Martha Graham “Google Doodle” by Ryan Woodward

By
on

Don’t miss today’s Doodle on Google, animated by Ryan Woodward (Osmosis Jones, Thought of You), to commemorate dancer Martha Graham’s 117th Birthday.

Also in Cartoon Brew...

  • Scooby-Doo Performs
    on Fox News

    scoobyfox

  • Meet the First
    (Stone Age)
    Animators

    cave-animation

  • “Dorothy Of Oz”
    trailer

  • http://www.rvganimation.blogspot.com Ravi

    So beautiful to just look at something and know who the artist behind it is…saw it this morning and definitely knew it was Ryan. Great work from a great human being who I had the honour to briefly meet last week at the Animayo animation Festival last week.

  • Iritscen

    Awesome. My first two thoughts when I just saw this on Google were “Is this Ryan Woodward?” and “I hope this is on Cartoon Brew”.

  • tomm

    class

  • http://www.animationinsider.net/ Aaron B.

    I caught this just last night as the hours turned over, really awesome. Also, if you dig into the code of the search page, you’ll find the play-by-play (small), if you will.

  • Figgerd

    Seems we all had the same idea, it was so familiar! Job wel done Mr. Woodward!

  • http://mitchworks.blogspot.com Mitch Kennedy

    I’m not sure if this has been posted before:
    http://www.businessinsider.com/google-doodle-martha-graham-2011-5

    A video of Woodward’s process.

  • http://TheHighDefinite Endswell

    Big fan of the site. Thought you’d like to know Ryan’s released an official version with music.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsbI1GE4DGA

  • http://www.andrewchesworth.blogspot.com Andrew Chesworth

    Ryan Woodward is such an inspiration – thanks for sharing!

  • http://dtoons.com/conroy Failing Art Student

    That was nice surprise when I got on Google early in the day.
    I hope they do more animated ones in the future.

  • http://non mehmed sisic

    i like this its amazing..fantastic

  • http://zeteos.blogspot.com/ mick

    I like how he does these, super slick. I wonder did Google actually part with any cash for this in light of their ‘give us stuff for free ‘competition’ some while back

  • http://rodtejada.wordpress.com Rod Tejada

    Here its the full quality version, with music:

    http://vimeo.com/23562061

  • David Breneman

    A great artist, but I’m only left wondering what’s so significant about her 117th anniversary? Google seems to have had more special mastheads than regular ones this month.

    • The Gee

      It also would have been the birthdays of Irving Berlin, Mort Sahl and Salvador Dali.
      Obviously of the three, Dali would be the most likely choice, being visual and all.

      As for the significance of honoring the birthdays of the dead? We need something to do to pass the time?

      As for why Google does it? It’s different enough. The company is secure enough with its brand that it can do it. Personally, I thought they would have ended it years ago, after the company went public. But, the only only creative output that company seems to have perseveres.

      And, to attempt to answer Mick’s question: Let’s hope they paid for it. I seem to recall they solicited free work from artists some time back. And, they do have staffers in their creative department so they have to value the creators of some content enough to pay for what they make.

  • http://www.dfdean.com David D

    My wife worked for several years in the Martha Graham costume shop, and when she saw the doodle, she gasped in delight. Each one of those letter animations is a signature move from a different one of Graham’s dances. She immediately identified each one as it was revealed. I would never know that, and I suspect most viewers wouldn’t either, but clearly Mr. Woodward did. Just elegantly beautiful.