The Debian Linux project has opened a call for community artwork submissions ahead of the release of the upcoming Forky (Debian 14). If you think you’ve got the artistic chops, your art could appear on the boot screens, login prompts, and desktop wallpapers of millions of users. The submission deadline is November 26.
Continuing Debian’s community-driven ethos, the artwork submission process mirrors that of previous releases. The artwork must feel distinctively “Debian,” integrate cleanly without the need for core software patching, and remain visually appealing for the long term.
Elise Couper’s “Ceratopsian” theme was chosen as the winning default for Debian 13 Trixie. For anyone who might not be up on the latest from the Toy Story franchise, the release names echo character names from the animated films. Trixie was a triceratops introduced in Toy Story 3, hence the “Ceratopsian” wink in the winning submission. It makes sense that the next version of Debian continues this trend with Forky, a character introduced in the franchise’s fourth entry. The Debian team cautions against overly busy designs that may cause user fatigue, but if anyone can successfully incorporate Forky’s googly eyes into the design somehow, know that you’d at least win the contest for my Debian desktop wallpaper.
The Ceratopsian theme for Debian 13 Trixie. Credit: Elise Couper / Debian Project
The Ceratopsian theme for Debian 13 Trixie. Credit: Elise Couper / Debian Project
Debian celebrated its 33rd anniversary in August 2026 and continues to position itself as the “universal operating system,” with support and compatibility stretching across different hardware architectures. Debian’s latest point release, Trixie 13.7, arrived on September 12, 2026. Forky (Debian 14) is now in the later stages of its development cycle, with the artwork selection process marking one of the final boxes to be checked before the release is made available. Interested artists can review the submission requirements on the Debian Wiki.
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