We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for almost two years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.

We continue to nourish you with a monthly spoon of inspiration. This post features 30 free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for May 2011. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper!

Please note that:

• All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
• You can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our Desktop Wallpaper Calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

Mountains In May

"Mountains In May was inspired by the grandeur and beauty of the mountain ranges I visited on a journey in China. The lushness of the forest and the life growing around me reminded me of the beauty that mother nature privileges us with. With a quote in mind from Thomas Malory and my newfound awe with nature, I set about to create a wallpaper that will hopefully take you into the sights and experiences that I had. To feel the freshness of a morning and the beauty in each new day." Designed by Christian Casimir Teo from Singapore.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Explore. Dream. Discover.

"I have always loved this quote. Something very whimsical about it. Design inspiration from Anthropologie." Designed by Morgan Lofing from United States.

• preview
• with calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Ranger

Designed by Jonathan Paul from Germany.

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• with calendar: 640×960, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 640×960, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

La Ensalada

Designed by Xenia Latii from USA.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Jewel Bug

"Truly a jewel captured on lens – the jewel bug!" Designed by Sureshsathanur from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

A Colorful May

"May is here, the winter is over, and it’s time to fill our creative pipes with new colors!" Designed by Ron Gilad from Israel.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 640×960, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1152, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600, 2560×2048
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 640×960, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1152, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600, 2560×2048

Forest Spring

"Forest Spring." Designed by Kakyaprovelleto from Ukraine.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Mr Fisherman And The Cat

"An old fisherman is having a nap nearby a lake. In the meantime a curious and hungry cat is trying to steal his fishes. Is it going to succeed?" Designed by Ester Liquori from Italy.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200

May Sun Brings Fun

"”Sunny holiday season is the time to play a lot of games and to have more fun. In addition to physical fitness, these Indian native games develop skills like aiming, concentration, basic mathematics, hand-eye co-ordination and also increases the bonding between generations. Happy Holidays guys!”." Designed by Narendar. N from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Ready For The Summer

"You know summer is on its way when people start lounging on deck chairs! Picture taken on a beautiful day at Brighton." Designed by Suety Kwan from United Kingdom.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

It’s Getting Fresh

Designed by Thomas Rutzer from Germany.

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• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Vintage Spring Impression

Designed by Pietje Precies from The Netherlands.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

From Springtospring

"I created this image as a gift for my girlfriend. Where together 11 months now and so I figured “Hey where back in the season that we got together”. Hans the title: FromSpringToSpring." Designed by Christian Benstein from Netherlands.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Mr. Mouse

Designed by Valerija Oslovcan from Croatia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×720, 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

May Day

Designed by Vladimir Kudinov from Russia.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Green

"Green and yellow – our favorite colors for may 2011." Designed by Lotum from Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×960, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×960, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

The Freedom Of Colour

"We recently lauched our new website and branding with these cool colour strips. Many people have complimented us for the idea so we decided to create a wallpaper and share it with the world :)." Designed by Graham Holtshausen from South Africa.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Birdhouse Or Birthhouse…

"May may bring a lot of baby birds ;-)." Designed by Nathalie Lansbergen from The Netherlands.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Venetian Mask

"I have always been completely captivated by Venetian masks and fans. May is my birthday month and Iwanted to try and capture the masks’ haunting allure and beauty as a present for myself. I had never really used gradientmeshes in Illustrator before, so I challenged myself to learn the tool and use it to challenge my own artistic ideas.I’m very happy with the end result and I hope you guys enjoy it as well!" Designed by Jessica Midence from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Zombi Picnic

"Any company’s OK for a small picnic in May." Designed by Cheloveche.ru from Russia.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Wood Work

Designed by Johanna Kempenaar from Sweden.

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• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Muffy The Alien

"This wallpaper is based on our own comic character, Muffy, at Daily Overview. This cheeky kiddy alien loves playing tricks on others, and plans jokes way ahead just to get the last laugh. Put him on your desktop to brighten up your day!" Designed by Daily Overview from Malaysia.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×480, 1280×720, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 800×480, 1280×720, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 2560×1440

May Hem

Designed by Lance Becker from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Breathe In The Air

"Clean and light air. Breathe and feel life!" Designed by Fabio Toscani from Italy.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

May In Orange

"…an orange-retro wallpaper for you!" Designed by Marco Palma from Italy/Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Obrero Del Pixel

"The pixel buddy is called “Obrero del pixel” in spanish is the buddy for my webpage." Designed by Carlos Carreno from Argentina.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Join in next month!

Please note that we respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience throughout their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

A big thank you to all designers for their participation. Join in next month!

What’s your favorite?

What’s your favorite theme or wallpaper for this month? Please let us know in the comment section below.

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Post tags: Wallpapers