Happy Friday, and cheers to the end of February! Spring is one week closer, and we’re bringing you favorites this week that are sure to distract you from the cold outside. First up is a beautiful Google doodle celebrating the works of John Steinback, followed by two fun shorts and an innovative piece of street art.

 John Steinbeck’s 112th Birthday Doodle

Whether you’re a fan of John Steinbeck’s writing or not, the illustrations on yesterday’s interactive Google doodle are sure to impress. As a bonus, there is an archive of past Google doodles here. Who knew they had doodles back in 1998?

 “Selfie” by Andy Martin

Now that “selfie” has been named 2013’s word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary and become ubiquitous across social media platforms, it’s no surprise to see parodies popping up on the internet. The video above, created for the Character Selfie Project, is by Andy Martin, whose work we previously featured here.

 “Cinematics” by Pier Paolo

This short and sweet animation gives us a brief history of popular film. The characters are adorable, the music is catchy, and the animation is seamless.

 “Paradise” by ROID and INSA

The above gif is an animation of a real wall that was painted, then re-painted, by London-based street artists ROID and INSA for POW! WOW! Hawaii. We first learned about this incredible piece of art here.

Happy Friday! This week we bring you an award-winning short, a behind-the-scenes look at an upcoming animated feature, an exploration of the dolly zoom, a beautiful film made by some very talented French students, and an illustration by one of our own.

“I am Tom Moody” by Ainslie Henderson

This sweet, surrealist, stop-motion animated film takes us into the subconscious mind of Tom Moody, a musician riddled with anxiety.

Behind the scenes of Ernest and Celestine

Benjamin Renner, the co-director of Ernest and Celestine, has translated his original behind-the-scenes blog into English to celebrate the film’s upcoming international release. The blog is filled with adorable comic strips giving insight into the making of the critically acclaimed feature. Start reading here.

For a first look at the film, check out the trailer below.

Discovering the Dolly Zoom

After Cartoon Brew posted this article about the use of the dolly zoom in one of our favorite animated films, our curiosity was piqued. We then discovered this great compilation of dolly zoom shots in films spanning five decades, entitled “Evolution of the Dolly Zoom.”

“Le Dauphin Dauphin” by Marlène Beaube, Maxime Delalande, Clément Doranlo, Nadya Mira and Thibaud Gayral de Luca

This incredible short was created by five students from Gobelins L’École de L’Image during a summer internship. The title is a play on the French word “dauphin,” which translates to both “dolphin” and “heir apparent.”

Lastly, another fun illustration from our own John McGowan, this time inspired by The Walking Dead.

Happy Valentine’s Day! This week we bring you a sweet love story, a creative new Twitter handle, a stop-motion music video, and a new way to play with Legos.

“Lemons” by Kate Burck

“Lemons” is a cute story of “lemons, love, and leaving the house.”

Sketch Dailies is a twitter handle offering “daily character inspiration” for artists on twitter, with each day offering a different theme. Today’s prompt, appropriately enough, is Aphrodite.

Check out this contribution from our own John McGowan, featuring the theme “Blackbeard.”

A bummed out Black Beard for @Sketch_Dailies. #BLACKSPOT #sketch_dailies pic.twitter.com/zpK6SVn9mt

— John McGowan (@mistermcgowan) February 9, 2014

“Sound of Horns” by Conor Finnegan

Cartoon Brew shared this music video for Candice Gordon’s “Sound of Horns,” designed, directed and animated by Conor Finnegan. Check out their post, along with a behind-the-scenes video, here.

Google Chrome and Lego teamed up to create a new way to build with Legos – in your browser. Build your own creation or check out what others have made. Stumped? Start off at the Build Academy.