SPANISH FORT, Ala. — When Victoria “Tori” Spriggs visits Taiwan this summer for six weeks she will have a dual purpose — learning her mother’s native language and stimulating her artistic instinct, her mother, Lifen, said.

Tori Spriggs, who graduated Monday, was awarded a full scholarship from the Savannah College of Art and Design even though she only began taking art classes her senior year. She was awarded $18,000 a year for a total of four years, which equals $72,000.

When she was in first grade, Tori Spriggs remembers that she did more pencil drawing artwork than her classmates.

“I did it on my own,” she said, and she drew pictures of pets, her home and the outdoors.

While she has used many different mediums to create her pieces, she said she prefers to use oil paints. When she was a junior in high school she entered her first art competition in the Faulkner State Community College art show for high school juniors and seniors. She won first place for Spanish Fort High School for a charcoal drawing which showed a dad holding a baby and named “Loved,” which she eventually gave to her grandmother.

Another contest she entered was promoted by Merrill Lynch for the GMAC Bowl, and she won second place for an unnamed painting of two football players. Merrill Lynch publicized her artwork on the cover of one of one of the company’s regional brochures.

A charcoal and chalk drawing of two elephants entitled “Friendship” also earned Tori Spriggs a first place win from the Bay Rivers Art Guild, and she won a $1,000 college scholarship. In addition, she also won first place in the Chelsea Garvin Original Oyster House Memorial Scholarship and won a $1,000 scholarship.

Judges picked one of her samples from her portfolio which was an unnamed digital piece of a girl and a horse with an Asian theme which she drew with the aid of Adobe Photoshop with a Wacom tablet — which is a stylus used to draw on a computer. She was also recently chosen as one of two winners for a place in the “Young at Art” contest in Fairhope, but the designation of her award has not been announced yet.

In 10th grade, Tori Spriggs started considering creating art as a career.

“I want to have the title of professional,” she said. “I want to be the best.”

And, she said she doesn’t want to worry about money as she intends to help pay her parents back for her other educational expenses.

“I don’t want to let down my parents or the community down because everybody here supports me,” she said.

Her advice for other young artists is to keep the work flowing fast and to work hard all the time.

“You really have to have the determination and motivation. If you really want to be successful in the art field, it has to be your top priority all the time,” she said, which includes some sacrifice and working late.

She may consider being an art teacher one day, she said, because she likes helping people, giving advice and reviewing other people’s work. But she said she doesn’t want to do it until she establishes herself and knows what she is doing.

Tori Spriggs said that her parents are pretty excited now since her education is guaranteed at a private school out of state.

“I didnt doubt her ability, but know it is very competitive,” Lifen Spriggs said.

Her mother said that her daughter had to prove to her parents that she was serious about her art.

“She had her heart set on it,” her mother said about her daughter attending the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Her mother said they were not completely shocked because her daughter had already won five different art awards.

“Once again, she proved her ability to compete,” Life Spriggs said.