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August 09
If you don’t have children or cable television, it’s possible that you haven’t seen Stephen Hillenburg’s (Film/Video MFA 92) ubiquitous creation, SpongeBob SquarePants, an animated series that is one of the most successful children’s programs in cable history. Now in its sixth season, SpongeBob airs numerous times a day (and night) on Nickelodeon and has spawned a feature-length film. Adored by younger and older audiences alike, the sublime and ridiculous antics of SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Gary and Mr. Krabs all take place underwater, in a town called Bikini Bottom. Upon first meeting HIllenburg, one experiences a disconnect between this calm, collected, soft-spoken artist and the frantic absurdity of his work. In time, however, his humility sincerity and “squeaky cleanness” suggest that there may be more of Hillenburg in SpongeBob than originally meets the eye.
CalArts: How did your amazing story begin?
STEPHEN HILLENBURG: I was born at Fort Sill, an army base in Oklahoma, but was there only a few months before we moved to Huntington Beach in Southern California. I was always interested in the creatures of the ocean. I grew up in Anaheim and spent a lot of time in Laguna Beach during my high school years, which is when I started scuba diving. That was a big inspiration for me.
I’ve always been interested in science and art. I liked to draw and to look at things, from bugs to birds to whatever. I just pursued those two interests, though I never saw how they’d fit together. I first studied marine science as an undergraduate student at Humboldt State, and then worked in the field, in education, at what is now called the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. Our students ranged from preschool to college. I was also in the garage, painting. I had gotten interested in animation through the Spike and Mike shows and the Animation Celebration, which were popular in the ‘80s.
How and when was SpongeBob born?
The genesis of SpongeBob was an education comic book called The Intertidal Zone that I wrote and illustrated while teaching at the Ocean Institute. Harry Helling, the director of the institute, showed me a comic about evolution made by (science education cartoonist) Larry Gonic, and encouraged me to do one on tide pools. I wanted to try to do a comic that taught tide pool ecology and about the lesser-known invertebrates that you find in tide pools along the coast – crabs and sea anemones, that sort of thing. In the comic, there was a character called Bob the Sponge, but the design was different. Many of the characters in SpongeBob came from there when I revisited it in 1995. Almost immediately after creating the comic book I decided to apply to CalArts.
Did you submit an animation portfolio with your application?
No, I met with an admissions counselor who looked at my paintings and a page from the comic book, and said, “You would fit in really well in the Experimental Animation program with Jules Engel.” It was funny, because I went home that night and was looking at one of my animation books, and on the back page was a picture of Jules, and I thought, “Wow, maybe this is the perfect thing lining up for me.” My parents were very supportive, but they didn’t exactly understand things the way somebody like Jules did. So, Jules was my mentor; he was like my “art dad.” He really changed my life. It was an exciting time; I met friends and colleagues that I still have today.
What did the Wasserman Scholarship mean to you?
I would not have been able to go to CalArts without assistance. No way. My parents couldn’t afford to pay for me to attend. They helped a bit, but that first year, it was primarily loans. I had to borrow money, which I ended up paying back. During my second and third years I was given money based on projects made and proposed. I should also mention that I received a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation for my last project. So those grants were enormously helpful. I’m thankful that that Wassermans thought my work was special.
What happened between CalArts and SpongeBob?
I did some freelance, and ended up working on a show called Rocko’s Modern Life produced by Joe Murray. The unique thing about that show was that, like Ren and Stimpy, they hired cartoonists and shorts filmmakers to write and draw the show. That was a departure from what animation had become in the ‘80s. From Joe I learned how to write shows like that and how to organize and run a show. It was an incredible experience. Toward the last season of , I thought, “Well, what am I going to do next?” I didn’t want to run a show, because that’s crazy. One of my friends, a writer, Martin Olsen, saw the comic and said “This is your show!” It wasn’t – but it was the world that I was interested in animating if I were to do something commercially.
Any reflections on your success?
I never, ever imagined having a show on tv about a sponge – and I never imagined it being a huge success. I thought maybe we’d get one season, and I’d hoped that maybe it would become a cult thing and people would at least respect the show. All of us making it were really shocked that it took off the way it did.
What’s the craziest part of running the show?
There are a lot of decisions to make, and you’re controlling, in our case, hundreds of people. A lot of them are artists; and you’re an artist yourself. When you go to art school, you don’t necessarily plan to be a manager. So, you have to be able to guide. You have to say “This is not going to happen; this is going to happen.” Someone writes a joke, and you’re like, “That’s funny, but it’s not the show.” It’s important to have a theme, something that helps anchor the ideas generated by the crew. It’s also extremely handy when you need to defend your criticisms. I’m always saying, “This show is about SpongeBob, an innocent, childlike character like Chaplin’s tramp.”
What’s next for you?
I’m not really interested in doing another tv series. I am interested in pet projects and in giving back somehow, to causes that help protect the world’s oceans and to institutions like CalArts. I’ve done some work with the Ocean Institute on a PSA with SpongeBob about water conservation. So, I’ve been approached by a few organizations like that, and I’d like to help where I can. I’m developing new projects and doing some painting again – seascapes in oil. I want to keep my hand in it, because once I started at CalArts I didn’t paint much; I spent most of my time drawing. And while I’m not in the studio every day for SpongeBob, I do still review the work.
And finally…how old is SpongeBob?
I don’t know. He could be 200 years old…he’s a sponge.
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