The debut of Audrey Zhang


Wow! An 11-year-old kid did today’s Google doodle, which is one brilliant doodle – I jumped when I saw it and then looked for information about it, as one does – I thought it was perhaps a variation on John Tenniel, creator of the brilliant illustrations of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-glass. I was not thinking “probably an 11-year-old kid.”

Google named Audrey Zhang, of Island Trees Memorial

Credit: Google

The Google one is animated. Audrey Zhang’s is a still.

Yesterday the Handmade Parade in Hebden Bridge, today this. Yay art. Art makes me feel optimistic.

Long Island Now reports on the local genius:

Visit Google’s homepage today and marvel at the intricate and interactive doodle created by an 11-year-old Long Island girl.

An animated version of the drawing that recently won Levittown fifth-grader Audrey Zhang the national 2014 Doodle 4 Google contest went live on the site at midnight Sunday and will be on display throughout Monday.

In an interview Sunday, Audrey, a student at Island Trees Middle School, said she was “excited” to see her masterpiece brought to life, but she wasn’t planning to be awake when it debuted at midnight. She said she would see it when she woke up Monday morning.

Fabulous job, Audrey.

Comments

  1. Trebuchet says

    Cue the right wing shrieking that they should have given the prize to an American in 3…2…1….

  2. moarscienceplz says

    she wasn’t planning to be awake when it debuted at midnight. She said she would see it when she woke up Monday morning.

    Kids these days. Don’t they believe in “Suffering for your art”?
    😉

  3. quixote says

    It’s a great Doodle artistically and that’s one hell of a talented girl. … But … and I’m ashamed to admit this … I don’t understand it. It’s titled Back to Mother Nature, but that machine/submarine-out-of-water in the center seems to be taken in perfect water and exuding something, who knows what, through a peristaltic tube. And the robotic pup on shore seems to be in the process of gobbling up the landscape? What’s up with that? Can someone clue me in as to what I’m missing? Nature looks like it’s due to be chowdered, which isn’t usually what people mean by “back to Nature.” (Although it is often what they actually do. Maybe that’s what she’s pointing out?)

  4. Kelseigh says

    I never see the doodles for some reason, unless someone calls attention to them. If I go to google.com, all I get is the usual Google Canada logo with no obvious button to go to the doodle at all. You’d think that since I’m using Chrome they’d self-promote stuff like that on it but nope!

    Maybe I’m doing something wrong somehow?

  5. says

    This may shed some light on the doodle:

    https://www.google.com/doodles/doodle-4-google-2014-us-winner

    For our 7th annual Doodle 4 Google competition, we asked kids, grades K-12, to draw an invention that would make the world a better place. Out of more than 100,000 submissions, 250 state finalists, 50 state winners, and 5 national age group winners, we are excited to present the 2014 Doodle 4 Google winner: 11-year old Audrey Zhang of New York!
    […]

    “To make the world a better place, I invented a transformative water purifier. It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes, and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and sanitary water, when humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life.”
    – Audrey Zhang, 11

    […]

    We quickly lost count of all the delightful elements of Audrey’s doodle. So in the spirit of this year’s theme, we asked Audrey to spend a day with the doodlers to turn her illustration into a moving animation. As an animator and director for a day, she made sure we twinkled each light and cleaned the water just right and took extra care for the illustration’s dragons—about whom she is also writing a novel.

    There’s a little more background at the link.

  6. Stacy says

    Ain’t that something!? I saw it last night and was blown away.

    @Kelseigh, a lot of the doodles are specific to country. But you can find them all here:

    http://www.google.com/doodles/#archive

    @quixote, I’m not sure, but I think the robotic things with the (angel?) wings are cleaning up. The big one is filtering and pouring out clean water; the little pup-thing is picking up trash (cans)?

    @Giliell, yes, they’ve been featuring a much bigger percentage of women this year. I’ve been so glad to see that. They used to be quite androcentric but they’re doing much much better.

  7. quixote says

    Tony, and others, thanks for the explanation. The peristalsis is going the other way! Okay, that makes more sense. It sounds like the pro doodlers created that lack of clarity. No cookie for them. It should become a full HD youtube clip so we can see all the wonderful details! 😀

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