Emmy awarded to Grand Valley alumnus

Add an Emmy to the list of proud achievements by Grand Valley State University alumnus Greg Colton.

Colton is a 1998 graduate from Grand Valley’s School of Communications, in film and video production with an emphasis in animation. He received the 2010 Emmy Award for best "Individual Achievement in Animation."

The award is for Colton’s storyboard work on the "Pie Song" sequence in the "Road to the Multiverse," episode of "Family Guy," that originally aired on September 27, 2009. He also directed the episode, which is included on the series’ newest DVD, Vol. 8.

Colton started out as a lip sync artist on "South Park" and has worked on various television shows including the "Powerpuff Girls," "Mucha Lucha," "Invader Zim," "Dilbert," and "3-South." The first episode of the “Family Guy” animated television series he directed, "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter," premiered in 2005 on Fox-TV. Colton was also included in the 2005 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour) as assistant director for the “Family Guy” episode "North by North Quahog."

Though he lives in Los Angeles, Colton has returned to Grand Valley several times to describe his work as a storyboard and layout artist to students in the same program he graduated from. Professor Deanna Morse shows Colton's demo reel in animation classes every year.

"Greg took advantage of each assignment in his classes, and worked his projects to make solid portfolio material," said Morse. "He had a quirky sense of humor, great energy for his work, and is a very talented cartoonist. As a student, he already had a cadre of characters that he had designed. I'm not surprised at his successes."

Colton said he doesn't want to become complacent, “so I'm going to keep pushing myself and my crew to make things look great on each and every episode."