LJMU design graduate scoops 'Beatles' Grammy

Liverpool School of Art & Design has its own Grammy winner – after first-class graduate Sue Loughlin scooped Best Music Video.

Sue is part of the team that created the dreamlike visuals for The Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping”.

The animation - combining 1,300 oil paintings – was released with the special edition of 1966 album Revolver, and created by London-based Jelly Productions where Sue is an executive producer.

Described as ‘eye-popping’ and ‘simply beautiful’ by the mainstream media, the Grammy win led John Lennon’s Estate Twitter (@Johnlennon) to comment:  “Congratulations to The Beatles, director Em Cooper and producers Jonathan Clyde, Sophie Hilton, Sue Loughlin and Laura Thomas for winning the GRAMMY Award for Best Music Video.”

Sue Loughlin graduated in Graphic Design from the then Liverpool Polytechnic in the 1980s. She went on to the National Film & TV School and has enjoyed an illustrious career in advertising and winning awards with commercial direction including Clio, Cannes Lion and D&AD. She has been a part of awards juries including D&AD, BAFTA and Edinburgh International Film Festival and has taught animation at some of the UK’s top institutions including RCA, NFTS.

Grammy jurors praised the video for exploring the space between dreaming and wakefulness and the use of animation rostrum on sheets of celluloid. She painted every frame individually in oil-paint, a laborious process which took many months.

Beatles researcher Mariana Brickman tweeted: “It was a wonderful moment to see them winning! It really is one of the greatest music videos ever! And it's beautiful to see how John and the Beatles still inspire the greatest things in art and in people!”

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