The former footballer scoring with his art

When Craig Black walked away from a career as a professional footballer he had no idea what to do next, until a chance meeting set him on a path to becoming an artist.

Growing up in Greenock, Craig had two passions – football and drawing.

“There was a park right across from my home,” the 35-year-old said.

“I used to play there during the day and, at night after dinner when it was too dark to go back outside, I just found myself drawing anything football-related – badges, boots, names on the backs of shirts.”

Today, this love of art finds him running his own studio with his wife, Ally. His work involves painting footballs and it has taken him to both the Qatar World Cup and the 2023 Champions League Final in Istanbul.

Craig once had ambitions of playing football professionally and in his teens that dream looked to be coming true. He played for Greenock Morton’s youth team and in his sixth year the club offered him a contract.

His mum and his school art teacher, Paul Murray, both encouraged Craig to continue his school studies to keep his options open and an agreement was reached with the club that allowed Craig to finish his Advanced Higher Art and Design.

After that, though, it was football all the way.

“For the next four years I didn’t touch any art and design at all. In those four years I played for Morton for about five minutes,” he said.

Craig found himself stuck playing in youth teams and the reserves, unable to secure a move or break into the first team.

“It was a challenging and frustrating time. I was determined to be a footballer but I wasn’t enjoying it like I had when I was growing up.

“It just battered me down to be brutally honest.”

Craig decided he did not want to play any more. “I wanted to do something that put a smile back on my face,” he said.

On the day he left Greenock Morton, Craig went to the pub with some friends and bumped into his old art teacher. It was the first time he had seen Paul Murray in four years.

They chatted about his decision to quit football, and his future plans.

“Paul said ‘why don’t you try art and design?'”

Craig thought it was good advice and joined a course at Glasgow’s Cardonald College. It rekindled his love for drawing and design.

He played for Largs Thistle throughout his two-year course and while he thoroughly enjoyed playing he knew his future had moved away from football.

“While I studied I knew my goal was to be an artist,” he said.

After graduating in 2013, he moved to London and worked for design agencies, specialising in typography, a form of art involving lettering. A high point came in 2020 when he worked on a new typeface for Rangers FC.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes of his day job, Craig was creating his own studio back home in Greenock, with plans to launch himself as a visual artist.

He had been experimenting with acrylic paint, which is easy to mix and fast-drying, to create striking designs.

Craig struck on the idea of combining his passions for football and art by pouring the paint in coloured layers over a football.

As he fine-tuned his technique, he was inspired to create an artwork to mark the Scotland national men’s team qualifying for their first European Championships in 22 years. In his flat, he gathered together paints of the team’s colours, and a football.

“I did my first paint pour and it blew me away. But it was the pandemic, so only Ally could see it.”

Craig felt confident he had a concept he could share with the wider world, and over six months before the Euros kicked off in 2021 he created Acrylic Fusion – a series of footballs in the colours of the different competing countries.

“I created content – video rolls and imagery – showing how the balls were created and uploaded it the week before the Euros. It went viral.”

Craig was soon landing commissions from England’s Premier League and football governing bodies Uefa and Fifa, which invited him to the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

“Fifa got in touch nine weeks before the tournament kicked off. It was just a life-changing moment,” he said.

He was asked to create a ball for every one of the 32 competing teams and take part in live shows in front of players and staff.

In the first two weeks of the tournament Craig gave demonstrations to audiences whose members include Welsh star Gareth Bale and former Dutch international Clarence Seedorf.

“The most surreal moment for me was creating the Brazil football with legends Cafu and Roberto Carlos – footballers I had admired growing up – sitting in the audience watching me,” he said.

Since then, Craig has performed in the hospitality village at this year’s Champions League Final and been commissioned to paint balls for US basketball’s NBA and American football body, the NFL.

Ally, 34, from Gourock, has also joined the business full-time to manage the day-to-day running.

She said: “It has always been a vision and dream of mine to work alongside Craig and make it a family business in order to allow us a flexible and exciting lifestyle that works around our little girl Olivia who is three years old.

“The best part of being a family business is being able to travel together and take our little girl along with us.”

Early next year, the family will travel to Australia for an eight-week solo exhibition starting on 15 January in Sydney’s Vandal Gallery, which specialises in showcasing progressive art.

Being based in Inverclyde is something the Blacks are proud of. Ally said: “Being from Scotland is something Craig doubles down on.

“You don’t have to go to New York or London to be successful. You can conquer anything from your home town.”

Craig said the couple have had to take risks by striking out on their own and investing in the studio.

“I’m a working class boy from Greenock and hopefully I can inspire others to chase their own dreams,” he said.