Pinned thread Art Style analysis in Spongebob and various other shows

[Captain Stupid]

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Off model animation does not work in the age of crisp animation. This is when Spongebob is not making wacky faces, and it still looks weird and disproportionate. I would much prefer if they stuck with the art style that they had in the first half of season 9.
[/QUOTE]

Oh God, no. The animation in Season 9A was terrible. I hated it. Not just the horribly stiff and lifeless animation, but the characters looked bad too. SpongeBob especially. I am so happy that eventually changed.
If they should've returned to an older design, I would've chosen the designs from the 2004 movie.


That screenshot looks better than any 9A episode to me. As someone who like the art direction of the current seasons, I like how the characters are drawn now. Off-model face or not. Adam Paloian's own SB drawings are very delightful and perfect for the series. (Many of them are pretty rad, but the calmer ones fit my argument well.)

And I can argue that off-model animation still work today. Not only does it work in SpongeBob (when not overdone), but also in The Amazing World of Gumball and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And the upcoming Looney Tunes reboot (led by Uncle Grandpa's creator).

 

[Captain Stupid]

Not sure what happened at the top. My mouse isn't working well at the moment.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Chocolate With Nuts was the first episode to be worked on after the September 11th attacks:



Rough Draft Studios left the date on this frame, it reads September 14, 2001. The episode itself didn't air until June 2, 2002, almost nine months later.

 

[Captain Stupid]

To be honest, I don't mind that SpongeBob's shape doesn't vary as much as it's used to.
I don't consider these early off-model instances bad, but the artwork looked sloppy sometimes. Especially not fond of the so-called NoodleBob or the very thick red outlines in various Season 3 episodes.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

To be honest, I don't mind that SpongeBob's shape doesn't vary as much as it's used to.
I don't consider these early off-model instances bad, but the artwork looked sloppy sometimes. Especially not fond of the so-called NoodleBob or the very thick red outlines in various Season 3 episodes.

The thick red lines are from the markerbob episodes. The noodlebob episodes are where spongebob is tall and thin and has lanky arms.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

There are some burger king commercails from 2004 that had the same art style as the movie. The first two clips are moviebob, but the last one is season 4's version of noodlebob:



Ironically, I used to own one of the toys from the commercial, at 0:46.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Out of any show on tv, I don't think there's any show that has animation more complex that Spongebob.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Anyone notice the dull colors in the Family Guy episode "Da Boom". This episode is Family Guy's version of procrastination:

 

[Combusto82]

it's from Family Guy Season 2 so yeah it look dull but it look fine as the show was revival

 

[SpongeyMind]

The animation in the night time scenes in The Lost Mattress look exactly like season 3:

idiot box feeling

 

[SpongeyMind]

Anyone notice the dull colors in the Family Guy episode "Da Boom". This episode is Family Guy's version of procrastination:

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yep dark lighting, season 2, same software

 

[EM.]

I've noticed that it's really only the classic seasons of Spongebob (1-4) that change the art style a lot throughout their run, and then season 5 and on there isn't much of a change.

 

[SpongeyMind]

idiot box feeling

we should note that bummer vacation has the exact same style as chimps ahoy, making it the closest thing to a post movie markerbob

 

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we should note that bummer vacation has the exact same style as chimps ahoy, making it the closest thing to a post movie markerbob

It still doen't have the bold red outlines of markerbob

 

[EM.]

It still doen't have the bold red outlines of markerbob

I feel like there is a post movie episode out there that does, even for a single frame

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

I feel like there is a post movie episode out there that does, even for a single frame

Doubt it, nothing post-movie even resembles markerbob.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Bummer Vacation design:



Season 3 markerbob design:


Markerbob is more square, has thicker outlines, and is more vibrant.

 

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In "No Weenies Allowed", Spongebob looks like a hybrid between his normalbob design and the noodlebob design:

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

One of the tough fish look like they came from a markerbob episode:

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

In "Chocolate With Nuts", Squidward has his nighttime color palette for a brief moment: