Start with the face. On any SpongeBob page, the face is the first thing the eye lands on, so keep it clean and bright. Use a light yellow for his sponge body, but leave the cheek circles and the area around his buck teeth white. If you color the face first, you can then match the rest of the page to it, not the other way around.
Pick the right tools for the job
For SpongeBob pages, crayons are the easiest to control if you are coloring with kids, but they will leave waxy streaks on large areas like Patrick’s belly. Colored pencils give you the most control for small details like Plankton’s one eye or Sandy’s eyelashes, and they layer well for shading. Markers give the boldest, most cartoon-like finish, but they bleed through thin paper and are hard to fix if you slip. If you use markers, print on heavier paper or place a scrap sheet behind the page. For most people, a set of colored pencils is the best all-around choice for these pages because you can do both fine lines and smooth fills. If you are coloring with a child who tends to press hard, stick with crayons and skip the markers altogether.
Know the bikini bottom color palette
SpongeBob is not just yellow. His body is a warm, golden yellow, not lemon or neon. Use a mid-tone yellow like “sun yellow” or “goldenrod” and shade the sides with a slightly darker orange-yellow to give him roundness. Patrick is a light coral pink, but not bubblegum pink. Use a soft salmon or peach pink and keep his shorts a bright red or magenta for contrast. Squidward is the tricky one: his skin is a pale turquoise-green, not teal and not mint. Use a light seafoam green and keep his nose a slightly darker shade. Plankton is a deep lime green with a darker green eye; his one eye should stand out, so leave the white part white and add a tiny black pupil. Gary is pink with purple spots, but the spots are not all the same size – use a darker purple for the spots and a lighter pink for the shell. For the ocean background, use a medium blue or a light aqua, but leave a white halo around the characters so they pop. If you want to know more about color choices, read how to choose colors that look good on coloring pages before you start.
Details that make the character read correctly
SpongeBob’s holes are his trademark. They are not random dots – they are oval-shaped and scattered across his body, with a few on his arms and legs. Color them with a darker yellow or a light brown outline, but do not fill them in completely. His collar, tie, and cuffs should be white and crisp; use a light gray to shade the underside of the tie, not black. His teeth are two small white rectangles with a line between them – do not color them yellow. His eyes have long, spiky lashes; keep them black or dark brown. Patrick’s shorts are the only red on him, so keep the rest of him pink and light purple. Squidward’s nose is a separate shape from his head – shade it with a slightly darker teal on the underside. Sandy’s suit is a bright pink or purple, but her fur is brown; her cheeks are lighter brown. For jellyfish, use translucent colors like light blue, pink, or green, and leave the inside of the bell lighter than the edges.
Step-by-step: Coloring a typical SpongeBob and Patrick page
Here is a simple order that works for most pages with two characters, like the ones in SpongeBob and Friends or Patrick Star pages.
Step 1: Color the largest light areas first
Start with SpongeBob’s body and Patrick’s body. Use a light yellow for SpongeBob, pressing lightly in the center and a little harder near the outlines. For Patrick, use a light coral pink. Do not worry about staying perfectly inside the lines yet – you will clean up later.
Step 2: Add the darker shades for depth
Take a slightly darker yellow (like amber) and shade along the left or bottom edge of SpongeBob’s body, under his arms, and around his collar. For Patrick, use a slightly darker pink or a light purple on the underside of his belly and under his arms. This makes them look round instead of flat. If you want more shading tips, see how to shade coloring pages for more depth.
Step 3: Do the faces and small details
Now color SpongeBob’s eyes – leave the white part white, add a blue or black iris, and draw in the pupil. Color his mouth and tongue with a light red or pink. Add his two buck teeth in white with a light gray line. Color his tie brown or red, his collar white, and his cuffs white. For Patrick, color his eyes (they are just two black dots with white around them), his mouth, and his belly button. Keep his shorts red and his belt black or dark brown.
Step 4: Finish with the background and props
If the page has a jellyfish, color it with a light blue or pink and add a few dots on its bell. If there are bubbles, color them with a very light blue or leave them white and add a gray outline. For the ocean floor, use a sandy tan or light brown. If the page is a themed one, like Christmas SpongeBob or SpongeBob Playing Soccer, color the props first before the background so you can keep the characters in front. For a birthday page, like SpongeBob Happy Birthday, color the cake and balloons in bright, solid colors – red, blue, yellow – and use a light gray for the shadows under the characters.
Which pages to start with
If you are new to coloring SpongeBob pages, start with the ones that have fewer small details. The SpongeBob Face Black and White pages are perfect for practicing the face – you only have to worry about the eyes, teeth, and sponge holes. After that, try Patrick Star or Patrick pages, because Patrick has only a few colors and large areas to fill. Then move to SpongeBob and Friends or Sandy Cheeks pages, which have more characters and props. Save the busiest pages – like Plankton, Squidward, or Gangster SpongeBob – for when you have more time and patience. The SpongeBob Jellyfish pages are a good middle step because they have one main character plus a few jellyfish, so you can practice translucent colors without too much pressure.
The most common mistake: Coloring the background first
The single most common mistake on SpongeBob coloring pages is filling in the ocean background before you finish the characters. If you color the background blue first, you will have to color SpongeBob and Patrick over a wet or dark surface, which smears the yellow and pink and makes the characters look dirty. Worse, if you use markers, the blue will bleed into the characters’ outlines and ruin the crisp edges. Always color the characters first, then the background, and use a light blue or aqua for the water – not navy or dark blue. Leave a thin white border around each character to separate them from the background. If you are using crayons, you can color the background last and press lightly so the characters stay bright. If you want to blend the background smoothly, read how to blend colored pencils on coloring pages before you start. Keep the background simple – a solid light blue or a few wavy white lines – and the characters will stay the stars of the page.