SpongeBob SquarePants Gets Redesigned In 9 Different Art Styles

The title character of SpongeBob SquarePants gets a new redesign in multiple different animation styles. Debuting in 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most-beloved long-running animated shows on television. It is currently in the midst of season 14, with the next episode airing on November 21. SpongeBob SquarePants season 15 has also already been renewed at Nickelodeon, and it will coincide with the show’s 25th anniversary.

Now, SpongeBob gets multiple new designs in original Instagram art from @richietoons. The artist images the eponymous character in nine different animated styles, including that of Disney, The Loud House, Rocko’s Modern Life, Hanna Barbera, Ren & Stimpy, The Amazing World of Gumball, Middlepost Post, and The Fairly OddParents. Check it out below:

There is also a hyperrealistic SpongeBob that is merely a stock photo of a standard kitchen sponge. All of the new styles offer their own unique representation of what SpongeBob could look like in a different context.

How SpongeBob’s Style Has Changed Over Time

While none of these styles at all resemble what SpongeBob looks like today, the series has seen significant evolution over the course of its 24 years on air. When SpongeBob began, it was displayed in a simple 2D hand-drawn animation style. SpongeBob SquarePants was notable in that it also occasionally brought in live-action elements, including the pirate painting that opens the theme songs and the live-action character Patchy the Pirate.

Over time, SpongeBob SquarePants has modernized its look following the show’s 1999 debut. The SpongeBob of today appears more childlike, and features a more vibrant yellow with crisper features. The second movie in the franchise, 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, even featured human-sized CGI versions of the main characters amid a live-action landscape.

The SpongeBob SquarePants style changes have proven divisive. On the one hand, the animated show needed to adapt at least to some degree in order to keep up with the look of other shows on air; on the other, there is a unique feel to classic SpongeBob episodes that seems diluted by modern AI enhancement. Whatever camp viewers fall in, imagining everyone’s favorite Krusty Krab employee in distinct animation styles is an amusing task for SpongeBob SquarePants admirers.