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IT’S HARD TO think of anything else on the web that is as regularly creative as the Google homepage.
Almost every week, there’s a new doodle or animation on the site celebrating holidays, major events or the birthday of someone who’s played a major role in science or culture.
What started out as a joke in 1998 has become one of the company’s most popular features, with each country getting their own versions and updates.
Behind each doodle is a team of animators and engineers working on images, animations and interactive shows and games,
One member of the team is Katy one of which is Katy Wu, who joined the team last April. Before that, she had worked with a number of animation studios such as Pixar (Newt, La Luna, Cars Toons), Laika (Coraline), and CinderBiter.
The latter saw her working on a unreleased Henry Selick movie called The Shadow King before the studio was shut down, but it was through this event that Wu met the Google Doodle team and its lead Ryan Germick, which led to her working there.
The Google Doodle celebrating Erwin Schrödinger’s 126th Birthday (Image: Google.com/doodle)
While her art style encompasses a number of different methods, telling stories and having a narrative behind the drawing is something she enjoys doing, a quality that fits perfectly into each doodle’s need to tell a message.
So how do they decide what to draw or celebrate? The answer is that anyone can suggest a person, holiday or concept to celebrate, whether they’re apart of Google or not, which the animators and artists then research to see if it’s appropriate. The only exceptions would be either political or religious concepts.
“It’s a balancing act,” explains Wu. “In general, Google’s a liberal company. There are things it has taken a stance upon, but generally we stay away from politics and religion”
While the submission of ideas and the research behind it is relatively straightforward, the process can be anything but. As well as communicating the reasons why someone is famous in a clear way, depending upon the scale of the project and what they hope to achieve, it could be either a straightforward doodle celebrating a day or it could be something as complex as a flash game.
One of the doodles Wu was involved in was the interactive point and click game, marking the 66th anniversary of the Roswell incident. While a relatively short and fun game, the creation took took a few months to complete. Wu designed the backgrounds while another doodler, Kevin Laughlin, designed and animated the characters.
A rough draft of how the game would work – interactive items and characters are represented by the post-it notes – and the finished version of the game (Image: Google)
Designing the game is one problem, but testing the game and ensuring that it works perfectly, even for a relatively short game, can take a significant amount of time. Wu approaches all of these aspects as a learning experience, with each new doodle requiring a different approach and skill set to complete.
“I learned a lot on the Halloween doodle because there were a lot of different factors going on. I was collaborating with a stop-motion animator and I had to learn how to use flash and make mini-games.” Wu jokes that the next major doodle she works on will be her saying “I’ve kinda got a grasp on things” since they’re becoming more complex.
That’s something we can easily take for granted when we’re playing around with a doodle. Even the most simplistic animations can take a lot of work to complete and develop, and ensuring that it all comes together seamlessly is a challenge.
Google’s doodle for Halloween in 2013. Wu worked with a stop-motion animator to create the witch shown above (GIF: Google.com/doodle)
So what do you need to have to become a professional doodler? Apart from having the enthusiasm for art and animation, it’s creativity that Google values most of all. “There’s not really anything you can do to prepare apart from having the art portfolio,” says Wu. “But they really just want to see if you can brainstorm, be creative and come up with ideas.”
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Thais are nice folks but you never ever disrespect their royals. Just not done.
Thais are nice folks except when you’re involved in a disagreement with them- then you’ll see them turn nasty very quickly and how they always see the foreigner is to blame, even if they are in the right. If you have a road traffic accident in Thailand that wasn’t your fault you’ll still end up paying for it because you’re not Thai, that’s the way things work over there.
Thais might be friendly but I’d never trust one.
Yeah remember crossing the border from Malaysia and the immigration officers had to be paid off to let us in.
Your right, Thai people are fiercely proud people, they love their king and country and will just about always back their own! A word of advice, get insurance and a dashcam if you intend to drive in Thailand in the future.
Your storey is not credible.There is no fee at immigration.So if you paid,then more fool you.
Who are you to question the veracity and start name calling. Were you travelling there in 2001? Why don’t you pick on the commenter who says that not a single Thai person can be trusted – is that a fair comment?
Hmmm where did you cross the border? I find that hard to believe, I have crossed the border many times both by land and sea and never had a problem
@ MGrey,Yes I was travelling there in 2001 and 15 years before that date too.Ive never heard of any monies being demanded unless someone has overstayed the period that a visa has been issued for.Which is a fine and not a bribe.
Im not bringing into question the correctness or accuracy of your comment,thats for you to establish.
And after almost 30 years living and working in The Kingdom I do trust my Thai friends.Maybe Inanimate Carbon Rod needs to become more animated.
Dont dictate what my opinion should be whether it pleases you or not,or to whom it be directed.
I haven’t dictated anything to anyone and your snotty response and basically calling me a liar is unacceptable. Your naive attitude to corruption is also embarrassing.
Many thanks for the compliment MGrey.I find it comical that you consider me to be naive,which must be an embarrassment.I dont remember calling you a liar,I merely said that I found your comment not to be credible.
Read the link I posted and stop embarrassing yourself even more!
I read it but unlike you I dont believe everything I read.Id hardly associate comments from trolls that have been hard done by on a forum such as tripavdisor to be gospel.
I forgive you.
Bit of generalization on that one mate. 65 million Thais and none to be trusted? Ignorant narrow minded thoughts. I’m married to a Thai and working in Thailand 6 years and find the people to be trustworthy. I suppose all Irish are drunken street brawlers?
I’ve known Thailand for very many years. I spend the winters in Hua Hin. I have many Thai friends.
I find the Thais very honest and trustworthy. They are lovely people and very hospitable. One can
find good and bad in all societies.
Cash is King in Thailand, it’s all about money, deceit and corruption. At least it’s not about religion, thankfully.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej celebrates his 86th birthday tomorrow December 5th.Though his is not now in Bangkok but was moved to the quiet coastal town of Hua Hin.Many happy returns your Majesty.
Thanks Abinger, I attended The Birthday celebrations up at the palace in Hua Hin among the thousands of well
wishers. The H.M. The King is a wonderful person and has devoted his life to helping the poor as the rest of his
family also have.. I’m very fond of the Royal family. LONG LIVE THE KING!
@Pat: The demonstrations had nothing to do with HRH King Bhumibol Adulyadej. They were part of ongoing dissatisfaction with the current regime and the PM’s stupid attempt at trying to pass an amnesty bill that would allow her brother to return to the country and not face charges of corruption. How she honestly thought that was going to happen I’ll never know.
Stupid stupid people. Some day they might wake up and realise instead of having a revolution every two years they should kick out the fella on top.
Try saying that in Thailand and see how it goes down. To your statement makes nonsense, it’s like saying that overthrowing the queen of England would make a difference to how politicans operate.
What a stupid stupid statement! They are demonstrating against the government not the king. Just because you don’t like the idea of a king, leave them be.
I always find the gentle ways of the Thai lovely when I visit and I think that the demonstrators efforts to clean up for the king show an incredible maturity. What a lovely gesture.
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