David Sosalla

David Sosalla is a visual effects artist specialized on model work and sculpting.
As a former part of the Apogee, Inc. staff, he worked on effects, props, and miniatures as model maker and model sculptor on . Among his creations are shapes for the K't'inga class model on which he worked with Bruno George, the heads for the thruster suit models, and mini figures of Montgomery Scott and James T. Kirk used for the Travel pod model. He then worked as model sculptor for Industrial Light & Magic along with Kirk Thatcher on the Ceti eel ear prop seen in though uncredited.
Several years later, Sosalla worked as Creature Supervisor for ILM on . He worked on the creation of the Klingon monster dog while Ken Ralston puppeteered it and created with Tom St. Armand the Kruge puppet.
His last contribution to the Star Trek franchise was in when he worked as Visual Effects Supervisor for the company POP Film and POP Animation on .
==Career==
Sosalla attended the University of Colorado where he majored in Fine Arts and Art History. In 1975, he worked as a designer of community art, when he was awarded a commission of five large sculptures by the City of Boulder, located in city's downtown Boulder Walk. 
Early in his career while working for Apogee, Inc., Sosalla created models and miniatures for Battlestar Galactica (1978, working with Richard Alexander, David Beasley, David Berry, Mark Cane, Angela Diamos, Don Dow, Patricia Rose Duignan, Richard Edlund, John Erland, Steve Gawley, Rick Gilligan, Denny Kelley, Peter Kuran, David McCue, Grant McCune, Ralph McQuarrie, Alvah J. Miller, Harry Moreau, Max Morgan, Bruce Nicholson, Lorne Peterson, , Jonathan Seay, Robert Shepherd, John Shourt, Bill Shourt, Douglas James Smith, Michael Sweeney, Ken Swenson, Don Trumbull, Dennis Dorney, and John C. Moulds), (1979, working with David Beasley, John Dykstra, John Erland, Bruce Logan, David Scott, Robert Shepherd, and Grant McCune), (1982, with Richard Alexander, David Bartholomew, David Beasley, Mat Beck, Cosmos Bolger, Mark Cane, Angela Diamos, Dennis Dorney, Roger Dorney, John Dykstra, John Erland, Bruno George, Pete Gerard, Rick Gilligan, Richie Helmer, Paul Johnson, Ann M. Johnston, Michael Joyce, Denny Kelley, Bruce Logan, Pat McClung, Grant McCune, Dennis Michelson, Mike Middleton, Alvah J. Miller, Harry Moreau, David B. Nowell, Jerry Pooler, Gary Rhodaback, Steve Sass, Gregory J. Schmidt, David Scott, Robert Shepherd, Bill Shourt, Douglas James Smith, , Michael Sweeney, Ken Swenson, Don Trumbull, Gregory Jein, Robert Short, and Denise Shurtleff), (1987, with John Eaves, Grant McCune, Tom Pahk, Debbi Nikkel, Christopher S. Ross, and Ron Thornton), and (1988).
Sosalla worked for Industrial Light & Magic as model maker and supervisor on (1982), (1983), (1984, starring Zach Galligan and Dick Miller), (1984), (1985), (1985), (1985), and (1986).
He worked as model department supervisor for USFX on (1986), as visual effects coordinator on (1986), as mechanic for Chiodo Brothers Productions, Inc. on (1988, starring Scott Grimes), and as miniatures supervisor on (1989) which earned him a Saturn Award nomination in the category Best Special Effects in 1991. He also worked as special effects supervisor on (1992).
Further credits as visual effects supervisor/ digital effects supervisor for the company Pacific Title/Mirage Digital include (1990), (1993), (1994, with Roland Blancaflor, Greg Cannom, Kevin Pike, Larry Odien, and Keith VanderLaan), (1995), (1995), (1995), (1995), (1996), (1996), Stuart Baird's (1996), (1996), (1997), (1997), (1997), (1998), (1998), (1998), (1998), and (1999).
For POP Film and POP Animation, Sosalla worked as digital effects supervisor on (1999), (1999, with Tommy Tancharoen), (1999), (2000), (2000), (2000, starring Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen and Rebecca Romijn), (2000), and (2000). For the company R!ot, he worked as visual effects supervisor on (2002, starring Rebecca Romijn), (2002), and (2002).
Between 2002 and 2009, Sosalla worked as visual effects supervisor for the company Pacific Title on a number of projects including (2002), (2002), (2003), and (2003), (2002), (2002), (2003), (2003, with Scott Rader, Brian Fisher, Don Greenberg, and Brad Kalinoski), (2004), (2004), (2004), (2004), (2005), (2005), (2005), (2005), (2005), (2006, directed by Justin Lin), (2006) and (2007), (2007), (2007), (2007), (2008), (2008), (2009), and (2009).
By 2010, he retired from the motion picture business to Tehachapi, California, where he focus on his personal interests of oil painting, etching, and producing remarkable work. 
== External link ==
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Category:Special and Visual effects staff
Category:ILM production staff