BEAUTY&Spa By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Most people know theanswer to the question:Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? However, not so many people know the names of the individuals behind the hit animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants. But just because he has not reached the same notoriety as the hit TV show he helped create, doesnt mean that animator-turned-artist, Todd White hasnt done great things in his life. White was a lead character design- er on the show from its first season until the end of the fifth and he came to Oakvilles Sheridan College to pro- vide some life lessons to fledgling ani- mators. Dont be a guy who just has ideas all the time, just do it, he told sever- al hundred animation and art stu- dents at a packed auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 25. He told the students to draw all the time, and, humourously enough, to be a sponge during their school years and absorb and learn everything they can, because he said the path to a successful animation career comes from a solid foundation in drawing. Get a solid foundation and learn to draw. Pick guys who are great at it and then follow their lead, he said. Get a foundation of drawing. You dont have to be great at it, just get a solid foundation and then base every- thing else you learn and do off that. That will always carry you. He told the students to look around themselves, on television shows or movies, anything, to get inspiration. He said when he hears something, especially music, it puts a theme into his head that he can work from. Even when something is terrible you could still get something out of it, he said. White told the students that he has a sketchbook on him all the time and whenever he is forced to wait for anything, such as for a table at a restaurant or something of that nature, he pulls the book out and draws. The Los Angeles-based artist is no longer an animator. After he left the SpongeBob show he turned to high art, mostly as a painter. His originals fetch a high price on the market and even his limited giclreprints can cost thousands of dollars. But the good times were not always the case for White. Growing up he was always encouraged to draw or paint. Both his mother and grandmother were painters and despite what he called low grades in academics, he was always encouraged to keep up with artwork. He did not pursue an education after high school and was teaching tennis at a camp, but still kept up his drawing. A woman who attended the camp saw his drawings, and thinking he was good, told him a relative of hers works as an animator for Warner Brothers and connected him with the studio. He was told his drawings werent very good, but he said he was willing to do anything. The producers said he had potential and he was hired as a production assistant, which had nothing to do with animation, but rather as an errand boy. I got my foot in the door, he said. In his second year with the com- pany, he moved up to character cleanup on the show Tiny Toon Adventures. After that he moved to LA in pur- suit of his animation career. He told the students these jobs are tempo- rary. For 10 years he bounced around various cartoon shows, most of which never even ended up on television. Then Nickelodeon started work- ing on a new cartoon that moved away from the norm of the time, which he said was simple-drawing, story-driven cartons. That show was SpongeBob, which first aired in 1999 and has been a hit ever since. On the show, White was a lead character designer. Aside from the 21 W ednesday , N ovem ber 3, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m Artscene JUST DRAW IT: Todd White (left), the Los Angeles-based visual artist who is one of the creators of the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon, signs autographs for students Yanchao Hao (from right) and Keturah Salichuk after speaking to them at Sheridan College. NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER SpongeBob animator says Just draw See Work page 23 Colour Correction,Hair Extensions & J H i St i ht i NEW OFFER: ON A FULL HE AD OF EXTENSIO NS $20 OFF2441 Lakeshore Rd. W. Mon., Tues., Wed. 9:30-7:30pm, Thurs.-Fri. 9:30-8:00pm, Sat. 9:00-5:00pm www.hairchateau.com (check website for new client discount) 905 338-1237 Visit us at our new Spa Location PERM WEDNESDAY PERM & SET $45 (NC)Findings from the recent Vaseline Good Skin Day Survey of more than 1,000 women with dry or very dry skin showed that missing out on a good night of sleep can be a common problem for Canadian women with dry skin. In fact, more than one in five of the Canadian women surveyed said dry skin has gotten in the way of a good night's sleep. Some tips on preventing your skin from getting in the way of life day and night can be found online at www.facebook.com/Vaseline. Are you counting sheep instead of sleep because your skin's so dry? OAKVILLES MUSIC STORE