This article is about the series creator. You may be looking for Steven Sugar or Rebekka Dunlap. |
Rebecca Rea Sugar is the creator of Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future, as well as the director of Steven Universe: The Movie. She is an artist, composer, and director who is most recognized for her work on the show Adventure Time, another Cartoon Network original series, as well as her award-winning animated short Singles. She has also created a graphic novel, Pug Davis, as well as assisting with characters and backgrounds for Ian Jones-Quartey and Jim Gisriel's web series nockFORCE prior to her career.[1]
In 2012, Cartoon Network green-lit Steven Universe, making her the first solo non-binary cartoon creator in the network's twenty-year history. Rebecca was one of the main storyboard artists on Adventure Time until the fifth season, where she left to create Steven Universe, although she later returned again in 2015 for the Stakes miniseries to compose the song "Everything Stays" and voicing Marceline's mother.[2]
Sugar has also contributed storyboards for the Sony Pictures Animation film Hotel Transylvania.[3]
She is married to Ian Jones-Quartey.[4]
Career
Rebecca was born in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended the Visual Arts Center at Albert Einstein High School and Montgomery Blair High School simultaneously. Later, she would attend the School of Visual Arts in New York.[5] One of her early works, a comic strip entitled "Don't Cry for Me, I'm Already Dead"[6] about brothers who bond over references to The Simpsons, was a viral success.[7] The strip was originally published on Sugar's now-defunct website, SugarBoukas.com, itself a reference to one of her early animated shorts.[8]
She was hired as a storyboard revisionist during the first season of Adventure Time and was later promoted to storyboard artist from that season on.
Rebecca would eventually leave Adventure Time in early 2013 to launch her new cartoon, Steven Universe. The final episode she worked on for Adventure Time, entitled "Simon and Marcy", was difficult for her, due to her working on the episode alongside launching their new show.[9]
She had achieved numerous awards in her career in television, such as earning nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards and Annie Awards while working for Adventure Time, and being featured in Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30 in Entertainment" list in 2012, noting that she was responsible for some of the best episodes of Adventure Time.[10]
She returned to Adventure Time in 2015 for the Stakes miniseries, voicing Marceline's mother and writing the song "Everything Stays".
On September 17, 2023, Rebecca announced her first "personal" album, Spiral Bound, inspired by three years of sketching, journaling, and what she describes as a "process of healing from extreme burnout and unresolved trauma."
Episodes Written and Storyboarded
Season 1
- "Laser Light Cannon"
- "Cheeseburger Backpack"
- "Together Breakfast"
- "Cat Fingers"
- "Lion 3: Straight to Video"
- "Alone Together"
- "Maximum Capacity"
- "Rose's Scabbard"
- "Jail Break"
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Other
Musical Credits
Songs
- "We Are the Crystal Gems"
- "Ending Theme"
- "Love Like You"
- "Let Me Drive My Van (into Your Heart)"
- "Hey, Mr. Postman"
- "Giant Woman"
- "Do or Do Nut"
- "Strong in the Real Way"
- "Wailing Stone"
- "Be Wherever You Are"
- "Destiny"
- "Stronger Than You" (demo)
- "Full Disclosure"
- "Do It for Her"
- "What Can I Do (For You)"
- "Haven't You Noticed (I'm a Star)"
- "Something Entirely New"
- "Peace and Love on the Planet Earth"
- "It's Over Isn't It"
- "Both of You"
- "I Think I Need a Little (Change)"
- "Here Comes a Thought"
- "I Could Never Be (Ready)"
- "What's the Use of Feeling (Blue)?"
- "Sadie Killer and the Suspects"
- "G-G-G-Ghost"
- "For Just One Day Let's Only Think About (Love)"
- "Familiar"
- "Escapism"
- "Change Your Mind"
- "The Tale of Steven"
- "Let Us Adore You"
- "Happily Ever After"
- "Other Friends"
- "System/BOOT.pearl final(3).Info"
- "Who We Are"
- "Isn't It Love?"
- "No Matter What"
- "Disobedient"
- "Independent Together"
- "Drift Away"
- "Found"
- "True Kinda Love"
- "Change"
- "Let Us Adore You (Reprise)"
- "Finale"
- "Being Human"
- "Looking Forward"
- "I'd Rather Be Me (With You)"
- "My Little Reason Why"
Soundtracks
Gallery
Trivia
- Rebecca Sugar's birthstone is a ruby.
