Ryan Calloway: Master of Music, Art, and Dance

Hal Smith: Ryan, you can be contacted for original artwork, graphic design, swing dance instruction, to lead a band and to perform as a sideman. That is an impressive list of talent for one individual! Which one of those skills did you pursue first? Ryan Calloway: Thank you, Hal! I’m generally a curious person which can be a double-edged sword, but ultimately I prefer it that way—I’m never bored. Art was my first love and everything comes back to drawing for me. I was taught to draw as early as I can remember by my mother. I picked up some design and digital chops putzing around my dad’s advertising studio in my teens and studied 3D computer graphics at a trade school in Hollywood when I was about 21. That led to a career in film working on projects such as Star Wars, Transformers, Rango, World of Warcraft, and a bunch more. HS: I had no idea that you worked in the film industry! We need to talk about your artwork, but first: can you describe your contributions to the films you mentioned? RC: My title was Sr. Digital Artist, which is wonderfully vague. In my case, it meant 3D modeling, texturing (painting), and designing all sorts of things—creatures, robots, spaceships, props, landscapes, and so on. I led with “creatures” because, let’s face it, they sound the coolest. They were also my main focus and what I enjoyed most, with robots as a close second. If you