How to Draw SpongeBob SquarePants for Beginners

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Plus, how to color SpongeBob so he looks just like the real cartoon

Co-authored by Amy Bobinger, BA Reviewed by Jeanine Hattas Wilson

Last Updated: March 25, 2026 Fact Checked

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Head & Face

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Body & Clothes

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Coloring SpongeBob

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More SpongeBob Tutorials

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Video

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Q&A

If you’re a SpongeBob fan, you’re going to love this easy, step-by-step tutorial on how to draw your favorite fry cook. It’s perfect for any level of drawing experience! We’ll walk you through exactly what to do, from how to make his head and face, to how to add the finishing touches on his body and clothes. Plus, we have tips on how to color him when you’re finished!

How to Draw SpongeBob

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An illustration showing the basic steps to draw SpongeBob SquarePants.

Draw an open balloon to make SpongeBob’s nose.
Add a wide, open smile with two teeth, a tongue, and round cheeks with freckles.
Draw the eyes as two big circles that go behind the nose and cheeks.
Add small circles to each eye for the iris and pupils, plus 3 eyelashes per eye.
Add the wavy outline of SpongeBob’s face.
Draw a wide, short rectangle for SpongeBob’s body.
Add his collar, tie, pants line, and belt.
Finish by adding SpongeBob’s arms, legs, hands, and feet.

Section 1 of 4:

Drawing SpongeBob’s Head & Face

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1
Start by drawing an open balloon shape for SpongeBob’s nose. Start at the center of the page horizontally, and a little more than halfway up. Draw a curve like a balloon shape, but leave it open on the bottom. This will be SpongeBob’s nose.^{[1]
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- To add more dimension to the nose, bring the right bottom line of the shape slightly lower than the left bottom line. Or, leave the bottom lines even if it’s easier.
2
Draw SpongeBob’s mouth as a big open grin. Start with a wide, shallow curve just under the nose. SpongeBob’s giant smile is iconic, so extend it most of the way across the face, just a little past where you want the outsides of the eyes to be. Add a second, deeper curve below that to make a big, open grin. Then, add these details to SpongeBob’s mouth:^{[2]
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- Bottom lip: Add a curved or dimpled line under the bottom of the smile. This is SpongeBob’s lower lip.
- Teeth: At the top of the mouth, just below the nose, add SpongeBob’s two teeth. Make them square-shaped and slightly angled away from each other.
- Tongue: Finish the mouth by drawing a tongue with two curved lines, like the top of a heart.
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3
Add SpongeBob’s smile lines, cheeks, and freckles. Make two tiny, shallow curves for smile lines on the corners of SpongeBob’s mouth. Draw a small circle shape around each of SpongeBob’s smile lines, leaving each one open on the bottom. These are SpongeBob’s cheeks.^{[3]
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- Next, add SpongeBob’s freckles. Inside each cheek, put 3 dots in an upside-down triangle (2 on top and 1 on the bottom).
- Some people like to draw the cheeks first, then the smile. That’s okay too!^{[4]
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4
Draw two big circles for SpongeBob’s eyes. SpongeBob’s eyes are big and perfectly round, so draw two circles that touch in the middle and extend almost as far out as the corners of his smile. Leave a gap where the circles touch the nose and cheeks, so it looks like the eyes are behind them.^{[5]
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- Irises: Add two circles inside the eyes, set slightly toward the inside of the eyes, closer to SpongeBob’s nose.
- Pupils: Add two smaller circles right in the center of the irises. Fill these in so they’re completely black.
- Eyelashes: Draw three short, straight eyelashes on each eye, spaced out along the top.
5
Make the wavy outline of SpongeBob’s head. Start by drawing a wavy line a little above SpongeBob’s eyelashes—this is the top of his head. Add another wavy line where you want the bottom of his head to be, and make it slightly narrower than the top line. Then, connect the top and bottom with a wavy line on each side.^{[6]
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- If you’re just drawing for fun, it doesn’t matter exactly how many waves you add. But if you want your SpongeBob to be accurate to the show, make 6 waves on the top and sides and 5 on the bottom.
6
Add small ovals to the corners of SpongeBob’s face for his sponge holes. You can add as many sponge holes as you want—it’s your drawing, so have fun! But if you want to add exactly the same number as the cartoon SpongeBob, here’s what to do:^{[7]
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- Top left: Make a slightly larger oval on top, set a little closer to SpongeBob’s eyes, and a smaller oval on the bottom, closer to the outside of SpongeBob’s head.
- Bottom left: Draw a smaller oval on top, toward the outside of SpongeBob’s head, and a larger oval on the bottom, a little closer to the middle.
- Bottom right: Draw a larger oval on top and a smaller oval on the bottom, roughly lined up with each other.
- Top right: Draw one small oval.

