The Art of SpongeBob

When designing the look of the trash filled interior of Squidward's house in "Heart of Garbage," I looked back at early paintings of the Barg-N-Mart and suggested we go with the messier linework with swatches of painted color in those backgrounds. The results from Shane and his team were astounding!

Go Fetch! - | Nick Gary's favorite ball falls into a monster-filled trench.

www.nick.com/video-clips/...

Free on Nick.com!

This is a proud moment! I started working on SpongeBob in fall of 1999. Four of my students just worked on the CG for the recent episode "Go Fetch!" Congrats to Jack Gatto, Anthony Syracuse, Lucas Santos, Geoff Roberts. Great job guys! #spongebob #CGartist #animation #legacy #daemenuniversity

For these episodes you did with Jay and Sam, were you working from Sam's roughs, or Jay's, or a mysterious third thing? Love the drawings

Atlantis SquarePantis! I created the artwork for the original DVD cover of this special. #spongebob #dvd #picoftheday #animation #cartoon #digitalillustration #atlantis

Happy First Day of School! (at least for me and my kids) Here are some back-to-school style guide sketches. These are from the fully digital era. Everything has gotten much tighter since drawing tablets came into use. #spongebob #backtoschool #preppy #science #cartoon #animation #digitalsketch

Look how they massacred my boy! This is my other SpongeBob video game cover, drawn circa 2008. Somebody went in and made very clunky changes to my original. #spongebob #drawntolife #videogame #nintendods #doodlebob #mehoyminoy #illustrationart

More SpongeBob styleguide poses. I remember Steve Hillenburg was very picky about the karate pose. We went through several rounds of revisions, so this version is mostly based on his notes. #spongebob #animation

Do you recall what the notes were?

A few choice storyboard cleanups from the SpongeBob Squarepants Movie. I'm still so proud to have been a part of this movie! #spongebob #animation

My 18yo started a new job today and I reminded him to be a SpongeBob, not a Squidward :) This is a page from my Little Golden Book "Mr. Fancypants". #spongebob #illustration #animation #littlegoldenbooks

Drawings from the episode "Texas."

These designs were created for popcorn bags when the original SpongeBob movie was released in 2004. I think I have a couple stashed in a box somewhere! #spongebob #illustration

A still from the SpongeBob episode "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve", where harried Spongebob (with multiple arms holding cleaning implements) is given the brush-off by Patrick, in the role of inconsiderate husband.

Three rough storyboard panels: Patrick and SpongeBob discuss how difficult it is to get their baby scallop to eat. "Maybe he doesn't know how!" says Sponge. Patrick takes the hard line. "Okay, Scallop. You sit down right here and listen."

Initially, Rock-a-Bye Bivalve focused much more on Patrick and #SpongeBob's attempt to raise a child. When Steve and Derek decided to veer toward poking fun at marriage this extended gag run had to go--probably my favorite lost sequence ever.
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Cartoon of SpongeBob running in a red track suit labeled "Izzie". (Pineapple house in the background) Hey, Izzie!! "I have a TRACK SUIT, too!!" Happy 10th from SpongeBob (+Jay Lender 2021)

I was once informed that an old friend's kid owns a SpongeBob track suit.

Slipcase and interior covers I made for the Season 2 DVD box set. I did these in 2004. That pineapple texture is one of the last things I ever painted with actual acrylic paint. It is probably the most re-used piece of artwork I ever created. I see it everywhere!

More SpongeBob Season 2 DVD art! These are the 3 interior covers.

As promised, here are the SpongeBob season 3 DVD box set illustrations, created circa 2005. This set didn't include any additional interior covers as the box was a fold out rather than 3 separate cases.

Here are some scans of storyboard drawings from the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. These are my drawings, but they are heavily based on ruffs by Aaron Springer. This was late in production and a lot of the board artists were essentially doing character layout.

Patrick drop! I used to do a ton of the style guide poses for SpongeBob merch back in the day. These are from 20+ years ago and were drawn on a papyrus-like material. #spongebob #animation

"Old Man Patrick" board artwork from Arielle Phillips, Carey Yost and Clint Bond! #spongebob

SB S14 "Dome Alone"

A favorite episode with my favorite character, getting to board the montage where she goes stir crazy indoors was a ton of fun.

My tablet also broke halfway into the episode and I had to board on my iPad until the replacement came, so some parts are rougher than others 😬

Some drawings I did for a recent SpongeBob episode, “Wary Gary.” Original rough boards by my talented pal @dbexrealinsane.bsky.social

A painting of the 'barnacle chips' sign from the chocolate with nuts episode of spongebob.

A background from the episode "Chocolate with Nuts."

(SpongeBob’s been through this routine enough times to know to get a backup for himself.)

Happy Valentine’s Day! May your chocolates be sweet and uneaten by well-meaning friends!

A storyboard panel from the episode “Culture Shock.”

"If only baby SpongeBob obsessed Eliza could see me now" is a recurring thought I have with my work all the time, but I don't think it's ever been more true w/ the great Tom Kenny calling himself my #1 fan. What an upstanding guy. I swear I've been freaking out 10000x more than what my tone lets on

Preliminary design for Rube from "No Pictures Please." These were essentially a straight pass on drawings and poses from Fred Osmond's awesome storyboard. #spongebob

Black and white comic panels showing Squidward's escape into space with travel-mate Larry the Lobster. (Have someone read you the dialog. I'm not typing the whole script here!)

Squidward wakes up. Larry's cryo-chamber has been shattered by a falling clarinet. He's a skeleton. Squid escapes the ship, now sinking in goo on an alien world. Thrilled to be away from Bikini Bottom, even though there are obvious signs of danger.

Page 1 of my Squidward story "Planet of the Fish" from #SpongeBob Comics Annual #3!!

Ahoy there Blue Sky! Here is a background from the SpongeBob pilot, "Help Wanted."