Paper wallpapers

Paper wallpapers are made of layers: cut shapes stacked with a gap between them so that each one casts a soft shadow on the next. The effect is a small three-dimensional world, built with the simplest material. Many pictures here are dioramas lit from the side, while others are folded origami forms.

The shadows are what make these pictures work. Because each layer sits above another, you get depth without any complicated rendering, and the shadows are soft enough to give the picture a handmade look.

Colour is usually restricted and clean: a few matching tones per picture, often with one bright accent. Subjects include hills and forests, waves, birds, city skylines and flowers, all simplified into smooth shapes.

On screens, they are clear and graphic. The flat colour areas make icons easy to read, and the layered structure suits both wide and tall formats. A tall paper-cut landscape, with the sky at the top and layers falling away below, is a good phone background.

For related styles, the minimalist page uses empty space in a similar way, the watercolour page is the painted counterpart, and Japanese includes traditional paper crafts and woodblock prints.

88 paper wallpapers (40 for desktop, 16 for phones, 32 square), all free to download in 4K as PNG or JPEG.

From the themes Paper dioramas, Watercolour & impressionism, Japanese woodblock ducks, Paper hot-air balloons, Ink koi fish, Watercolour ducks, Concrete watercolour, Gothic tale.