Lucasfilm has posted a new employee spotlight piece on Greg Verreault who works as a Senior Animator at Lucasfilm Animation, his dream job after working previously at Sony Pictures Imageworks, Blizzard Entertainment, and Disney Animation.
It seems that Lucasfilm was always in the stars for Senior Animator Greg Verreault. In 2022, he attended his first Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim where he met voice acting legend Dee Bradley Baker, who most recently performed many of the lead roles in Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021-24). “I was wearing a Hunter clone helmet because I didn’t have a full costume, but I was like, I’ll just wear a helmet. I love this guy,” Verreault tells Lucasfilm.com. “And I wanted to represent Bad Batchbecause I was such a fan of the show. He signed my helmet and I literally told him, ‘Man, you’re just one of my favorite talents in voice acting. And someday, I swear to God, I will animate you somehow. I’ll find a way. I’ll try to join a project that you’re on.’”
Verreault kept to his word, getting hired onto the Lucasfilm Animation team to help conclude the journey of Clone Force 99 in Season 3 of The Bad Batch. He crossed paths with Baker again at the Season 2 wrap party, where he had brought that same helmet for the entire animation team to sign.
That is just one of many magical moments Verreault has experienced on his Lucasfilm Animation journey so far. Born and raised in Québec City, Canada, Verreault had always set out for animation as a career, having been inspired as a kid by series like Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-08) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-20). He studied at Laval University, focusing largely on 2D animation.
“I just wanted to do epic scale storytelling and adventure but with the unique qualities of animation,” says Verreault. “Animation brought that extra element to those classic epic stories that you see in live-action, like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. They had the same effect for me that Avatar: The Last Airbender had in terms of their epicness, but on top of that, animation really pushes the visuals of a story. The character design, backgrounds, movement – everything is stylized and beautiful. The distinct qualities of animation clicked for me and I decided I want to do exactly that.”
Verreault’s introduction to Lucasfilm Animation came once again with the magic of Star WarsCelebration. When he attended the 2022 event in Anaheim, he met artists who put him in touch with Animation Director Keith Kellogg. “A friend of mine filmed a video of me saying, ‘Hey Keith, I’m Greg. I’m an animator. If you ever have a chance to meet….’ I was just trying to connect and learn about his career. It’s fascinating to me not just as a fan, but I wanted to know about his animation, his path, and what he did. I’d come to respect artists like Keith and [Cinematography, Lighting & VFX Director] Joel Aron after watching the Clone Wars documentaries on DVD. After sending that video greeting, I happened to be visiting San Francisco and we met up for lunch, which turned into kind of an interview because that’s when he told me that Lucasfilm Animation might have an opening for a new job and everything happened so magically.”
The opportunity to work for Lucasfilm Animation was a dream come true for Verreault. He grew up watching Star Wars, his parents introducing him to the original trilogy on VHS. His real passion for the galaxy began with the prequel trilogy. “One of my core memories is going to see Revenge of the Sith on opening night,” the animator explains. “I think it was midnight or 1:00 AM. That was a core memory of just being there and thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is the final piece of the story.’ I’ll always remember this.”
Verreault created the above drawing for this year’s Star Wars Day. Read the article in full here.
The post Lucasfilm Employee Spotlight: Greg Verreault appeared first on Jedi News.
