Sherm Cohen

**Paul Sherman "Sherm" Cohen** (born January 19, 1965; age 57) is an American storyboard artist. He worked as a crew member on *SpongeBob SquarePants* from 1999 to 2006, before returning in 2015.

## Biography

During college, Sherm worked as a cartoonist for his local newspaper. He got his start in animation at Nickelodeon on *The Ren and Stimpy Show* as a character layout artist, followed by a three-year stint on *Hey Arnold!* as storyboard artist and director.

From 1996-2009, Sherm was a writer, artist, and letterer for Nickelodeon Magazine. He contributed dozens of comic strips and cover art featuring Nicktoons characters.

In early 1998, Sherm was invited by Stephen Hillenburg to be part of the original *SpongeBob SquarePants* crew. Sherm 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*. Sherm also wrote the "F.U.N." and "Texas" songs for the show.

Sherm was also lead storyboard artist and a character designer on *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*. Sherm 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." He has a character named after him, in the show *SpongeBob SquarePants*.

After the fourth season, Sherm left Nickelodeon to write and illustrate his first book for Walter Foster Publications, "Cartooning: Character Design."

Sherm 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, Sherm went to work at the Disney Television Animation, writing and drawing storyboards for *Phineas and Ferb*. After the first season of Phineas and Ferb, Sherm returned to Nickelodeon for the first season of *The Mighty B!* as storyboard artist. In 2008, Sherm 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, Sherm 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."

Sherm created "Storyboard Secrets," a comprehensive DVD/online guide to storyboarding.

From 2010-2013, Sherm worked on Disney's *Fish Hooks* as storyboard supervisor. The pet store owner character "Bud" on the show is a photo collage version of Sherm. He's also written the song "Earth Troll Rap" for the show.

During 2013-2014, Sherm worked on *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water* as sequence supervisor.

In January 2015, Sherm returned to work on the *SpongeBob SquarePants* show as a storyboard supervisor. His favorite SpongeBob character is Patrick.

Sherm is one of five supervising directors on the show, along with Dave Cunningham, Jeff DeGrandis, Marc Ceccarelli, and Vincent Waller. He has been in that position since 2016.

He also works on *The Patrick Star Show*.