Hi, my name is Virginia Smith.

I grew up in the 80s. Some of my best memories are of seeing movies that brought such joy and hope and happiness that I'd lie awake at night thinking about them, losing sleep just so I could relive scenes from them over and over in my imagination. Soon I was making up new scenes and telling myself new stories. The movies I loved most where all about unique characters. Short Circuit is still my favorite movie of all time. Number Five, the military robot who had come to life, won my heart instantly. And when I got to meet the producer of Short Circuit as well as the robot's creators in 1990, I deicded then that I wanted to make movies someday.

The gift to draw made the memories even more pronounced. I'd see a movie again and again just so I could draw the characters to recreate the story from my point of view, or live out the new stories I had created. This was back before everyone had video players or the Internet as a reference, so as soon as I was home from watching the movie, I'd start drawing before I forgot what I had seen!

Starting in about the seventh grade, I began writing stories to go with the drawings, so they could be more detailed and real. I didn't know much about story structure, so I mostly wrote long detailed scenes about characters' actions, thoughts, motivations, and feelings. I wished so much that they all could be real. And by the time I was in high school, my stories had improved and some of them were even pretty good. I had become known for my writing.

At The University of Southern Mississippi I got my degree in film production in 1994. In college I did a series of drawings, stories, a screenplay, and a film project all about a rag doll named Yasha. The little movie was called The Ladder Jacob Built; it's a story about a homeless man who must find Yasha a home for Christmas. I also wrote a feature-length script about Yasha. After my degree I had a brief internship writing book and script coverage for the fledgling Nickelodeon Pictures and then worked in El Segundo, California doing animation for Realtime Associates, a small Los Angeles area firm which produces video game titles for companies like Sega, Nickelodeon, Disney and Viacom. I did pencil test and computer animation, 3D to 2D cleanup for the new 64 bit game systems, and I even designed some layouts and characters for children's educational titles.

A lot has happened since then including two more degrees from USM, where I spent several years developing polymer science educational websites. Now I'm a freelance artist and computer graphics designer and a bagpipe teacher. At heart, however, I'm a cartoonist, illustrator, and a writer. I'm currently working on a variety of projects, including a line of bagpipe greeting cards and several children's animated movie and book concepts on topics ranging from music and piping to robots. I also recently wrote a short screenplay (from a treatment), which was produced in July (2008) as a short film entitled 4th and Goal by a local producer here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. His company is currently using the short to shop the idea in Hollywood, so a feature deal may soon be in the works.

I am also seeking other opportunities to write and produce my scripts as I find my way back into film. And I still do plenty illustration, design and website work. I also play in a local bagpipe band and attend several bagpipe competitions each summer. I'm working on improving my speed at solving the Rubik's Cube and I've also been known to play J.S. Bach on the piano and do amateur radio. In my life I've had some incredible experiences and adventures which I hope to weave into my stories and artwork one day. And I most certainly look forward to the rest of my life and what cool new stories it will bring.