A TALENTED Woking artist was thrilled when he scooped top slot in a national competition this month.

Simon Cole, who is 35 and a keen computer gamer, lives in Goldsworth Park, and this was the first time he had ever entered an art contest.

The Final Fantasy design competition was set up on the game’s website to celebrate its first year of success online.

Simon explained: “ The contest was put up and, as I’ve always been keen at art and drawing and had recently got an art tablet for my computer, I thought I’d just have a go for the practice.”

Simon had to produce a piece of artwork that depicted the characters and story from one of four Final Fantasy categories or ‘worlds’. He chose Life in Eorzea.

He added: “But I only had a week to do it in – and I work full time as a web designer. It took me two or three days to complete and I stayed up until about 4am to finish it.”

Out of hundreds of entries into the first UK Final Fantasy London Fan-Fest: 2014 artwork contest, 10 digital designs from each category were chosen by the game’s producers.

The 40 pictures were then printed and mounted for a public exhibition in two galleries at the first Final Fantasy convention in the centre of London.

At the end of the convention, the producers picked the winners – and Simon’s came first. He said: “I felt ecstatic. I have always had an interest in art and design, but I didn’t expect to win it.”

Simon’s fabulous artwork was printed and signed by the producer, assistant producer, director, creator and sound creator of the popular game.