Why I size everything for the screen in your pocket
A wallpaper is the most-seen piece of art most people own. Here's why I paint with the lock screen in mind from the very first thumbnail.
Most illustrations get looked at once. A wallpaper gets looked at a hundred times a day — in line for coffee, mid-text, half a second before the phone goes back in a pocket. That changes how I paint.
Compose for a glance, reward a stare
The piece has to read instantly at thumbnail size and hold up when someone actually stops to look. So I block in the silhouette and the focal point first, before any rendering. If the character doesn't pop as a flat shape, no amount of lighting will save it on a 6-inch screen.
Leave room for the clock
A phone wallpaper isn't a blank canvas — there's a clock, a date, and a row of notifications living on top of it. I keep the top third calmer and push the busy detail and contrast into the lower two-thirds, where the home indicator sits. The character gets to breathe; the system UI doesn't fight it.
Saturated, but not loud
Pocket screens are small and often viewed in bright sun. I lean into the storybook palette — warm golds, candy pinks, tropical blues — but I anchor it with a few genuinely dark values so nothing washes out at full brightness outdoors.
None of this is a rule so much as a habit. But when a piece feels great on the desktop and wrong on the phone, it's almost always one of these three.