Chuck Anderson, creator of Windows 7's laid-back, cerulean-cool default wallpaper and login screen, showed Gizmodo the evolution of his work—including Easter eggs, avoiding Mac tropes and why flaming skulls didn't make the final design.

Chuck says the actual design team he worked with was quite small and surprisingly open to his ideas. The first thing they showed him back in December 2008 were those glorious Dr.-Seuss-as-read-by-Hunter-S.-Thompson wallpapers, so it was clear right off the bat that censorship wouldn't really be a problem.

The two pieces took about four months, start to finish. Chuck started with a pencil and paper, and moved on to Photoshop for the Windows 7 sheen, but the two pieces retain that sketchy feel—in fact, all the individual threads on the login screen were hand-drawn with a Wacom tablet.

This first gallery shows the stages of the default login screen, the first image to be completed. Later came the default desktop wallpaper and Windows 7's physical packaging, which both have the login screen as their aesthetic jumping-off point. This is where it begins—click on the first thumbnail to read Chuck's own words about how his vision evolved.

More at source!

Ask the Artist How Windows 7's Iconic Home Screen Evolved - Windows 7 art - Gizmodo

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