A lot of cartoons end up artistically reflecting the way the storyboarders draw in the final result. Not only is Steven Universe no exception, but it’s actively encouraged. @ealipoe made a chart once, but not only is it out of date, it’s also been confirmed to be inaccurate (note: website sometimes has a paywall. at the time I started making this post, the paywall was down, but as of posting the paywall is up and I can’t keep up with the screenshot let’s plays I was following). So I’m going go through and analyze styles, a few boarders at a time. I’m starting with the show’s Big 3: Rebecca Sugar @rebeccasugar, Ian Jones-Quartey @ianjq, and Kat Morris @ghostdigits, all of whom are Story Writers for the show (which means that they all are involved in the conception of episodes and putting ideas that go into the final outlines, which are written by Matt Burnett @matt-burnett and Ben Levin @ben-levin ) and have additional uncredited boards in pretty much every episode. One interesting thing to note is that they all went to SVA (not CalArts) (though Ian appears to have been from an earlier class than Rebecca and Kat)

Post under the cut as to 1: not clog up dashes and 2: allow for edits to be made without rendering reblogs outdated

Rebecca Sugar

The show’s creator, Executive Producer, most prominent song writer (involved in over 50% of the show’s songs so far), and story writer. Rebecca is a former Storyboard Revisionist turned Storyboard Artist (paired with Adam Muto for seasons 2-3 and with Cole Sanchez for seasons 4-5.1) and song writer for Adventure Time. She was a full blown boarder for the early episodes Laser Light Cannon (with Kat), Cheeseburger Backpack (with Ian) and Cat Fingers (with Kat, Ian, and Hillary Florido @hilaryflorido ) (She’s also credited for Together Breakfast, though I can’t really make out any scenes that look like hers and the crew promo doesn’t mention her at all, so I think her involvement is comparable to that of the average episode) and does credited boards for episodes every once in a while (Such as Lion 3, Alone Together, Jail Break, and Keystone Motel).





Her style generally gives steven a slightly “longer” face (like in the shot from mirror gem below): In earlier episodes (like the laser light cannon shot seen above) there’s something almost pilot-y about it

One notable trend (carried over from her adventure time days) is how she often gives characters lines under their eyes. She’s not the only boarder to do so, but the 2nd most common perpetrator of this is Hellen Jo, who’s style is distinct from sugar’s.

Plot wise, the episodes that she does are usually plot relevant and pretty much always emotional. She also usually pops up when Rose is involved.

Ian Jones-Quartey

The Supervising Director for every season 1 episode (I’m kinda thinking that he’s also the supervising director for the season 2 episodes ending with Nightmare Hospital where there’s no supervising director credit), Co-Executive Producer for season 2, co-composer for the Li’l Butler theme (with Rebecca), story writer, and the voice of a lot of bit roles (such as Mr. Queasy), Ian was the Animation Director for seasons 3 and 4 of Venture Bros, a Storyboard Revisionist for season 2 of Adventure Time, Storyboard Artist for Secret Mountain Fort Awesome (specifically the episodes Secret Mountain Fart Awesome, 7002, and Labyrinth), and Storyboard Supervisor for seasons 4-5.1 of Adventure Time (leaving at the same time Rebecca did). Ian’s left the show (though as of the time of the creation of this post his last episode hasn’t aired yet). He was a credited boarder for Cheeseburger Backpack (with Rebecca), Together Breakfast (with Paul Villeco @paulvilleco ), and Cat Fingers (with Kat, Rebecca, and Hillary Florido)

If you saw Cheeseburger Backpack, then you know what Ian’s style looks like. It’s kinda telling that Ian once quoted “If you can tell that it’s the same character, then it’s On-Model”. There’s something very Lakewood Plaza Turbo-y about it

After Cheeseburger Backpack, Ian actually kinda tamed his art though (or at least it seems like it)

Admittedly, most of what I know of Ian’s additional uncredited boards is what’s been confirmed. Honestly a more noticeable barometer is great quality animation (that doesn’t come from Joe or Jeff)

(Peridot’s face courtesy of Rebecca)

Kat Morris

The show’s Storyboard Supervisor, story writer, and the Supervising Director for episodes boarded by Hillary and Lauren (starting with Catch and Release) and Raven and Paul (starting with Sadie’s Song). She was an intern on Superjail, and was a storyboard artist for seasons 1-4 of Regular show (having been partnered with Paul Scarlata, Minty Lewis, Sean Szeles, and James Kim). She’s a credited boarder for Laser Light Cannon (with Rebecca), Cat Fingers (with Ian, Rebecca, and Hillary Florido), and Bubble Buddies (with Aleth Romanillos @aromanillos )

The least well known of the 3 main creative people on SU, Kat Morris’s early stuff looks kinda… off. Though it’s better at some points (like at the end of cat fingers below). I think that it was partially due to just the usual early hang ups that most shows go through, especially since a lot of Rebecca’s boards in Laser Light Cannon (which was the first episode made) look similar to Kat’s boards for that episode, plus Kat’s stuff for Bubble Buddies looks overall better than her stuff for Laser Light Cannon. Plus there’s a lot of the SU stuff on her instagram that looks Rebecca Sugar-y (like you can tell it’s not rebecca’s but it looks similar to Rebecca’s).

Like the other 2, she also has Additional Uncredited Boards in most episodes, but I can’t really tell any examples outside of the image below

and even then I only figured that because she posted it on her tumblr. I am beginning to suspect that one bit in An Indirect Kiss that I thought was done by sugar might’ve been don by Kat (and that’s assuming it wasn’t done by Paul)

[Rebecca Sugar, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Kat Morris]

[Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu] (coming soon)

[Raven Molisee and Paul Villeco] (coming soon)

[Aleth Romanillos, Lamar Abrams, and Hellen Jo] (coming soon)

[Hillary Florido, Katie Mitroff, and Lauren Zuke] (coming soon)

[Other (Luke Weber, Matt Braly, and any storyboard revisionists that I can recognize)] (coming soon)