Pinreel Inc.
Storyboard panel: a horned sea monster towers over a tiny SpongeBob carrying a package

Nickelodeon Animation · Paramount Animation

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob was Adam’s first professional job in animation. He became a supervising director on the series, designed the characters for the feature The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, and came back with Pinreel to make the show’s first CG episode.

Series
Supervising director, 2015–2019
Design
Character designer, “Who R Zoo?”
Feature
Lead character designer, Search for SquarePants, 2023–2025
Pinreel
“Go Fetch!”, writer and director, 2025
Awards
2019 Primetime Emmy nominee, “Plankton Paranoia” · 2018 Daytime Emmy series win, director of “Mimic Madness” · 2026 Annie nominee, character design, Search for SquarePants

SpongeBob through the years

Adam has been drawing SpongeBob since he was a kid, long before he worked on the show.

Childhood pencil drawing of SpongeBob
A childhood pencil drawing.

Storyboards

Adam’s complete boards. Pick an episode, flip through panel by panel or drag the slider, then move on to the next episode.

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Character designs

TV series

“Who R Zoo?”

Adam was directing this episode when he left mid-production for The Cuphead Show! He’s credited as its character designer: a zookeeper and a menagerie of sea versions of land animals.

Who R Zoo designs: the zookeeper, sea giraffe roughs and sea giraffe poses Who R Zoo designs: sea elephant, sea hippo, sea baboon and anglerfish Who R Zoo designs: sea lion, tiger shark, and SpongeBob and Patrick

Feature film · 2025

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

The ghost pirate crew.

Lineup of eleven glowing green ghost pirate fish, with a bloated captain in a skull-and-crossbones hat at the center

Pirate captain explorations.

Eight pirate captain sketches: tricorn hats, eye patches, hooks and peg legs, one in full color with a tiny fish in his mouth

Monster fish sketches.

Six marker sketches of spindly-legged monster fish with flaming fins, needle teeth and red eyes, one spitting water

Pirate Krabs: final color, model notes and mouth chart roughs.

Pirate Mr. Krabs in color with a rapier, his front and back model sheet with red notes, and a row of mouth chart roughs for A/E, M, T, O, L and F/V

Pirate Patrick: color design and turnaround.

Pirate Patrick in color with a hook helmet and eye patch, beside his front and back line turnaround

Barb

From the earliest sketches to her final design, left to right.

Barb’s development in rough pen sketches, from a fish with a giant curly bun to her final pirate look with tricorn hat, glasses and a hook-carried suitcase

Construction and expression sheets.

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SpongeBob Doodles

Character drawings and expressions.

SpongeBob, a dazed Squidward and Patrick in sailor hats Patrick expression sheet: bruised, stubbly, eating a Krabby Patty SpongeBob in a sailor hat sitting grumpy, then flopped and dazed Plankton screaming, tongue out, mid-stomp A pink, one-eyed Plankton-like creature, frightened, hands up Plankton collapsed in a spotlight, legs in the air Plankton scratching his head, one antenna drooping Plankton three ways under a spotlight, from cherub to monstrous Ink sketches of a sulking Plankton: I don’t want to be seen right now… Be honest, how bad is it?

Paramount Animation · 2023–2025

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025)

Lead character designer on the feature, nominated for the 2026 Annie Award for Best Character Design in a Feature.

Pitch illustrations

Illustrations Adam made for the presentation to Paramount executives in the film’s early development, under director Derek Drymon.

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Hero model notes

Adam’s notes and drawovers on the CG hero models for the film’s two leads, SpongeBob and the Flying Dutchman.

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