Welcome to “Off The Wall” by =Wallpaper-Lounge. Each month, we take a prominent figure in from the Wallpaper Gallery and sit down for an interview to see what exactly makes them tick.

For our debut interview, W-L moderator =splintered13 sat down with someone who most of you have heard of. A man who goes by the name of ^allhopeislost

To start this off, let’s get some of the usual questions out of the way.
Real Name: Jessup
Age: 32
Where do you live?
I live in in a pleasant little titanium coffin, beautifully etched at the edges; with a gorgeous crimson silk lining, and the most comfortable memory-foam pillow ever.

Once upon a time, that rested in the outskirts of St. Paul Minnesota, but it has since been moved to a more secluded place somewhere in the woods of Ohio, outside of Cincinnati.

How did you come up with the name allhopeislost. Is there any meaning behind this name?
"allhopeislost" is a tongue-in-cheek homage to a (not very nice) character I'd written a while back, named January Lost.
After having found myself slightly clever thinking of it, I decided I also liked the initials... and that "AHiL" would be fairly recognizable should my walls be successful. Some days I wish I hadn't have chosen it, 'cause at first it does seem just a little forlorn, but all of you guys at deviantART have been really cool about it. Lots of fun jokes to lighten the mood of my internet-handle. One of the reasons why I like you guys in the WP community so much. You're always making me laugh... and you never make me count.

How long have you worked in graphic art?
About as long as I am tall... and since I'm only eleventy inches high... that means... uhm. Something grandiose. Oh, who am I kidding? I don't know numbers!

*thinks really, really hard*

Let's see...

In late 2003 I received my first copy of Photoshop and thus began my autodidactic lessons. Not long after I was manip'ing photos and interface graphics for a group on MSN I used to administrate. It was good practice, as I recall, and after a while friends of mine from other groups I belonged to wanted me to help give their group's interfaces facelifts. I was pretty bored with it after a couple months and turned to doing only photomanipulations for a good long time.

What brought you to deviantART?
Talking with a very talented poet and friend, they mentioned they had left the group they were in for this place called deviantART, and that I should check it out. I did... and as of that day, Jan 6, 2004, 12:28 PM, I became a deviant named ~0-Carrion-0. Four months later, I thought I'd let some of my writing out and also became ~Happytimes-77.

Multiple personalities were interesting, and I had a blast. But to my own dismay, I wasn't really successful in most of my endeavors. There's some amazing talent out there, and everyone wants to do what i was doing!


Why did you start making wallpapers?
Yes, I was coming to that. Interupter!!! Give a guy a second, sheesh.

Mmkay. I feel better now, thank you. As I was saying. I shaved that cat's head right down the middle!

...uh, Splintered? I think I'm typing in the wrong channel. Can you edit that for me? You the man.
Erhm. So!

There's a few reasons actually.
I've never been happy with my desktop-art. I change it up to three or four times a day sometimes. And that often meant changing the whole theme. I just could never find a wallpaper that said "This is made just for Jesse". Problem number one.

Also, I had given up my ideals of being the next best Photomanipulator, and thought perhaps a new challenge was what I needed. Thusly I decided I would apply my small experience with web graphics to fixing problem number one... and then I thought I'd challenge myself further by self-guidelining that I would use ideally no stock in the majority of my work. That's changed now to "little to no stock", but I'm still sticking to it.

And that's pretty much it. I abandoned my other accounts and submitted my first Wallpaper on January 7, 2007, under the deviant-name "allhopeislost". This was my very first venture into looking at passionately creating art with a Designer's eye, and I found that extraordinarily exciting.

Out of all the walls you have produced, which one is your favorite?
Tough one. I've actually a couple top favorites, each for very different reasons. Do you want them all?

Yes of course! Tell us about your, let's say... top 3 walls.
If I had to pick only one... Come Back to Me, is by far my most favorite. It has very private, emotional significance to me.
Works along the lines of XRT-131 and Ag SiO: eyeLIVE, are perhaps my most challenging projects technically... and I cherish them completely.
And for darker art, Ascultone or AHiL Industrial sit on top for me.


Which of your wallpapers do you think the community likes the best?
If I'm to believe the numbers, I'd have to say Retro Xplod (the preview version).


However, being that I neither know numbers, nor have ever invited them over for a good apple smoothie, shingle-scraping, kool-aid party, tire-iron beating, clambake, or jamboree... I have to say I can't entirely believe them. Thus I'm going to volunteer Revolver, my second DD—which if I remember correctly, you actually suggested to ^archanN back in that December of '07.

How do you make your wallpapers?
I call the Magic Wallpaper Faery and trade little sips of honey for desktop-art! Gawd, isn't that what everyone does here?!

And how exactly would one summon the "Magic Wallpaper Faery"?
Leave a baby's bottle filled with watered down honey within arms reach, slap your knee three times, flip your chocolate cake upside down whilst twiddling the ends of your mustache back and forth, and say very loudly: "I summon you Magical Faery of Computer Wallpaper Land!"

But make sure you say "computer", or you'll get the other kind of wallpaper faery, and your home's walls might be done for.

What tools/hardware are a must for you (ie tablet or dual monitors)?
Very genuinely, I keep it super basic.
I have access to a tablet, but I've never used it. I work on my 1600x1200 CRT, use a mouse and CS3. That's about it! Thinking on it more though, as of late, I've been looking at my finished walls on Rox's 1920x1200... just to double check that my idea of space and actual space are the same.

