VCU Magazine

August 21, 2025

It was a delight to work with Matthew Stoss for his piece in the Virginia Commonwealth University magazine. My BFA alma mater! The cover of the print magazine features my ‘self portrait’ below. Thank you also to Jim Capobianco, Samantha Wilson and Sara Ellis for sharing their experiences. The magazine is available in print, on-campus and online HERE as of August 2025. Below are some of the images from my work at PIXAR featured in the article, along with some additional character sketches.

Joy and Sadness character exploration as a Story Artist for the original *Inside Out*.

Pajama character sketch as Associate Executive Producer for *Inside Out 2*

Character sketches of Joy from *Inside Out*

Character sketches of Bo Peep from *Toy Story 4*

Paula Persimmon sketches from *Dream Productions* (*Inside Out* Limited Series on *Disney+*)

Valerie's Blog.

Updates on new drawings, works-in-progress and professional work

The AnimAID art auction is LIVE for one more day! The proceeds to benefit fellow Animation Industry colleagues who lost their homes in the LA fires. My Inside Out watercolor paintings are in lot 97 along with dome other Amazing art by fellow Pixar artists! Link in bio. #animaid #insideout

A porch I know well.

It was rough going getting back into gesture drawing this week. I haven’t gone in years. Clunky but the best way to loosen up again with sketching. The model also had a great costume and props!

Digital sketch of Bernal Heights from last week. It’s nice to have layers and an undo button, but screens are not ideal for drawing in the sunshine. It clashes with the screen’s brightness and reflectivity. But sometimes its a fun surprise when I look at the drawing later.

I recently saw the @paulmccartney photo exhibit the @deyoungmuseum in San Francisco, and his ‘hat on a hat’ photos made me laugh a little extra. As many wise story sages in my life have said in reference to compounding wild idea on top of wild idea: “Yea, but is it a HAT on a HAT?” 😂 I’m lookin’ at you husband @matthewluhnstory and @mrdanscanlon It was a great exhibit. My phone photos don’t do justice to the colors of that 1960s film stock in the final room and the atmosphere they created in that space. I also bought this little kaleidoscope lens at the exhibit shop, to use in front of a lens.

@jtmonaco at the board while recording music for @toystory Lamp Life. We were at a small tucked away recording studio in Hollywood. Jake had his hands full with this short that had multiple music styles and cues l. He did an incredible job! At this stage of the process I’d given my thoughts and notes. It was full-on Jake Show! So I had a chance to sketch #toystory. #pixar

A sketch of the big house in the Skywalker Ranch in Marin. What an incredible place for creating. The Pixar features do the final sound mix here. Lamp Life and Dream Productions were also mixed here. I absolutely love this place and the experience of putting those final touches on a film. Each step of the process adds to the story, right to the last moment of creation. #skywalkerranch #pixar

#throwbackthurday Back in 2010, Pixar artists were asked to paint giant aliens any way they liked. I of course volunteered. I made a ballerina pig. I added that tutu with Crayola model magic or something. This thing was huge! Like 13” high. It was in an art exhibit in…China? Not really sure, but apparently they were all lost. Is it in a private home? Lost to the bottom of the ocean? In an Indiana Jones style warehouse resting next to the Arc of the Covenant? We may never know. But at least I got some okay photos of it. #toystory. #toystoryaliens #pixar

So many cakes, so many dresses, SO the Hill to Die On! These elements became such a pivotal story point, that I loved. If there’s anything I knew would make the “Best Dream Ever!” for Joy, it’s a cake dress! The Barbie is a cake I made my daughter’s birthday. The Riley’s-Mom’sDress-As-Cake was Animation Lead Paul Mendoza’s 11 year old daughter’s creation (!!!) for Supervising Animator Tim Pixton’s birthday!! It was also delicious. #dreamproductions #insideout #cakedress

#throwbackthursday Lolly’s Box. 2005. Last throwback of the day. I debated sharing student work for a long time, after all, this was made 20 YEARS ago! Gulp! I like to think I’ve made some progress. 😂 But I also think it’s important to share humble beginnings with students… and this one ended up being the top of my humble starts! Everything else was experiments until making a film with character and a beginning-middle-end, because I wanted to work in Story! This little short launched me into the industry, opening doors. It was a Student Academy Award Finalist, screened at Annecy, and put my portfolio on the top of the stack for the first Pixar Story Internship in 2006!