He traveled the city peddling paintings of his own imagined universe: martini-soaked scenes of natty cads and sultry vixens.
When SpongeBob went on hiatus, White channeled that spirit into his own fledgling art career-vying for respect in the insular L.A. Colleagues recall White parading around the office in his bolero hat, and playfully challenging spindly cartoonists to Jiu-Jitsu matches on the parking-lot roof. Created by a marine biologist, the show followed the surreal misadventures of a sea sponge living in a pineapple house, and played to White’s frenetic imagination and creative energy. In 1999, he joined the new series SpongeBob SquarePants as a lead character designer.
As soon as he could, White moved to Hollywood to work as an animator on shows such as Tiny Toons and the pioneering gross-out series Ren & Stimpy.
