My TV animation career pretty much started with the SpongeBob pilot, so now and again, I like to stop by Bikini Bottom to see what’s going on. On one of those visits, about ten years ago, I storyboarded an episode called Kenny The Cat, written by my pals Zeus Cervas and Casey Alexander and produced by Paul Tibbit and Vince Waller. Guest voice by Biz Markie (RIP).

After a few inquires on Twitter, I figured I’d upload it for anyone who wants to check it out. Keep in mind that it’s an old-school storyboard that’s transitioning to digital. The panel BGs are a desaturated yellow because we used to draw on Post-It notes and I found it comforting.  

You’ll see on the boards some animation and timing notes, which is a little unusual—that’s usually done during charactor layout—but because I started out as an animator I can’t help myself. Does this sometimes alienate people? Oh yes. 

Although this particular episode was my first digital storyboard, I drew it traditionally: three panels to a page as we had always done on paper. It had only been a few years since Storyboard Pro came out but I didn’t have the time to learn it and also meet my deadline. Fortunately, the show hadn’t changed over to STBpro yet either, so I did the whole thing in Alias Sketchbook Pro. I really liked how simple and easy the application was to use, and I still use it a lot today. 

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