 During the first season , the series used cel animation . A shift was made the following year to digital ink and paint animation . In 2009 , executive producer Paul Tibbitt said " The first season of SpongeBob was done the old @-@ fashioned way on cells , and every cell had to be part @-@ painted , left to dry , paint some other colours . It 's still a time @-@ consuming aspect of the process now , but the digital way of doing things means it doesn 't take long to correct " . 
