Entertainment Tonight Interview Todd White

SpongeBob's Todd Draws Mary and Mark

ET hopes aboard the Thug Tug when "SpongeBob SquarePants" lead character designer TODD WHITE drops by the set for a visit with MARK STEINES and tells the ET anchor how he got involved with the popular Nickelodeon cartoon.

"STEVE HELLENBURG created SpongeBob and I came in and developed all the characters with him" explains Todd, who began his career in animation at Warner Bros. on "Tiny Toons". "I just dove head first into it and spent two months going through every creature in the ocean and making them fit the look of the show.  I've probably drawn over 200 characters".

The artists who work on "SpongeBob SquarePants" put their unique personalities into the myriad denizens of the deep that flip out over the secret recipe for Krabble Patties, always keeping in mind their target audience: The kids who watch Nick.  So Todd's reaction to the recent controversy, declaring the animated character is gay, is that it is "ridiculous".

"SpongeBob is an innocent child" Todd tells Mark.  "This is the mentality of SpongeBob.  He's a kid.  He says kid things.  He does kidlike things.  Anyone who is a parent of a six-year-old knows exactly what I am talking about.  He's an innocent child.  It's just pure innocence".

That said, Todd is hoping to take the next step in his career and focus on his fine art.  And he already had a great start.  VIN DIESEL, HUGH HEFNER, MACAULAY CULKIN, ERIC McMCORMACK, RYAN STILES and JOE ROGAN are just a few of the celebs who have purchased Todd's work, which can be seen at his artofwhite.com website.

"Every morning I wake up and thing, 'Oh my God, I get to pain", he says "I get to express myself, to write my song in painting on a canvas."

In honor of his visit to ET, Todd created a special painting of Mary Hart and Mark on the red carpet, which took him a week from start to finish.  He begins with an inspiration, usually he has the title of the painting before he begins.

"You two are the hub of what's going on in Hollywood, so what better painting at this time of year, Oscar® time, to put you two on the red carpet," Todd points out "We've got you and Mary with your ET microphones on the red carpet with all the paparazzi behind. I've even got Mary's beautiful, wavy,blond hair".