The character arc of Beeple
Born 20 June 1981 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and known to the world as Beeple. Between then and now sit a computer science degree, years of free visuals and concert screens, and one long unbroken promise: from 1 May 2007 he finished and posted a new work of art every single day for more than thirteen years. That habit built the collage that sold at Christie's in 2021 for about 69 million dollars, and it still runs today. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Beeple?
The man who drew every single day.
Mike Winkelmann was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1981, took a computer science degree, and taught himself design rather than studying it. For years he was a working graphic artist, giving away free Creative Commons visuals and building the screens behind concert stages for some of the biggest names in music. He was respected inside his field and almost unknown outside it, which is the ordinary start most arcs have before the dot that changes everything.
The heart of his line is a decision he made on 1 May 2007: to finish and post one new piece of art every single day, and to keep doing it no matter what. He called them the everydays. Some were rough, some were strong, and the point was never any single one of them. The point was showing up, and the skill that quietly compounds when you show up for thousands of days in a row. He kept the promise for more than thirteen years without missing a day, through illness, travel and the birth of his children.
In March 2021 the first five thousand of those days, stitched into one collage called Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold at Christie's for about 69 million dollars, among the most valuable works ever sold by a living artist. It made him one of the best known artists alive, and rather than stop he widened the work: into towering physical sculpture, kinetic pieces and museum shows from Charleston to Berlin. His line is worth reading because the sale was not the beginning of the story, it was the twelve thousandth day of it.
The moments
Beeple's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Fond du Lac
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Mike Winkelmann was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, later known everywhere as Beeple.
The 2000s
A computer science degree
Milestone. He studied computer science at Purdue and taught himself design instead of training in it.
The everydays begin
Milestone, and it changed everything. He set himself one rule: finish and post a new work of art every single day, and never miss.
Wait for ideas, or begin
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: make one piece daily, taken, or create only when inspired. He kept the promise for more than five thousand days without a miss, and that unbroken run became the collage that sold at Christie's.
The 2010s
Free visuals for anyone
Everyday. He gave away Creative Commons loops for other makers to use, building a name inside his field.
Screens for world tours
Milestone. His moving images filled the stages of some of the largest music tours in the world.
The 2020s
First digital editions
Milestone, and it changed his direction. After thirteen years of the everydays, he offered his digital work as collectible editions for the first time.
The record at Christie's
Milestone, and it changed everything. The first five thousand everydays, stitched into one collage, sold for about 69 million dollars, among the most valuable works ever sold by a living artist.
His first gallery show
Milestone. He mounted his first gallery show, moving from screens toward objects you could stand in front of.
Into physical sculpture
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He opened a studio in Charleston and began making towering physical and kinetic sculpture.
A museum survey abroad
Milestone. His work was gathered into a large museum survey, seen by audiences well beyond the art world.
A survey opens
Milestone, and it changed everything. A fully immersive mid-career survey opened in Palo Alto, including a three-storey work unfolding in real time.
Still drawing every day
Everyday. More than nineteen years on, the everydays still run, and his physical shows now open in museums across the world.
The line reaches today still adding a dot a day, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What the everydays proved is quietly the whole point of this app: that a small thing done without fail, and kept where you can see it, becomes something no single day could ever be.
In his words
Quotes by Beeple
The whole idea of the everydays was just to get a little bit better each day.
The magic is in showing up and finishing something, whether you feel like it or not.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
His is four decades in and still drawn one day at a time. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Mike Winkelmann, verified alive 16 September 2026 (no death date).
- Christie's, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold 11 March 2021.
- Beeple, official site, beeple-crap.com (about, films, everydays).
- NODE Foundation, Palo Alto, Beeple: INFINITE_LOOP, opening 18 April 2026 (Ocula, 2026).
- Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Beeple. Regular Animals, 2026.
- Artnet, coverage of Beeple's first gallery show and physical sculpture, 2021 to 2026.
- Beeple, interviews on the everydays project, 2020 to 2021.
- Beeple, interviews on the everydays discipline, 2021.