<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2025/06/25/ec7206f6/rebeccasugerenvelopeartwinner.jpg" width="800" height="450" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-body-default" /></p> <p>Back in 2002, in the Devil May Cry 2 issue of <em>Game Informer</em> magazine (<a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/magazine-archive/114-devil-may-cry-2">which you can read right here for free if you have an account on our website</a>), we featured a piece of <em>Invader Zim</em> fan art in the Envelope Art section. We declared it the October winner and confusingly wrote, "Deformed goth chicks are cool!" as its caption. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/kylehilliard.bsky.social/post/3lseqooanm22c">Recently, Bluesky user @drewchuck.bsky.social</a>, while looking through Video Game History Foundation's impressive archive of video game magazines, noticed the art was attributed to Rebecca Sugar. Rebecca Sugar is not a common name, but we suspected it might just be a coincidence, so we reached out to confirm if it was them.</p><p>"Yes I did draw this," Sugar told us over e-mail. "I must have been 15." Back in 2002, Rebecca Sugar was a talented teenage artist, but today they are known primarily as the creator of Cartoon Network's <em>Steven Universe</em>. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7PWNpBDPjI">You can also find their music in Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi's latest game, To a T</a>.</p> <img loading="lazy" src="https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2025/06/25/9c02991a/fanartrsugar.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" alt class="image-style-body-default"> <p>"Yes I remember!" Sugar wrote. "I was proud of it. But at the time I felt guilty winning with fan art. I felt I should have sent something original. I had plenty of original characters back then. I was also confused by the caption."</p><p>Sugar was disappointed that one of their first technically published works was fan art, but was still proud of the achievement. "I remembered that I’d won for <em>Zim</em> fan art, but I forgot about all the other characters around the border," Sugar wrote. "I was reading a lot of independent comics at that age, and drawing my own. Jhonen’s comics were my favorite. <em>Johnny the Homicidal Maniac</em> and <em>Squee</em> of course, and especially <em>I Feel Sick</em>. Seeing Devi drawings on there makes me nostalgic."<br><br>Despite finding their own success with work on <em>Adventure Time</em> and creating <em>Steven Universe</em>, Sugar is still an <em>Invader Zim</em> fan. "Yes, I wrote the forward to the <em>Invader Zim</em> art book a few years ago. I didn’t mention this drawing of course. But they know I was, and am, a big fan."</p><p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/gamehistoryorg.bsky.social/post/3lsepibvji22r">The Video Game History Foundation's Bluesky account</a> points out that after that first mention in the magazine in 2002, Sugar would come up again 15 years later as part of a preview for the RPG, Steven Universe: Save the Light (written by yours truly after playing it at E3).</p><p>To dive deep into <em>Game Informer</em>'s archive of magazines all the way back to 1991, just make an account on the website and <a href="https://gameinformer.com/magazine-archive">head here</a>. You can also explore the Video Game History Foundation's impressive archive of many more video game magazines (including <em>Game Informer</em>) by <a href="https://archive.gamehistory.org/">heading here</a>.</p>
<p><img loading=”lazy” src=”https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2025/06/25/ec7206f6/rebeccasugerenvelopeartwinner.jpg” width=”800″ height=”450″ alt=”” typeof=”foaf:Image” class=”image-style-body-default” /></p>
<p>Back in 2002, in the Devil May Cry 2 issue of <em>Game Informer</em> magazine (<a href=”https://www.gameinformer.com/magazine-archive/114-devil-may-cry-2″>which you can read right here for free if you have an account on our website</a>), we featured a piece of <em>Invader Zim</em> fan art in the Envelope Art section. We declared it the October winner and confusingly wrote, “Deformed goth chicks are cool!” as its caption. <a href=”https://bsky.app/profile/kylehilliard.bsky.social/post/3lseqooanm22c”>Recently, Bluesky user @drewchuck.bsky.social</a>, while looking through Video Game History Foundation’s impressive archive of video game magazines, noticed the art was attributed to Rebecca Sugar. Rebecca Sugar is not a common name, but we suspected it might just be a coincidence, so we reached out to confirm if it was them.</p><p>”Yes I did draw this,” Sugar told us over e-mail. “I must have been 15.” Back in 2002, Rebecca Sugar was a talented teenage artist, but today they are known primarily as the creator of Cartoon Network’s <em>Steven Universe</em>. <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7PWNpBDPjI”>You can also find their music in Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi’s latest game, To a T</a>.</p>
<img loading=”lazy” src=”https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2025/06/25/9c02991a/fanartrsugar.jpg” typeof=”foaf:Image” alt class=”image-style-body-default”>
<p>”Yes I remember!” Sugar wrote. “I was proud of it. But at the time I felt guilty winning with fan art. I felt I should have sent something original. I had plenty of original characters back then. I was also confused by the caption.”</p><p>Sugar was disappointed that one of their first technically published works was fan art, but was still proud of the achievement. “I remembered that I’d won for <em>Zim</em> fan art, but I forgot about all the other characters around the border,” Sugar wrote. “I was reading a lot of independent comics at that age, and drawing my own. Jhonen’s comics were my favorite. <em>Johnny the Homicidal Maniac</em> and <em>Squee</em> of course, and especially <em>I Feel Sick</em>. Seeing Devi drawings on there makes me nostalgic.”<br><br>Despite finding their own success with work on <em>Adventure Time</em> and creating <em>Steven Universe</em>, Sugar is still an <em>Invader Zim</em> fan. “Yes, I wrote the forward to the <em>Invader Zim</em> art book a few years ago. I didn’t mention this drawing of course. But they know I was, and am, a big fan.”</p><p><a href=”https://bsky.app/profile/gamehistoryorg.bsky.social/post/3lsepibvji22r”>The Video Game History Foundation’s Bluesky account</a> points out that after that first mention in the magazine in 2002, Sugar would come up again 15 years later as part of a preview for the RPG, Steven Universe: Save the Light (written by yours truly after playing it at E3).</p><p>To dive deep into <em>Game Informer</em>’s archive of magazines all the way back to 1991, just make an account on the website and <a href=”https://gameinformer.com/magazine-archive”>head here</a>. You can also explore the Video Game History Foundation’s impressive archive of many more video game magazines (including <em>Game Informer</em>) by <a href=”https://archive.gamehistory.org/”>heading here</a>.</p>