asking for trouble

A Year of Wallpapers

Monthly projects are always a bit of a risk so I’m really proud that I managed to get a new set of wallpapers out on the 1st all through year. I thought I’d look back on how it all went.

january 2015 desktop wallpaper

January was the only blip as I spent too long deciding whether to do this project or not and then got sick over New Year. I’m glad I decided to go for it anyway.

february

I had a few aims with this project and one was to get more of my characters available on my on-demand sites. Thanks to February’s wallpapers I’m already feeling quite organised for Valentine’s Day 2016.

march

While I mostly had an idea in advance, sometimes it changed a lot during the actual design process. This Sunflower was just supposed to be a background element, but ended up appearing on lots of new products!

april wallpaper

This was probably the most complicated design I did. It was fun to try out different things each month.

may wallpaper

I had plans to do a few patterned wallpapers but this ended up being the only one. They just take so much more time to put together.

june wallpaper

I also had plans to do more things with my individual planets, but only Earth made it this time.

july

It was especially nice to see my very first characters get a little watercolour makeover and turn up on some new products. I have many more plans for them.

august wallpaper

I had actually completely finished August’s wallpapers, written the blog post and everything and then I came up with these ice cream and lolly characters while making promo images for my Summer Sale. Cue a hurried switchover! They were instantly popular on cards, even during the winter.

september

Having already done most of the work meant my post-holiday workload was much easier and my onigiri has been one of my most popular sticker designs on Redbubble. There’s one on my laptop too!

october wallpaper

October had to be a ghost and I drew a new full colour version of my trapped ghost doodle that I think was the most popular mobile wallpaper of the year. A few of my family and friends were still using it in December.

november wallpaper

A bumper month for November as I made wallpapers with all my Cookie Cute characters so I could get them all available on-demand in time for Christmas shoppers.

december wallpaper

Finishing the year with another new character, and another popular one. My Snowflake will definitely be back next year on some new things.

carrot-iphone

Other than hopefully cheering you all up every month, was it worth it? I definitely think so. My on-demand sites got regular new artwork, which kept people interested, and doing a lot of seasonal designs means they’ll hopefully bring me sales every year.

iphone wallpapers

I also sent out a newsletter to my mailing list every month, instead of randomly throughout the year, and started organising my blog posts on a calendar which encouraged me to post more and spread out content better. I even have a monthly checklist that I print out that reminds me to design the wallpapers, write the email, promote them on various sites, upload to on-demand, change my avatars and customer offers and lots more – things I would otherwise definitely forget to do.

iphone-march

So, am I doing it again? Yes! There will be brand new wallpapers every month again in 2016 with a new theme. There is a hint in this post if you read carefully. If you want to get them sent straight to your inbox, join my mailing list. You can also download all the 2015 wallpapers without calendars to use again.

Did you enjoy my wallpapers this year? I’d love to hear what you thought, which characters you’d like to see next year, and if I should add any more sizes?

marceline

Hello! I’m Marceline Smith, the designer and owner of Asking For Trouble. I create illustrated stationery, accessories and gifts using my cute characters inspired by Japanese kawaii. This is my business and personal blog where I write about my creative doings, inspirations, travels, Japan trips and daily life. Read more »


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