Usually, how long does it take for you to complete a wallpaper.
Depends on my schedule. Before I became a volunteer for our beloved deviantART, I was on a very strict system that allowed me to put out two wallpapers a day, working from an 8-13 hour wallpaper-only work-span. Someone who knows numbers might be able to tell you ratios and percentages and pluses and minuses... but I'm not that guy. I'm the other guy. The one who can spell chiliahedron but knows not at all just what that is. Have i mentioned that I don't know numbers?

Why did you volunteer to be a Wallpaper Gallery Moderator?
Because I love deviantART, and because I'm very passionate about the hybrid dynamic of Art and Design that can be found in Wallpapers. It lends itself an interesting dichotomy when set against the other mediums, because it's made of them all, and is also it's own solitary creature. It's perhaps one of the most flexible and sought after mediums on the site, in my very humble opinion.

Also I really admired what $FallenRox and $zilla774 were doing with the gallery when they were volunteering. I hope in my tenure I can start to re-lend myself to the Wallpaper Gallery in a fashion similar to their previous stay.


What exactly did $FallenRox and $zilla774 do that inspired you?
In general, they were caring about the community in a way I'd never noticed with other directors. They kept it fun, light, important, and above all community-oriented. As well, they made it feel okay to come to them with any question someone might have, not matter how large or small. And, not unlike I try so hard to do, they were really ace at getting everyone super pumped about whichever event was happening at the time. An amazing duo, indeed.

Would you say that being a Wallpaper Gallery Moderator makes it easier or harder for you to create new wallpaper packs?
I really think it depends on the person.
If you're an eager little designer, as I am, and you like to do as much philanthropic work as you can both in front of and behind the scenes—as well as trying to juggle your family life and personal goals... it can become a little difficult to put a pack together. That's all me, though. I'm totally responsible for my own lack of time.

As it would be for the average person: the way it's set up, volunteering for deviantART is the same as being a normal deviant—with just a few added perks. We're all deviantARTists first, and dA is very good about stressing that. After that we're Artists who feel passionate about helping the community. Our level of interest determines our effectiveness, output, and the amount of things to do. We're very free to do as we please, just like everyone else.

As for more packs from me, not to worry. More packs on the way soon!

Name one thing about you that no one would guess.
I'm terrified to my mortal core of Spiders. Not just "eep! there's one!", either.
I actually suffer anxiety attacks, and if it's large enough I can find myself literally petrified in place. Messes me up for quite some time after an encounter. I get all crawly and fidgety. It's really embarrassing—so much so that I take it quite seriously.

Aside from creating wallpapers, what else do you enjoy doing?
$FallenRox. Pancakes. She wants Revenge. Storage lockers. Art. Kittens. Skulls. Rimbaud. The letter O, repeatedly. deviantART. Lewis Carrol. Vampyres. Coffee. Aliens. Anything Black. Hearts. The number Thirteen.

Aside from those, very honestly I'm a writer to my core. I love poetry and prose to death, and I spend a majority of my time thinking up new works of fiction. It's my identity and I wouldn't dare to say that any other medium could fill me the way writing does. I love words far too much.

On the contrary, I also play guitar; sing; compose digital music; draw; take photographs with $FallenRox's Canon; and have taken up a bit of painting.

Silly, huh?

A while back you had hard drive trouble. Have you recovered from this?
In short, no.
That thing is fried, and I've lost all of my PSD's from "Eye Dissolve In Rings" to "Anti-Theft Card PSD Resource".
"Retro Xplod" was my first wall after rebuilding my library of resources.

I miss that stuff something fierce, but perhaps I might not have given everyone work that "felt" new had I not had that experience.

What does it feel like to be the "Invulnerable Internet Bad Ass"?
Questions like this are so difficult for me. let's see, I'll use the word: "SUPERMAJORLYF'NAWESOME!!!!!"
And even if you guys aren't invulnerable, I still think you're all pretty Bad Ass, too.


Now, you are the man behind the DES. Can you explain what the DES is and why you started this group?
Sure!

The DES (Devious Exposure Squad) is a taskforce of 50 volunteer deviants who have come together to fight crime in the streets of Gotham.
Wait!!! Scratch that last bit.

I meant: fifty volunteers, headed by myself, who have come together to search out wallpaper artists who are new, unknown, or potential great talents. We do this in the form of a deviantNews article that happens twice a month. We were recently put on hold by a bit of a "official graphics" conundrum, but I believe that's now behind us and very soon we'll be able to get back on track. And hopefully Rule dA!

The DES was started because I wanted a way for all of us to be in touch with the above variety of Desktop Artists, and to be able to do so in a way where the community could come together to accomplish it. From it I wanted everyone from every gallery, unrestricted; even those of us out there who don't consider ourselves artists. I was astonished at the turn out, and very pleased to know so many out in the community were as excited about the concept as I was. Keep your eyes peeled. The DES will be back ultra soon, and in full form.

Well, it is time for this interview to come to a close. Thank you ^allhopeislost for taking the time to have this interview. Before we go, is there anything you would like to say to finish this off?
For the all the desktop artists out there: Remember to never stop experimenting.
For the Wallpaper Gallery in general: Stop posting screenshots in with Wallpapers, they have their own section!
For Rox:
And for the world: I'll be taking you over soon.

Thank you very much for the interview, Splintered. It was a lot of fun! Looking forward to talking to you again in the future.