Sherm Cohen is an American storyboard artist, director, and writer. During college, Cohen worked as a cartoonist for his local newspaper. He got his start in animation at Nickelodeon on The Ren & Stimpy Show as a character layout artist, followed by a three-year stint on Hey Arnold! as storyboard artist and director.
Career Cohen was a writer, artist, and letterer for Nickelodeon Magazine from 1996 until the magazine ceased operations in 2009. He contributed dozens of comic strips and cover art featuring Nicktoons characters.
In early 1998, Cohen was invited by Stephen Hillenburg to be part of the original SpongeBob SquarePants crew. Cohen spent the first season on the show as storyboard artist, writer, and director. He then moved up to Storyboard Supervisor for the next three seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants. Cohen also co-wrote the "F.U.N." and "Texas" songs for the show.
Cohen was also lead storyboard artist and a character designer on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Cohen described his time on SpongeBob to an interviewer by saying, "People often ask about what it was like working on SpongeBob, and it's hard to give an answer that really captures the moment.""The Oral History of SpongeBob SquarePants," Hogan's Alley #17, 2009 He has a character named after him in the show.
After the fourth season, Cohen left Nickelodeon to write and illustrate his first book for Walter Foster Publications, "Cartooning: Character Design".(HT291 (2006) Walter Foster Publications, Laguna Hills, CA)
Cohen also began teaching classes in storyboarding at the Entertainment Art Academy in Pasadena, California. Some of this material was turned into an instructional DVD on how to storyboard called, "Storyboard Elements." In December 2008, "Storyboard Elements" instructional DVD reached its 2nd edition and fourth pressing.
After working at Cartoon Network for a year, Cohen went to work at the Disney Television Animation, writing and drawing storyboards for Phineas and Ferb. After Phineas and Ferb'''s first season, Cohen returned to Nickelodeon for the first season of The Mighty B! as storyboard artist. In 2008, Cohen was back at Disney working on the second season of Phineas and Ferb as storyboard artist/writer. During this time, he also wrote some songs for the show: "X-Ray Eyes," "Bubble Gum," and "Aren't You a Little Young?"
From 2009–2010, Cohen worked on Disney's Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil as storyboard supervisor, story editor, and director. In 2011, he received a nomination for a daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program".
Cohen created "Storyboard Secrets", a comprehensive DVD/online guide to storyboarding.
From 2010–2013, Cohen worked on Disney's Fish Hooks as storyboard supervisor. The pet store owner character "Bud" on the show is a photo collage version of Cohen. He's also written the song "Earth Troll Rap" for the show.
During 2013–2014, Cohen worked on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water as sequence supervisor.
In January 2015, Cohen returned to work on the SpongeBob SquarePants show. His favorite SpongeBob'' character is Patrick Star.SpongeBuddy Mania
Filmography
Film Year Film Notes 2003 My Life with Morrissey Storyboard Artist 2004 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Lead Storyboard Artist/Character Designer 2015 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Sequence Supervisor
Television Year Film Notes 1994–1995 The Ren & Stimpy Show Layout artist 1996–2002 Hey Arnold! Assistant storyboard artist (1996–1997)Storyboard artist (1996–2001)Storyboard director (1996–2000)Director (1996–1999)Writer (1999) 1998 The Amanda Show Art directorStoryboard artist 1999–2006, 2015–present SpongeBob SquarePants Writer and Storyboard director (1999–2001)Storyboard supervisor (2000–2006, 2015–2016)Supervising director (2016–present) 2005–2006 My Gym Partner's a Monkey Storyboard artist 2007–2009 Phineas and Ferb Storyboard artistWriter 2008–2009 The Mighty B! Storyboard artist 2009–2010 Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil Storyboard supervisorStory editorStoryboard artistStoryboard director 2010–2014Fish Hooks Storyboard supervisorStoryboard artistWriter 2021Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years Supervising director 2021–2023The Patrick Star Show Supervising director
Bibliography
References
External links
Sherm Cohen's blog, CartoonSNAP Sherm Cohen on deviantArt StoryboardSecrets.com Sherm Cohen biography on Lambiek