- Rebecca Sugar's favorite character in Steven Universe is Greg.[11]
- Her favorite movie is Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. She did a introduction of the film for Ghibli Fest in 2019.
- Rebecca Sugar said if she were a Gem, she would be a Ruby.[12]
- Ruby and Sapphire's relationship is based on the relationship between her and Ian Jones-Quartey.
- Rebecca Sugar is proficient at the ukulele, which she often uses for song demos.
- She also has a banjolele, which she played at New York Comic Con, and plays the Omnichord/QChord, a chorded synthesizer, similar to the one Marceline plays in "I Remember You".
- Rebecca Sugar is the first non-binary animated cartoon creator at Cartoon Network.
- Rebecca Sugar illustrated the cover of Estelle's music album True Romance.
- She is a member of WIA (Women in Animation).[13]
- Rebecca Sugar has a pet cat named Lion.
- During SDCC 2016, when asked why she included so many LGBT heroes in the show, Rebecca Sugar came out, citing her experiences as a bisexual woman and their desire for LGBT youth to grow up where these heroes are normalized.
- During NYCC 2016, she mentioned that "Mr. Greg" was their favorite episode because she had always dreamed about working on a musical.[14]
- She also revealed that she has plans for the ending of the series.[15]
- When Rebecca was born, their parents had considered naming her "Nora", which she later used as Steven's female name in the episode "Lion 4: Alternate Ending".[16]
- During SDCC 2017, Rebecca stated that out of all the Off Colors, she relates to Rhodonite the most.
- Rebecca sings the closing credits song for the Cartoon Network show OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.
- In the Ultimate Crossover Fundraiser, she sang "We'll Meet Again" while playing the ukulele; she stated that Mabel, Dipper, and Grunkle Stan's gems would be "Cherry Tugtupite", "Larimar", and "Pyrite", respectively; she sang with Ian JQ "It's Only Magic"; and then she sang "Everything Stays".
- In an interview with WAMU 88.5 on July 9, 2018, Rebecca revealed that she is non-binary, and she spoke of how she uses gender heroes in the show to express their identity.[17]
- Her pronouns are she/her or they/them, according to her updated Twitter bio, as well as her confirming this at SDCC 2018.
External Links
- Rebecca's TikTok
- Rebecca's Instagram
- Rebecca's Twitter
- Rebecca's Tumblr
- Rebecca's YouTube
- Rebecca's DeviantART
- Rebecca's IMDb page
- Rebecca's Wikipedia page
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ianjq/status/636312476930314244
- ↑ Rebecca Sugar Filmography
- ↑ http://rebeccasugar.tumblr.com/post/36567783012
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ianjq/status/1202694027604180992
- ↑ http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/rebecca-sugar-is-cartoon-networks-first-solo-woman-show-creator-71157.html
- ↑ https://dawolfey.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/dont-cry-for-me-im-already-dead-by-rebecca-sugar/
- ↑ https://unicornbooty.com/watch-the-weird-heartbreaking-pre-steven-universe-works-of-rebecca-sugar/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHqgv7hFVPo
- ↑ http://www.indiewire.com/article/television/adventure-time-writer-rebecca-sugar-on-steven-universe
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mfl45edfge/rebecca-sugar/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2e4gmx/i_am_rebecca_sugar_creator_of_steven_universe_and/cjw2d66/ My favorite character is Greg too!!!
- ↑ http://www.newsarama.com/24809-steven-universe-creator-talks-jailbreak-future.html
- ↑ http://stevencrewniverse.tumblr.com/post/78905222172
- ↑ http://fandom.wikia.com/articles/nycc-steven-universe-gem-harvest
- ↑ http://fandom.wikia.com/articles/nycc-steven-universe-gem-harvest
- ↑ Rebecca Sugar gives us an inside look at the #StevenUniverse Spring Break arc. Maybe her nickname should be Nora from now on 😄 #CNSide - @cartoonnetwork on Twitter
- ↑ https://the1a.org/audio/#/shows/2018-07-09/the-mind-behind-americas-most-empathetic-cartoon/114886/@00:00