Section 2 of 4:

Adding SpongeBob’s Body & Clothes

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1
Draw a wide, short rectangle for SpongeBob’s body. Draw two short vertical lines, making them just a little narrower than SpongeBob’s head and about a quarter the height. Connect these with a horizontal line to make the bottom of SpongeBob’s body.^{[8]
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- This will be SpongeBob’s shirt and most of his pants.
2
Fill in the details of SpongeBob’s clothes, tie, and belt. In the middle of the rectangle, draw a tapered square shape for the tie knot: two diagonal lines inward connected by a curved or straight horizontal line on the bottom. For the bottom of the tie, draw two diagonal lines going outward from the bottom of the tie knot, then two lines coming together in a point near the bottom of the rectangle.^{[9]
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- On the outside of the tie, add two triangle shapes to make the points of SpongeBob’s collar.
- Add a horizontal line about halfway down the rectangle to separate SpongeBob’s shirt from his pants. Break the line where it meets the tie, so it looks like the tie is going in front of his clothes lines.
- Just below the line you just drew, add four narrow, horizontal rectangles. This is SpongeBob’s belt.
3
Add SpongeBob’s legs and socks. To make the legs of SpongeBob’s shorts, go to the line that makes the bottom of SpongeBob’s body and add two narrow rectangular shapes with curved bottom lines. Then, add two skinny legs coming straight down out of the shorts.^{[10]
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- Socks: Draw a horizontal line about halfway down each leg to make SpongeBob’s sock line.
4
Finish the legs by adding SpongeBob’s shoes. Draw a curved line coming straight down from the inside of each leg to make the back of SpongeBob’s shoes, then add a straight line and a short upward line to the back of each shoe to make the heel. Add another shorter curve to the outside of each leg to make the top of the shoes, then connect the heel and top of the shoe with a big balloon shape.^{[11]
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- SpongeBob wears shiny black shoes, so add a tiny white oval to each for a glare line, then fill them in the rest of the way with black.
5
Add SpongeBob’s sleeves, arms, and hands. Make SpongeBob’s sleeve by adding a short curved line coming off the wavy sides of SpongeBob’s head, near the bottom. Connect the sleeve with a straight horizontal line that runs from the bottom of the sleeve back to the head.^{[12]
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- Arms: Make two long, skinny arms running from the bottom of the sleeve to about the bottom of SpongeBob’s pants.
- Hands: Draw a simple cartoon hand with a thumb and 3 fingers.

Section 3 of 4:

Coloring SpongeBob

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Use these colors for a realistic SpongeBob. It’s fine if you want to leave your SpongeBob as a pencil sketch. Or, you can make your very own version of SpongeBob by coloring his body and clothes any color you want. But if you want to make an authentic SpongeBob, here’s what to do:^{[13]
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- Yellow: Body, arms, and legs
- Olive green: Sponge holes (can outline in darker green if you want)
- Blue: Irises and top stripe on sock
- Pink: Tongue
- Dark red: Back of the mouth
- Red: Tie, middle stripe on sock
- Black: Pupils, belt, shoes

Section 4 of 4:

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I draw the shoes?

Community Answer

Draw a bean to represent the shoe. Then from there, just draw a tiny rectangle as the heel and that is it.

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How do I do the last step?

Community Answer

Use markers, pastels, colored pencils etc. to color in SpongeBob. To get the correct color of his holes, find a light-brown marker and a yellow marker. Color lightly with the brown, and fill in with yellow. This also works with colored pencils.

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Question

How do I draw the Krusty Krab?

Artemi

Top Answerer

See this article.

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