As a child Stephen Hillenburg loved the films of Jacques Cousteau, so inspired he went on to earn a degree in natural-resource planning and interpretation, with an emphasis in marine resources from Humboldt State University (Arcata, California.) in 1984.

After graduating, Hillenburg taught marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute (now known as the Orange County Ocean Institute) for three years, in Dana Point, California. He had always enjoyed drawing and painting, so he pursued a master's-degree program in experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia.

SpongeBob SquarePants is what can happen when you get a marine biologist who likes to draw. When asked to describe how SpongeBob came to exist, Hillenburg is quoted as saying:

“I think the connection to SpongeBob is that sponges are the most elastic, changing, plastic creatures… and I wanted him to be able to do things that were really magical. So [SpongeBob] has these really creative moments when he can re-form himself. But most sponges in the ocean are sedentary: They attach themselves to a rock and sit and filter-feed the rest of their lives, and reproduce, and that's about it. Not that they are not interesting, but they are not… mobile. They don't cook Krabbie Patties!”

"At first I drew a few natural sponges -- amorphous shapes, blobs -- which was the correct thing to do biologically as a marine science teacher. Then I drew a square sponge and it looked so funny. I think as far as cartoon language goes he was easier to recognize. He seemed to fit the character type I was looking for."
[Source: Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2001]

SpongeBob SquarePants went on to become a huge success of course from it’s beginnings in 1999 on TV’s Nickelodeon channel. While Hillenburg created the characters, he resigned from the show in 2004.