Rebecca Sugar says Hellboy’s Mike Mignola is inspired by Steven Universe’s star shirt

Rebecca created the first groundbreaking animated series from Sugar Steven universe For Cartoon Network, she was a writer and storyboarder adventure Time, Reportedly quite responsible for pushing the envelope on that series’ relationships. At that time, she was planning Steven universe – and one of the people he consulted for help was Hellboy producer Mike Mignola.

Chinese is one of several major interview topics Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters, A documentary currently being pre-sold via Kickstarter. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, with writer Neil Gaiman, Mythbusters‘Adam Savage, actor Doug Jones, comics celebrities Joe Quesada and Vita Ayala, and many more, discuss how Mignola’s extensive career in comics influenced his work, and his place in his career . An exclusive clip of the documentary footage shows Dor discovering that sugar helps Mignola at a critical moment. Steven universeEarly development – and says his input led directly to Steven’s iconic Star T-shirt.

“I was just getting started Steven. I was on the pilot. I think I was probably 24 years old at the time, ”says Sugar in the video shot for the documentary. “So I gave him the idea Steven, And I think the first thing he said was, ‘Will they really let you do this?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ I was not raised yet. “

Sugar says that she specifically sought out Mignola to ask about the ancient gods and goddesses, as she wanted to help develop the actual mythology. Steven universeTheme of “[I wanted] Some are really powerful and all are involved, ”she says. “And, like, without skipping a beat, she said, ‘Oh, Eicher, you need Eicher. She’s the goddess of Babylon about everything.'” And she pulled out a book and opened it up to Ishrat … She is the goddess of love and war and passion and everything. “

Sugar says she also wanted to consult with Mignola about her sense of visual design, which she expected on the show. “I was always thrilled that he used visuals, a symbolic symbol or a flower or something carved on the wall,” she says. “There is something I love in Mike Mignola’s comics, those moments where you enter a room and are just these tiny little panels of all the details in that room that give you a sense of your peripheral vision, everything. Types of scanning and grasping. On these small objects and objects. And you feel the weight of those images. You feel that there is something behind it, that it has some kind of power.

“I was really fascinated at that power, the way something as simple as a flower could weigh on it all. When you saw it, you would know that these scenes and these ideas There was something big and something deep and ancient going on. I wanted to ask him, how would you get that kind of weight from these scenes? How do you create this sense of importance? And he said that it’s really repetitive. Was. “

Sugar says that Mignola told him that by bringing the same image back into meaningful moments in the story creates an understanding that the artist is also developing unseen moments. He suggested creating associations between an image and a character – that is how Steven Universe was dressing up in a shirt with a star on it.

“That’s where the star comes from,” Sugar says. He said, ‘He had no symbol of any kind. He was wearing only a pink shirt. And I really started thinking, ‘What kind of symbol do I want to be – not just Stephen, but this whole show? And what really made me excited about using the star – well, the stars [symbolize] Eicher … both Stars and Lions actually became central to Steven. I loved the star and had to use it everywhere: it had to do with space. It had to do with positivity. It is like a go-to sticker to do a good job in school. “

Sugar says she was excited to give Steven a completely gender-neutral symbol, which gave her conversions throughout the series. She also says that Mignola’s advice helped her develop Steven universeRepeated imagery around the diamond, which he included in the series, before viewers understood its importance. “The show has all the things – when you first go to the sky area, the four diamonds are there, and the pink one breaks. You know, there’s like little acts that have already been done there .. . You know the characters have distorted this symbol. It’s really exciting every time I think about what he told me, how easily you can feel away from fantasy when you’re consistent. … I think this is great. “

Reached to comment on what she remembers about meeting Sugar, Mignola says she was surprised when she reached out. He says, “I haven’t seen or talked to him in years. “I think I knew it had something to do with Rebecca adventure Time, But I didn’t know what a big deal Rebecca was. To me, she was just a very sweet and super-talented, very shy kid whom I used to attend conferences with. “

Mignola says that they sat together for hours and talked about their ideas for a new show, “but I never think that is really going to happen.” He also underscores its importance to the process. “I loaned her a book, and that was it. Then after some time, Steven universe Appeared, and received all kinds of rave reviews. I remember thinking ‘Oh, this must have been the thing we were working on at the kitchen table.’ I honestly have no memory of any real suggestions I made, and I can’t really imagine what I added to what was already important. Rebecca is a true talent. I was super-flattering when sometime later I saw a video in which Rebecca talked about joining me. I remember my daughter being super-impressed. For a few minutes, I was a really cool dad. ”

Mignola says he still hasn’t seen Steven universe, But he is surprised to see Chinese projects including the comic Pug davis. “It’s fantastic – amazingly weird, original and super-liquid,” he says. “At some point then, there was an animated short that I went through. I remember it being an art school project. Was it something with a man trying to fall and make or eat sandwiches? It has been many years since I saw him. “

“I remember staring in awe,” Mignola says. “Rebecca was talking there. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around what I was seeing, couldn’t begin to imagine how the brain works. Talent. I know this term is used a lot, but it is really the only way I know to describe Rebecca Sugar: Genius. Or maybe crazy talent, in a good way. “

For press time, for Kickstarter Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters Already achieved more than $ 200,000 in pledges, starting with a goal of $ 58,000. The film is planned for a spring 2022 release.