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Sean McCallum
Husband and father with a passion for painting and drawing, and the role of art in a life of faith.
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Posts
- Apr 27, 12
On May 16th at the Wheaton Academy Spring Art Show, we're going to try something fun... Use multiple iPads as a giant display for student artwork. Thanks to Rick Borovoy, Ph.D. and Brian Knep at MIT's Center for Future Civic Media, we have a way to pull it off. This video is our test using 12 iPads to create the virtual display. I'm thinking we could even go bigger.
It took me way too long to find this, and I haven't seen anything else like it out there. Also, it's free to use! Now I just have to build a rig to mount all the iPads on the wall. - Jan 14, 12
The build crew on Les Mis is a precision strike team. I'm so impressed and in awe of their excellent work. Getting super excited about this set and the entire production! Here are some pics and a few set design concept sketches. - Oct 30, 11
Here are a few more process shots of some portrait studies I've completed recently.
- Sep 26, 11
- Sep 25, 11
I sped this video up as a demonstration of how I've been approaching a recent series of figural painting sketches. It's always been helpful for me to see how others actually paint. Hopefully it will be helpful for some of you too.
- Sep 20, 11
I've been pleasantly busy with teaching in the last few weeks. My students are so talented and a joy to be with in the classroom. I've enjoyed getting to know them. Lots of exciting projects to work on this semester! Grad school is in full swing and I'm making more art. Heres a sample from my Head Drawing class. - Aug 04, 11
Well, we've finished the mural and today is our last day together. I've had a great time getting to know these amazing students. They've really done a great job on this collaborative piece. - Aug 02, 11
Here's Peter's shirt from Summer English Institute art class. Almost 30 students made shirts. Peter really put a lot of time customizing his. I thought it was pretty cool. - Aug 02, 11
We've made lots of progress on our mural for Summer English Institute at Wheaton Academy. I put together a composition using the students' drawings, then they transferred the artwork onto our mural wall. The wall is composed of 16 2' x 2' Masonite boards attached to a frame with Velcro. That way, students can take home a piece if they want. - Jul 18, 11Last week I started working with a great group of students from all over Asia. They are here to study English immerse themselves in American. Some will return to the States for school in the fall. I have the opportunity to make art with them three days a week for an hour and a half. Our first project involved t-shirts, tie dye and Super Soakers (pictures to follow). Last Thursday we began to brainstorm ideas for a mural project we'll be working on for the next few weeks. Here are some of their ideas and a great group picture (some were too shy to be in the picture) in front of the doodle wall.
- Jun 19, 11
After almost a month off, the summer semester of my grad school starts up tomorrow. A normal semester is 15 weeks. Over the summer, the work of those 15 weeks is condensed into 7 weeks. It's going to be crazy!
I'm looking forward to teaching a summer art class for international students at Wheaton Academy in West Chicago the month of July. I begin teaching art full time at Wheaton Academy in August. I'll leave you with this hilariously ironic, if not somewhat culturally insensitive t-shirt creation I put together for a friend as a replacement for an old intramural team t that has seen better days. - May 15, 11
Here is an example of a charcoal rendering on gray charcoal paper. the Paper establishes the mid-tone, so the use of white charcoal is important to insert the highlights. Still some rendering to do in the central vase and background elements.
- May 15, 11
For our final project in Drawing From Imagination, we had to choose between two story excerpts. I chose Snow White. These are the preliminary value studies for the final drawing. Anyone have a preference? I'm thinking I'll go with the 2 point vertical perspective which is the one where the viewer is looking up at Snow White from a lower vantage point.
- May 15, 11
This assignment required us to post two figures in combat, cloth the figures (or not so much) and establish a setting. Here's the result.
- May 15, 11
Here is the completed portrait from Week 12 of my Chiaroscuro class. There's a bit more refining to do here including softening the wrinkles a bit as well as feathering out the edges of the hair to give the appearance of depth in the image.
- May 02, 11
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(630) 384-9495 | artbysean@me.com | http://www.seanmccallum.me
Sean McCallum
Illustration, Painting and Drawing | Art by Sean McCallum
Twitter: http://twitter.com/artbysean | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/artbyseanmccallum | Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/artbysean - Apr 25, 11
Here's another project which is a work in progress. For this assignment, we're using photo reference which I will post later.
- Mar 30, 11
Last April I begin collaborating with Kirk Hawthorne, the Then Community Kids Pastor at Community Fellowship Church in West Chicago. Kirk now serves at First Baptist Church at Savoy in Savoy Illinois. His creativity and passion for seeing families reached with the Gospel as contagious. Community Fellowship was doing a series on The Seven Churches in Revelation, a not-so-easy topic to translate for children. He pulled it off by focusing on the positive elements of Jesus' words to the seven churches. Kirk said, "Remember we are trying to teach from the positive so we are thinking about what Jesus implied “was needed” by each church – it is these qualities we want to emulate." He sent me the list below and I developed a series of images to illustrate the teaching points for the children during the series.
Ephesus – A heartSmyrna – A Runner or runners running up a hill or mountainPergamum – A dirty torn robe next to a new white robeThyatira – A hand or hands holding a bible tightlySardis – A traffic light with the red light onPhiladelphia – A CrownLaodicea – A Kid jumping for joy in air, hands raisedI usually ended up creating one image per week, sometimes emailing them to Kirk, sometimes just hours before church started. Ideas developed and a visual theme emerged. Sometimes new ideas would change the direction of a piece which was exciting. These images were geared for kids and I'm really proud of how they turned out and honored to have been able to play a role in the process. Truly a fun and exciting collaboration.Are you collaborating with other artists in your field or even in other fields? In what ways have you been able to communicate your faith journey through your art? - Mar 27, 11
Many of my friends are doing great creative work. What is the purpose of their creativity? A better question may be... How do they find purpose through their creative expression. As a Christian, I believe that I engage in acts of co-creation with the Creator of the Universe. My creative expression is an act of worship through which I can identify with the one who created me. It's about relationship, community, sharing and loving others. It's the beauty of the Gospel. That's where I find purpose through creative expression.
What do you do that's creative? What's your outlet for expression? Whatever it is, are you doing it as much as you would like to? How important is creativity in your daily life? How does creativity, or lack of creativity affect your sense of purpose? Share more about your creative work on this Facebook Discussion Topic at the Art by Sean McCallum Page on Facebook.
- Mar 23, 11
This still life study of a draped sheet is an exercise in understanding the relationship of curved forms and cast shadows to give the illusion of depth. This project spanned two weeks, one building upon the other. Examples of both stages are represented. The challenge here was to look at the sheet and exclude elements or details that didn't add to the overall composition. I probably left in a little more detail than I should have here. Some of the lines actually detract from what would otherwise be a smoother more flowing drawing. At this stage in the class, I'm beginning to make some breakthroughs with regard to value and contrast but still hesitant to really go the distance on a full value rendering.
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Photos
