, 2009, 11:37 pm)

Wow, they was great pictures
106.

jackie (February 9th, 2009, 5:55 pm)

just omg just like i LOVE them!!!
107.

Melina (February 10th, 2009, 2:08 pm)

Thanks so much, I love every wallpaper on this list!!! I can’t even choose which one I want, they’re all so entertaining and pretty. I am truly grateful for the person who takes the time to put this together.
108.

LT (February 13th, 2009, 5:10 am)

Man this is fantastic, best wall paper i have ever seen before! This is the fabulous, great, and full of life. Amazing I’m shocked. This is just too fantastic.
109.

kasi (February 25th, 2009, 8:27 am)

whats guyies this is great i love this web site thing lol ttyl peace…
110.

lynn (March 4th, 2009, 6:39 pm)

how can i download them?
111.

Natasha (March 8th, 2009, 5:08 pm)

there was a tiger wallpaper that I had as my desktop for the longest time but I ended up resetting it by accident. I got the picture from this website - it was a tiger standing in a wall that had been broken (the wall was separating a forest and an indoor area) with leaves flying all around. does anyone know where I can find it? thanks!
112.

Jeremy (March 13th, 2009, 7:58 pm)

holy cow, good stuff here!
Link [www.bathrobewarrior.com]
113.

abdusfauzi (March 16th, 2009, 10:10 pm)

loves the compilation!
114.

Mac Dog- Detroit (March 30th, 2009, 8:52 am)

dog these r pimpin!
thx a mil’
keep producin dog!
peace…..
115.

Lady J (April 18th, 2009, 4:13 pm)

MAN Great Job Solid pics man Ten thumbs up
116.

Nan Htike (May 9th, 2009, 7:34 pm)

Awesome Great………….
Please add more things on.
I am really fancinated in photoshop design…..i can learn alot..
Thanks anyway!….
117.

amar shukla (May 14th, 2009, 9:34 pm)

i liked “The Minimalistic Sky” but unfortunately when clicked on link it gives 404 error :(
118.

Kinou (May 19th, 2009, 2:27 am)

Wallco has got an amazing selection. To avoid clicking blindly on the links try this:

Link [translate.google.com]
119.

Sreeparna (June 18th, 2009, 5:46 am)

Durdharsha.
120.

Thexscha (June 20th, 2009, 10:54 am)

Great list, but could you provide a link for the Argyle one? ‘Cause I love it, but can’t find it :(
121.

shravan Mishra (July 3rd, 2009, 7:02 am)

Awesome wallpapers.Link [smashapps.blogspot.com]