"SpongeBob SquarePants" is one of Nickelodeon's most beloved properties, with fans in most every country on the globe. There are a lot of fans out there such as myself who are interested in seeing authentic production artwork from the show (model sheets, backgrounds, storyboards, etc.) Much art has been made publicly available thanks to the show's crew, but there's still a treasure trove of assets which remain in the Nickelodeon archives, potentially never to be made available to the masses.

Some sort of "Art of SpongeBob SquarePants" book would be an excellent way to remedy the situation. We have gotten one - "The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience", written by animation historian Jerry Beck, but unfortunately the book is riddled with errors, and even shamelessly uses some fan-made content pilfered from DeviantArt and Encylopedia SpongeBobia, the "SpongeBob" Wiki. It's pretty obvious Mr. Beck didn't have his heart in this. Us fans would probably kill for an OFFICIAL "Art of SpongeBob" book, curated by the show's crew. It could even be a series of lavish coffee-table volumes, each dedicated to the various seasons of the show. Imagine what we could get - much of the show's wonderful background paintings without characters in front of them, model sheets and complete storyboards from the show's archives, many of which could potentially reveal previously-unknown deleted scenes and even the numbers of several background characters (known as "Incidentals" by the show's crew) who have been removed from the sheet mid-way during Season 2. Hey, maybe we could even see previously never-before-seen material from the late creator, Stephen Hillenburg himself from the show's infancy, plus the complete "Intertidal Zone" comic books he drew in the 80s, featuring a prototype to the Sponge we know and love. Not to mention "just for fun" gag drawings from the show's crew.

This is the kind of think Nickelodeon SHOULD'VE thought of putting together last year, the little square dude's 20th anniversary. People say print is dead - but there are thousands, if not millions of fans out there who'd love to see an official book showcasing the wonderful artwork and artistic talent of the crew of one of the most beloved cartoons of all time.