GRAPHICS student Jody Moore looks set for a bright future after her work caught the eye of pop superstar Sir Elton John.

She dashed forward from the crowd at a recent concert and persuaded her music hero to take one of her colourful designs.

The 18-year-old from Catterick is currently studying for a national diploma in graphics at Darlington College of Technology, and she thrust her artwork into Sir Elton's hand at a concert in Birmingham.

"I was in the front row and knew that he always comes over to shake hands with the crowd," said Jody.

"I love everything about him. I first saw him at Wembley when I was seven and I've seen him twice this year. I decided to do a portrait of him to pass to him on stage.

"When he came forward I just gave it to him and he said 'thanks'. I put my name and address on the back just in case."

A second surprise came when she returned to her seat and the woman sitting next to her took an interest in her designs.

"She worked for a print company in London and has offered to reproduce my Elton artwork into posters and prints to be sold at Elton John events and on the fan club website," said Jody.

"I said I would as long as some of the money went to his charity, the AIDS Foundation."

Jody produced a portfolio of work based on Sir Elton as part of her course work at college. She passed this on to the print company but then disaster struck when the work was stolen from an exhibition.

"I cried my eyes out but luckily they had scanned my work into a computer so will be able to print it up. They have been really good about it and are even trying to get Elton to sign some of the work."

She has already had emails from as far away as America and Germany from people interested in her work.