I never made a decision to go into art, I never needed to. It was always what I was going to do. I'm sure my parents agreed when, as a baby, I created my first masterpeice entitled 'nail varnish on sheets'. (The ensuing screams were of pride, no doubt). I was born on the south coast of England, halfway between London and Stone Henge, and grew up surrounded by paintings and stories. My father was a professional painter, so the smell of oil paint and the 'dab-dab' sound of brushes equalled home. But the images that filled my head were from the stories my mum read to me - and one book in particular: The Lord of the Rings, sparked a life-long love affair.    I was about four when I saw the Ralph Bakshi animated version at the cinema, and five when I heard the BBC radio plays. I was too small to even lift the book, let alone read the bloody thing, but I was intrigued.    By the time I was twelve I knew the story inside-out, and re-investigated the old animation by Bakshi. Imperfect as it was, I loved it. I was thrilled by the idea of using art to bring story characters to life, and I began drawing my own versions of Tolkien's people. I still do.    Eleven years later, I enrolled in the art college in Portsmouth for a two-year course in visual art (including fine art, graphic design, photography, fashion design, model-making and weaselling). It took me ages to decide which art to specialise in - though in hindsight it should have been obvious: Illustration. The art of making words visible. I applied to the highly-renowned Glasgow School of Art, and to my astonishment was accepted. And after four difficult but interesting years I received my Bachelor of Arts degree.    What surprised me most in both Portsmouth and Glasgow was that the emphasis wasn't on how to draw, but how to think and how to see.  If you can draw, you can draw. It's a slippery skill to be taught - but you can be taught to use that skill in a squillion differerent ways - and that's the fascinating part. (There was also a rather heavy emphasis on arriving early, staying late, and being in every single day without fail.  Apologies to my former tutors for never getting the 'early' bit.)    Glasgow cured me of my curiosity about big cities. I wanted wanted warmer, more peaceful surroundings where I might be able to work full-time as an artist; so I moved to Portugal. This gave me the time and ability to show my work, in shared and solo exhibitions; to privately tutor in art and to illustrate children's books (in Portuguese) as well as do commission work - mostly portraits. But what I still loved doing most was illustrating characters from my favourite stories; stories in films, books, fairytales or history; and doing them in a way that pleased me first and foremost. But luckily for me they pleased other people as well, so I kept doing them. :) Since then I've even been lucky enough to work for Topps on the Lord of the Rings, Masterpieces 2 sketch card set. I'm still striving to find the perfect blend of media and methods for conveying these characters, and while it's still far from perfect, I'm getting closer to my own holy grail of illustration. Until then I shall just enjoy the journey and be glad when others enjoy it as well.   Soni xx