Paula Spence began her career as an artist the week after graduating from Edison High School in 1987. She worked as an illustrator and graphic designer while attending Orange Coast College and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from CSULB. After several years as an artisan and conceptual designer at Disneyland, she began her 20-year animation career as a background designer on SpongeBob SquarePants, moving on later to Invader Zim, Chalk Zone, Duck Dodgers and Camp Lazlo. Her skills and knowledge of the animation process led her to Art Direction, and since 2006 she has led creative teams to produce the artwork for numerous TV animation shows such as The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Regular Show, Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling and PowerPuff Girls at Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Paula is currently Supervising Art Director for Close Enough on TBS and is providing visual development for the new SpongeBob feature film at Paramount Studios. Her interests in science, education and volunteering brings her into frequent collaboration with The Brights and the National Center for Science Education, who gave her their Friend of Darwin Award in 2016.
