 Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean and began developing his artistic abilities as a child . During college , he majored in marine biology and minored in art . After graduating in 1984 , he joined the Ocean Institute , an ocean education organization , where he had the idea to create a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone , which led to the creation of SpongeBob SquarePants . In 1987 , Hillenburg left the Institute to pursue a career in animation . 
