Ichiyo Higuchis 142nd Birthday

Appeared On :	May 2, 2014
Location :	Japan

Dionisios Solomoss 216th Birthday

Appeared On :	April 8, 2014
Location :	Greece

Mid Autumn Festival 2013

Appeared On :	Sept. 19, 2013
Location :	Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan

Mid Autumn Festival 2013 Japan

Appeared On :	Sept. 19, 2013
Location :	Japan

Claude Debussys 151st Birthday

Appeared On :	Aug. 22, 2013
Location :	Global
Today, August 22nd, is a very special day. ...my birthday! OK. Well, more than that, it's Claude Debussy's 151st birthday! We sought out to create an animated doodle to commemorate Debussy as one of the most influential composers of all time. At the outstart, the task of creating and coding visual imagery that does justice to the spirit of his music seemed incredibly daunting. But, as it turned out, all I needed to do was to resurrect my trusty CD player and hit play, and the inspiration would start flooding in. I felt flickering lights, a quiet city and pouring rain set against the magical melody of Clair de Lune. We started off with a rough prototype that was built with simple shapes synchronized to a MIDI file generated from sheet music. The prototype was well-received despite looking and sounding like something from the 80's: Early HTML canvas prototype synchronized to a MIDI file. Next, we needed a recording of Clair de Lune. I enlisted my sister to perform different variations of the piece on a keyboard that was hooked up to a computer. This gave me the data I needed to drive the animations and the final music that would be used to accompany the doodle. Data from performance used to drive the animations. Visually, I drew inspiration from cities of the late 1800's. Stylistically, I aimed for a pseudo-flat and graphic look, as influenced by an illustrator from Debussy's time, Andre Halle. And compositionally, my goal was to make a doodle that would look nice as a French wine label.  Thanks to Kris Hom and Mark Ivey for engineering support. Thanks to my sister, Sabrina Hong, for letting me record her performance for the doodle. — Posted by Leon Hong, Doodler

Wisawa Szymborskas 90th Birthday

Appeared On :	July 2, 2013
Location :	Poland

Earth Day 2013

Appeared On :	April 22, 2013
Location :	Global
Today we are celebrating Earth Day with an interactive doodle that captures a slice of nature's subtle wonders. We hope you enjoy discovering animals, controlling the weather, and observing the seasons. Use the sightseeing checklist below to make sure you do not miss anything! I was fortunate to work on this doodle with my collaborators — Kris Hom, Mark Ivey, Greg Capuano, and Ryan Germick. And a very special thank you goes to Kris's high school teacher, Dr. Juan Fernandez, who served as our science advisor. Posted by Leon Hong, Doodler

Joseph von Eichendorffs 225th Birthday

Appeared On :	March 10, 2013
Location :	Switzerland, Austria, Germany

Lunar New Year 2013 - Korea

Appeared On :	Feb. 10, 2013
Location :	South Korea

Bram Stokers 165th Birthday

Appeared On :	Nov. 8, 2012
Location :	Global

107th Anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland

Appeared On :	Oct. 15, 2012
Location :	Global
See the interactive version here! A true pioneer and master draftsman, Winsor McCay is an artist and visionary. As a storyteller, his imagination reaches beyond the confines of reality and even the technology of his time. Among his most famous works is his weekly comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland." This series follows the journeys of Nemo through a fantastic dreamworld. Nightly, he finds himself thrown into a topsy turvy, overgrown, and colorful mess that often leaves him tumbling out of bed. McCay's mastery of perspective, bold use of color, and sheer creativeness yield a series that is visually stunning and immersive. Though not popular in its time, "Little Nemo in Slumberland" became celebrated in the mid 20th century. Since its "rediscovery," the comic has inspired artists, feature animated films, and operas. Original pages have also drawn attention at the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. If drawing painfully intricate comic strips every week isn't enough, McCay is also a pioneer in animation. His short film, "Gertie the Dinosaur" is regarded to have the first character designed for animation with a unique personality. His groundbreaking achievements in animation, art, and storytelling make McCay a perfect candidate for a doodle. Paying tribute to such a creative giant and body of work, however, is intimidating for any artist. "Little Nemo in Slumberland" is an undertaking in itself, but the doodlers and I wanted to approach this doodle as McCay might have. What if McCay composed a Nemo comic for the internet? What if he had Google engineers to back his creativity? We may never know how far he would have pushed the resources and technology available today, but his work will continue to inspire generations of dreamers. Below are a few process images from our humble tribute to "Little Nemo in Slumberland." In the early stages of planning, the doodle team and I debated whether to stick to McCay's classic vertical composition, or tailor it to horizontally oriented computer screens.  Below is a cannon ball alternative story (...without an ending.  I decided against this format before I could complete this direction). Here are very rough plans for the comic-- the first sketch and a more fleshed-out color script. I fiddled around with a pencil test for the third row of the final comic.  Below is a quick animated gif.  Finally, below is the full comic in static form! posted by Jennifer Hom

107th Anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland

Appeared On :	Oct. 15, 2012
Location :	Global
A true pioneer and master draftsman, Winsor McCay is an artist and visionary. As a storyteller, his imagination reaches beyond the confines of reality and even the technology of his time. Among his most famous works is his weekly comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland." This series follows the journeys of Nemo through a fantastic dreamworld. Nightly, he finds himself thrown into a topsy turvy, overgrown, and colorful mess that often leaves him tumbling out of bed. McCay's mastery of perspective, bold use of color, and sheer creativeness yield a series that is visually stunning and immersive. Though not popular in its time, "Little Nemo in Slumberland" became celebrated in the mid 20th century. Since its "rediscovery," the comic has inspired artists, feature animated films, and operas. Original pages have also drawn attention at the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. If drawing painfully intricate comic strips every week isn't enough, McCay is also a pioneer in animation. His short film, "Gertie the Dinosaur" is regarded to have the first character designed for animation with a unique personality. His groundbreaking achievements in animation, art, and storytelling make McCay a perfect candidate for a doodle. Paying tribute to such a creative giant and body of work, however, is intimidating for any artist. "Little Nemo in Slumberland" is an undertaking in itself, but the doodlers and I wanted to approach this doodle as McCay might have. What if McCay composed a Nemo comic for the internet? What if he had Google engineers to back his creativity? We may never know how far he would have pushed the resources and technology available today, but his work will continue to inspire generations of dreamers. Below are a few process images from our humble tribute to "Little Nemo in Slumberland." In the early stages of planning, the doodle team and I debated whether to stick to McCay's classic vertical composition, or tailor it to horizontally oriented computer screens.  Below is a cannon ball alternative story (...without an ending.  I decided against this format before I could complete this direction). Here are very rough plans for the comic-- the first sketch and a more fleshed-out color script. I fiddled around with a pencil test for the third row of the final comic.  Below is a quick animated gif.  Finally, below is the full comic in static form! posted by Jennifer Hom

Japanese Annular Eclipse

Appeared On :	May 21, 2012
Location :	Japan