Qiaoyu Liao — Suuugar!

Qiaoyu Liao — Suuugar! (17 September 2026).

What happened

On 17 September 2026 animator Qiaoyu Liao released Suuugar!, a graduate short that watches a clay squirrel bake a cheesecake — until she absentmindedly pours sugar into her tea and forgets the cake entirely. The premise is simple, but the film lives on timing, texture and performance: every shrug, sip and panicked glance is hand-made, frame by frame.

How it was made

Liao trained in traditional Chinese painting in Shanghai before studying for an MA in Character Animation at Central Saint Martins, where stop motion became her focus. For Suuugar! she shot everything directly overhead to keep a flat, illustrated look, then built a multiplane set — separate transparent layers for background, character and foreground props — to add subtle depth without losing that graphic composition.

Clay was the core material. Liao chose it because its fingerprints and small inconsistencies are part of the mood; reshaping clay frame by frame creates those tiny shifts that give stop motion its charm. She also used live-action reference and animatics, filming herself to study timing and real-world reactions before animating in Dragonframe.

"The idea came from something very simple: how easily we can get distracted by small things, even when we’re in the middle of doing something important," Liao says.

Why music and pop-culture fans should care

Animation fans and music fans share a love of timing and rhythm, and Suuugar! reads like a tightly produced mini-score: every beat, pause and accent is engineered to land a laugh. The use of live-action reference gives the squirrel a human cadence that feels almost musical in its phrasing, so if you follow music videos, indie animation or tactile visuals in album campaigns, this short is an exercise in pacing and craft.

Beyond technique, Suuugar! is a reminder that small, relatable moments can make the most vivid stories. For anyone who appreciates careful production design and the analogue warmth of handmade work, Liao’s film is a compact, satisfying watch.