I designed the first Google Doodles. Ever.

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The Very First Google Doodles by Ian David Marsden

the Designer's Homepage: www.marsdenillustration.com

(See Images below)

As a professional artist, illustrator, cartoonist and character designer, one of the highlights of my career so far is certainly that I happen to be the very first Google Doodle artist.

Article about the early days at Google:

The Wall Street Journal – Google The Beginning (Link)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304911104576444363668512764.html

It was tremendous fun and I was totally delighted when Google contacted me to be their first artist.

Back then I was working out of a one bedroom studio in Santa Monica, California and we were trying to keep our little two year old baby in diapers, so the whole magical world of the internet in it’s very first pioneer days was a wonderful and thrilling place to be and I was honored and thrilled that I was able to actively participate with Google and some of the other projects I helped realize back then. Even in those early days it was clear to me (and most other people) that Google was headed for greatness.

The first Illustrations I made for Google, were shown on April Fool’s Day 2000. Google launched the amazing MentalPlex Technology where you could just think of what you were searching for and Google would find it.

I created a little character and made some animated GIFs to explain how it worked.

Mentalplex Technology

See the instructions here:

http://www.google.com/onceuponatime/mentalplex/MP_illustrations.html

My first REAL ‘Google Doodle’ series was also the very first actual Google Doodle – namely the Alien abduction of the Google logo which happened in May 2000.

UFO Abducts Google Logo

       http://www.google.com/doodles/google-aliens-2000-1
       http://www.google.com/doodles/google-aliens-2000-2
       http://www.google.com/doodles/google-aliens-2000-3
       http://www.google.com/doodles/google-aliens-2000-4
       http://www.google.com/doodles/google-aliens-2000-5

My second Google Doodle was Google Doodle II –

Founding Father’s BBQ and Fireworks for the 4th of July.

       http://www.google.com/doodles/4th-of-july-2000-1
       http://www.google.com/doodles/4th-of-july-2000-2
       http://www.google.com/doodles/4th-of-july-2000-3
       http://www.google.com/doodles/4th-of-july-2000-4

The third series of Google Doodles I designed were the Olympic Doodles for the Summer Olympics in Sydney

Google Doodles 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney with the little ‘Kangaroodle” I also created for Google and for the event. I have never received more fan mail than I did during the days these olympic google doodles were online. Hundreds, probably thousands of e-mails from all over the world. All of them positive and friendly.

(a selection of olympic doodles from the above links)

The last Google Doodle I drew was the Global Happy New Year Doodle 2001

with two little white bears throwing a party.

Happy New Year 2001

http://www.google.com/doodles/happy-new-year-2001

I hope you enjoyed this little walk with me down Google Doodle memory lane.

Artwork by Ian David Marsden - the Designer's Homepage: www.marsdenillustration.com

I created a little character and made some animated GIFs to explain how it worked.

Mentalplex Technology

My first ‘Google Doodle’ series was also the very first actual Google Doodle – namely the Alien abduction of the Google logo which happened in May 2000. A series of 5 consecutive daily scenes.

UFO Abducts Google Logo

My second Google Doodle was Google Doodle II – a series of 4 consecutive scenes
Founding Father’s BBQ and Fireworks for the 4th of July.

The third series of Google Doodles I designed were the Olympic Doodles for the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

A series of 12 different sports and scenes.

Google Doodles 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney with the little ‘Kangaroodle” I also created for Google and for the event. I have never received more fan mail than I did during the days these olympic google doodles were online. Hundreds, probably thousands of e-mails from all over the world. All of them positive and friendly.