Valerie Sofranko

 

​Also known as Valerie Sofranko-Banks, a native of Western Pennsylvania, I graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Soon after I relocated to the San Francisco Bay area where I made my home in Marin County for 20 years. After a few years of doing my own art and the gallery scene I came upon Lucasfilms Ltd and was hired on to make 3D costume accessories for Princess Leia, Lando and the Storm Troopers in "Return of the Jedi".  After working on Jedi I went on board with Chris Walas who began his own FX shop CWI and was doing a movie called "Gremlins".  I worked for Chris on several different feature film projects, in which most of them became popular hit cult films. I spent over 16 years in the Film Industry working for CWI, Lucasfilms and on Disney projects as a special FX technician. In addition I spent a few years working as an Exhibits Specialist, sculpting, painting, model making and doing installations for the Academy of Sciences museum in Golden Gate Park. In 1996 I relocated to New York where I studied acting and performed in local theaters as well as writing comedy material.  After 9/11, I returned to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I had the wonderful opportunity to work for a Masters Degree in Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University's, Entertainment Technology Center. Here is where we as grad students worked together in a team building Virtual Worlds, doing 2D and 3D digital art for Edutainment and Interactive games.

During and after receiving my Masters in 2008, I was adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where I taught in the Entertainment and Industrial Design department. Teaching all the skills and knowledge I had from my Special FX days which included Basic and Advanced Makeup FX, Miniature movie models, Airbrush, Props, Theory and Development of Form and Sculpting.

In 2011, I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater, CMU's Entertainment Technology Center as the staff artist. Here I do 2D digital art in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, be of support to the grad students and their projects, learn new software and give workshops in Makeup FX and Props making to support the BVW (Building Virtual Worlds) and Visual Story classes. This fall I will be introducing a sculpting workshop focusing on stop motion animation puppets. I love working with the students and enjoy the continuous learning that the ETC provides. On the side I do unique 2D digital personal tributes and Visual Biography's. Here you will be able to see a sample of some of that art which is current along with some of the old and everything in between. Enjoy!