Who Is Oskar Fischinger? Today's Google Doodle Honors Animation Legend

If you have Google search as your homepage, you already may have found yourself distracted by Thursday’s Google Doodle, which allows you to compose your own music visually. The image is in honor of what would have been German animator and visual artist, Oskar Fischinger’s 117th birthday. You may recognize the name because he had a hand in creating the Walt Disney classic, "Fantasia."

The doodle on its own is simplistically designed in purple, pink, green and yellow. Before clicking on it, it can be difficult to discern what it is honoring. If you hover your mouse over the design that reads “Google” some shapes will appear on the logo, jazzing it up a bit. A small tab also will appear, reading, “Oskar Fischinger’s 117th birthday.”

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Once you click on the doodle a quote appears from Fischinger, reading: “Music is not limited to the world of sound. There exists a music of the visual world.” Fischinger was known for his motion graphics, which he created well before the computers and technology used today was even a concept. He was making films during the 1920s, '30s and '40s that involved meticulously hand-drawn visuals that were accompanied by music.

What would take Fischinger months or years to create can now be made in seconds with the Google Doodle, which incorporates the basic principles of his designs. Once the Doodle loads it will prompt you to “click around to make your own visual music composition.” Once you move your mouse around the screen you’ll see lines of diamond shapes. Click on one of the diamonds to choose your first note. This note will be the first in your sequence. Simply click more of the diamonds to make more notes.

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The diamonds closer to the top of the page have a lower pitch than those at the bottom of the page. You can change the instrument by selecting the “Change Instrument” button at the top. Each instrument is represented by a different shape. Simply by clicking on it, the instrument will change.

As each column of notes is played, you’ll see different shapes appear on the screen as animation. As the columns cycle through, the animations remain the same — kind of like flipping through a flip book. To clear your composition and start over, select the little two-sided sideways triangle icon in the upper middle part of the screen, then select “new composition.” That icon also will give you the option to share your composition.

Choose the "modify" button at the bottom of the page to make adjustments to elements like tempo, key and fade.

The project was done with the help of Fischinger’s youngest daughter, Angie Fischinger, who said: “It means so much to me to see this celebration of my father's art. It’s wonderful to know that his work, which has been steadily praised since the 1920s, will continue to receive worldwide recognition,” the Doodle’s information page said.