{"id":3188,"date":"2016-08-23T01:01:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T08:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greetingcarduniverse.com\/blog\/?p=3188"},"modified":"2025-02-03T15:48:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T22:48:38","slug":"christie-black-gcu-june-challenge-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greetingcarduniverse.com\/blog\/christie-black-gcu-june-challenge-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Christie Black — GCU June Challenge Winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Christie Black’s Creations from the Heart<\/a><\/p>\n

Please add any awards or contests you’ve won outside of GCU.<\/span><\/p>\n

I really hadn’t entered many contests, but when I was in 7th grade, I won 2nd Place in a contest held by the city with my drawing of a historic building on our Main Street.<\/p>\n

In 2001, my design was chosen in a logo contest for a program the city was doing.<\/p>\n

I had many of my designs chosen as “Today’s Best Awards” on Zazzle.<\/p>\n

Please add the URLs of your favorite cards in your storefront.<\/span><\/p>\n

My three favorites for now are very recent cards.\u00a0 I think they represent what I like to do as an artist.\u00a0 Be silly, draw animals, inspire and motivate.<\/p>\n

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Please list any of your professional social media sites:<\/p>\n

Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Linkedin<\/a><\/p>\n

Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

What was your inspiration for your winning card?\u00a0 <\/span>Please walk us through the process of how this card went from an idea to a greeting card.<\/span><\/p>\n

My inspiration was that as a native Texan there is so much I love about Texas.\u00a0 The word cloud pattern seen in the background covers the many things you will discover in Texas.\u00a0 I have stacks and stacks of papers with my sketches on them and I just knew I had some longhorns and armadillos somewhere.\u00a0I found the two that I liked and gave them sad faces, placed them in a patch of bluebonnets (because us Texans are known for stopping along the highways to snap a picture of ourselves in the bluebonnets!) and added the rustic TX flag in the background.\u00a0 The inside of the card features some TX slang and the mention of friendship as this is the Friendship State!<\/p>\n

You’ve taken 1st and 2nd place in prior GCU’s Design Challenges, what advice would you give to other artists who are hesitant to enter?<\/span><\/p>\n

I say give it a go, you might be inspired to create something that is out of your element.\u00a0 For someone who has a hard time coming up with ideas, this will give you some guidance.\u00a0 Or,\u00a0 like in my case, I was able to use ideas I already had but give them a purpose.<\/p>\n

Clearly you are an animal lover, do you have pets and if so tell us about them and how they inspire your work?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0You would be right!\u00a0 I have enjoyed pets for as long as I can remember … dogs, cats, birds, fish, ferrets, gerbils, hamster and guinea pig.\u00a0 Today we have Tigger, our yellow tabby cat;\u00a0 our Cocker Spaniel ,Sassie; our mouse, Mitzi and some fish.\u00a0 I call Tigger my art buddy as he was usually sharing my chair as I worked on my drawings.\u00a0 He can be found in a lot of my work.\u00a0 Now at nearly 18 years old, his health is slowly deteriorating. A few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure if he would make it through the weekend so I quickly drew a fond memory of him as he lay on my desk beside me … that’s him in the card above with the waffle because he would attack you for a waffle!\u00a0 The town I live in has the hippo as a mascot, so you will find lots of hippos in my works as well.<\/p>\n

What sparked your interest in art? Did you start as a young child?<\/span><\/p>\n

I always enjoyed being creative and was usually found writing and illustrating my own stories.\u00a0 I had a grandmother that adored my drawings and was my inspiration to keep at it.\u00a0 My husband has happily taken over that role.\u00a0 I am rarely seen without paper and pencil; drawing is my happy addiction!<\/p>\n

Do you have formal training or are you self-taught?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Self-taught, I only took one year of art in high school.<\/p>\n

Is your work done by hand and then scanned or do you work entirely on the computer?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0All of my older work was drawn and colored by hand and scanned.\u00a0 These days, with my Wacom, I tend to scan in my sketches and do a lot of my coloring on the computer, but I enjoy both.<\/p>\n

Have you ever\/do you currently have a job other than as an artist?<\/span><\/p>\n

I have a degree in electrical engineering (what was I thinking?) and I worked for Motorola for 10 years.\u00a0 Chronic pain issues made it difficult to work a regular job, so after I had my first child I became a\u00a0 stay-at-home mom.\u00a0 When the internet came about, it opened the door for me to make money with my art.<\/p>\n

What GCU artist(s) do you admire?<\/span><\/p>\n

I really like Gerda Steiner<\/a>, but I admire anyone who draws animals, or does mixed media and whimsical works!<\/p>\n

What would we be surprised to learn about you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I live in a house full of dyslexics! It is kind of a topsy-turvy world.\u00a0 Even though there are many struggles, I think the best thing about it is the creativity that flows through our family. \u00a0 We’ll be working on book apps to produce the stories I have written and illustrated and the games my son has ideas for.\u00a0 We do woodworking to produce my whimsical characters and mixed media art which we sell on Etsy and local fairs. My older daughter is really becoming a wonderful artist and my youngest daughter draws and has desires to go into the culinary arts. Art has proved to be a much needed outlet for all of us!<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christie Black’s Creations from the Heart Please add any awards or contests you’ve won outside of GCU. I really hadn’t entered many contests, but when I was in 7th grade, I won 2nd Place in a contest held by the city with my drawing of a historic building on our Main Street. In 2001, my … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design-challenge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t