Today, Man of Steel - the eagerly anticipated 'reboot' of the Superman franchise - is released in cinemas. So to celebrate the comeback of one of the most famous superheroes of all time, we teamed up with top illustrator and die-hard Superman fan Joe Stone to bring you this exclusive, free wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad and desktop. You lucky, lucky things!
Joe Stone
Joe Stone is a freelance designer and illustrator based in the UK. During his creative career, Stone has worked with clients ranging from international exhibition organisers to local start-ups on brand, print and digital design. After being raised on a steady diet of comic books, video games and movies Stone, in his own words "somehow ended up as a complete nerd", with pop culture influences playing a pretty big role in a lot of his work, especially self-initiated and more personal projects.
Stone on his artwork
"Having had a lifelong obsession with comic books, Superman is a hugely important character to me," says Stone, "Initially the idea of producing an image of him struck me as quite daunting and I spent a long time trying to think of some witty or clever way to depict him.
I'm fascinated with presenting pop-culture characters as iconography
"After some serious 'research' (i.e. spending a few hours re-reading some of my favourite Superman stories) I soon realised that his costume and colour palette alone are so recognisable that a more simple image would end up being much more striking.
"I'm fascinated with presenting pop-culture characters as iconography, so tried to strip away as much detail as I could to present him in as iconic a way as possible. His cape flowing in the wind let me give the image a sense of movement despite the stoic, static pose, as well as being representative of some of the symbolism attached to the character."
