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Under the Sea and On Top of the World
Stephen Hillenburg
Who lives with his wife and son who's also a fan?
Artistic and happy and talented is this clever man!
If a successful and fun life is something you seek...
Read about how Stephen Hillenburg did it and study hard every week!
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What do Jennifer Love Hewitt, Bruce Willis, Ellen DeGeneres and Lance Bass have in common? Besides being famous entertainers, they're all huge fans of a walking, talking, sea sponge. And that makes them fans of Stephen Hillenburg. He's the creator of the often funny, sometimes nerdy, yet totally loveable SpongeBob SquarePants, and the entire Bikini-Bottom universe.
OK, so he's not yellow or porous and he doesn't live under the sea. And, we're pretty sure his house doesn't - even in the remotest way - resemble a pineapple. But at one time Hillenburg, like SpongeBob, actually held the title of "fry cook" at a fast-food seafood restaurant. So how does someone go from small fry-guy to colossal cartoon-creator? For Hillenburg, it's been an interesting path.
Photo courtesy Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Stephen Hillenburg
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Hillenburg developed his love of marine life at an early age watching films by famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. And a snorkeling excursion at age 15 was just the beginning of Hillenburg's study of the sea - he went on to study marine resource planning at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. After graduating from Humboldt, Hillenburg put his studies in marine resource planning to good use as a marine life educator. He worked for three years teaching marine biology at what is now the Orange County Ocean Institute. The Institute is known for its hands-on, immersion learning programs. While Hillenburg enjoyed working at the Institute, he had been thinking about following another passion - art. In an interview with Current Biography, Hillenburg said,
"Initially I think I assumed that if I went to school for art, I would never have any way of making a living. So, I thought it might be smarter to keep art my passion and hobby and study something else. But by the time I got to the end of my undergrad work, I realized I should be in art."
Hillenburg began studying experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. After earning his master's degree, he landed a job at Nickelodeon working on the cartoon series "Rocko's Modern Life." This got Hillenburg thinking about creating a cartoon of his own. It's here where his two passions collided. While trying to come up with a concept for his cartoon, Hillenburg kept thinking about his time at the Ocean Institute. Tide pools and their inhabitants - crabs, octopi, starfish and of course, sponges -- never failed to fascinate all of his students. A tide pool is a pool of seawater that forms within a dip or crevice along a reef or rocky shore when the tide flows back out. As he started to envision the wacky tide pool town of Bikini Bottom, Hillenburg knew this was a perfect location for his cartoon.
So, he'd picked the setting for his cartoon, but what about the characters?
In an interview with the New York Times, Hillenburg said, "I wanted to do a show about a character that was an innocent." Hillenburg wanted his lead character to possess similar qualities to famous funny men like Buster Keaston and Charlie Chaplin- both of whom played innocent characters. Of all the tidal pool residents to choose from, a sea sponge seemed like the least obvious - and therefore the best candidate. Except real sea sponges are amorphous blobs, adhering themselves to rocks and other underwater surfaces - so they're not ideal cartoon characters. (See side panel for more details on how boring a real sponge is.) That's why SpongeBob looks like a big, yellow kitchen sponge!
With a star now in mind, Hillenburg rounded out his cast with other tide pool creatures. Starfish, plankton, squid, crabs, and, of course, a squirrel (OK, squirrels don't really live in a tide pool, but in Bikini Bottom, they do!) were, among countless others, chosen to become characters. Then Hillneburg gave them more places within the tide pool to live, work and play. Now he was ready to present his ideas to Nickelodeon.
He put every bit of his talent and training to work during the presentation. He used an aquarium, original artwork, several sculpted characters and a theme song to explain his cartoon. It all worked and Hillenburg secured a big "YES" from Nickelodeon. And a star - or we should say Sponge - was born!
The incredible success of SpongeBob SquarePants rests on a bunch of different elements. But, it's safe to say that Hillenburg's obvious respect for his younger viewers is a big factor. In an interview with TeenWire, Hillenburg had this to say:
"Kids aren't stupid, and I think that there are some things written in [other TV] shows that [are] insulting to their intelligence…we set a precedent to write something intelligent. I mean, after all - [kids] ARE sponges! …a lot of the stories come out of the personal experiences I and the other writers had as kids."
The huge success of his cartoon still amazes Hillenburg. He told Current Biography, "I think we all thought the show would be good, but I didn't ever assume it would catch on in a mass audience sort of way … Just seeing all the products out there and complete strangers wearing a drawing of a character that you created … it's both wonderful and strange." And, even with the new SpongeBob movie on big screens everywhere, Hillenburg continues to be a laid-back Southern-Californian. He enjoys spending time with his wife and son, playing music with his pals and enjoying the beach when he goes snorkeling, scuba diving and surfing.
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