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There are creative lessons all around Bikini Bottom
the krusty Krab
bikini Bottom University
JellyFish Fields
Sandy's House
Spongebob's House
Glove World
Everything You Can Imagine is Real
Remove Your creative Constraints
Celebrate the Blank Slate
Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Spark Joy!
Put Authenticity First, Technology Second
Remove Your
Creative Constraints
Celebrate the
Blank Slate
SpongeBob’s animators were using the same creative methodologies used by animators from the 1930s, according to Beck. It wasn’t the technology that made the show fresh—it was just really compelling characters and stories. “It’s about the mindset of building up visual gags and jokes,” Beck said. “it’s just been brought into the modern era with updated tools."
Put Authenticity First,
Technology Second
Beck said that the SpongeBob team knew it was on the right road if everyone was having fun making the show—ultimately, having fun and entertaining others was what it was all about. "These animators are in it because they love it and it entertains them to do it,” Beck said. “And in a very raw sense, because they hope others are entertained, too."
A marching band of sea creatures performing at a football game for humans? Sure, why not? In the end, anything can happen in Bikini Bottom. “You have these incredible characters and these remarkable scenes,” Beck said. “The blank piece of paper is a fantastic gift to go anywhere and do anything."
Whether the episode is centered around the Krusty Krab or SpongeBob’s pineapple, each storyline begins with a blank sheet of paper. And from there, explains Beck, you can put anything on it. “You can do whatever you want and go wherever you want,” he says. “I think that's a great thing—it reminds us that it's okay to let your imagination run wild.”
Beck says that SpongeBob SquarePants hasn’t caught up with computer graphics—it’s actually the other way around. “The purity of a character like SpongeBob can be translated through hand-drawn cartoons in ways that you can't do with computers,” he says. “Without this authenticity and staying true to your roots, you're just creating digital puppets."
From the outset, according to Beck, SpongeBob SquarePants was an “artist-driven show,” as opposed to a “script-driven show.” Hillenburg and his co-creators don't sit down and write scripts for any of the episodes. “Instead, they draw funny sequences or ideas with the characters and turn that into a story,” Beck said. “This enables the artists to be fully imaginative and develop entirely new sequences without constraint.”
Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Spark Joy!
Everything You Can
Imagine is Real
welcome
to Bikini
bottom!
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Cartoonist Stephen Hillenburg couldn’t have known at the time, but since SpongeBob SquarePants’s debut in 1999, it’s become one of the only shows in modern history beloved by kids and adults alike over 20 years later. But just as important, he also laid the groundwork for an imaginative, creative formula that applies to any modern creative. We spoke with animation historian Jerry Beck to prove that these lessons are more essential now than ever.
More Lessons
Map
1. Celebrate the Blank Slate
2. Put Authenticity First, Technology Second
3. Remove Your Creative Constraints
4. Don't Reinvent the Wheel
5. Spark Joy!
6. Everything You Can Imagine is Real
Cartoonist Stephen Hillenburg couldn’t have known at the time, but since SpongeBob SquarePants’s debut in 1999, it’s become one of the only shows in modern history beloved by kids and adults alike over 20 years later. But just as important, he also laid the groundwork for an imaginative, creative formula that applies to any modern creative. We spoke with animation historian Jerry Beck to prove that these lessons are more essential now than ever.
More Lessons
1. Celebrate the Blank Slate
2. Put Authenticity First, Technology Second
3. Remove Your Creative Constraints
4. Don't Reinvent the Wheel
5. Spark Joy!
6. Everything You Can Imagine is Real