Rebecca Sugar (born July 9th, 1987) is an American animator and composer, best known for her work on Adventure Time and her original show, Steven Universe.

Sugar began her career as director of her digital short, Singles, a project for her school, the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Her first major industry position was as a storyboard revisionist for the first season of Adventure Time. She was promoted to storyboard artist in the second season and maintained her position until the fifth season when she left to focus on her own projects.

Self-portrait by Sugar

Her resulting series, Steven Universe, has enjoyed critical and audience acclaim since its 2013 debut. She also became the first female sole creator of a Cartoon Network show.

After its premiere, Steven Universe became known for addressing many social issues. At San Diego Comic Con 2016, Sugar discussed her personal inspiration for including ‘mature’ themes in Steven Universe:

In large part, it’s based on my experience as a bisexual woman… There is an idea that these are themes that should not be shared with kids but everyone shares stories about love and attraction with kids. So many stories for kids are about love. It really makes a difference to hear stories about how someone like you can be loved. And if you don’t hear those stories, it will change who you are.

It’s very important to me that we speak to kids about consent. That we speak to kids about identity. There’s so much I have to say about this. I want to feel like I exist and I want everyone else who wants to feel that way to feel that way too.