Between logic and instinct: The creative life of Marcus Callum

When was the last time you met someone who builds elegant software and paints award-winning portraits? That’s Marcus Callum, our very own community member from the UK.

Most days, he’s writing elegant full-stack code, building automation systems, helping clients grow through smart, search-optimised strategies, and experimenting with AI. But outside of client calls and product builds, he’s something else entirely: a classically trained artist whose oil portraits have been published in GQ and Vanity Fair and hung in galleries around the world.

It’s the kind of dual identity that makes you pause. Because while most of us are being asked to pick a lane, creative or technical, human or machine; Marcus has quietly chosen both. And somehow, it works.

While the whole world is loudly debating whether AI is killing art or unlocking its next chapter, Marcus isn’t here to shout over the noise. He’s here to show us what it looks like to live in the middle of that conversation and maybe soften the edges of it.

We sat down with Marcus to talk about what it means to create, to code, and to care deeply about both.

A developer by destiny, an artist by heart

Marcus didn’t plan to get into programming. He wasn’t the kid hacking games at 13 or building websites from his bedroom. Tech found him in a more roundabout way, through an aptitude test, of all things.

“They said I’d make a good programmer,” he shrugs. “So, I just… went with it.”

He picked things up fast; first in government, then leading teams, and eventually stepping into freelance work. But with each promotion, he found himself drifting further from the part he actually loved: the building.

“I was managing more than making,” he says. “And I realised, I missed writing code. I missed solving problems in real time.”

So, he pivoted; moved countries, launched his own agency (Elvifi), and rebuilt a version of work that gave him space to stay hands-on. These days, he’s not just writing elegant code, he’s designing systems, automating workflows, and helping businesses tap into the practical power of AI.

But while his days are structured around logic and outcomes, there’s another part of Marcus that runs on something much quieter: instinct.

AI, Art, and the space in between

Right now, AI is the headline everywhere. Will it replace our jobs? Devalue creative work? Democratize access, or just flatten originality?

The debate’s loud. So, when we sat down with Marcus: a full-stack developer and a classically trained artist; we couldn’t not ask him about it. Here’s someone who codes automation systems by day and paints museum-grade oil portraits by hand. On paper, it feels like a contradiction.

It’s not.

“AI can replicate how a painting looks. But it can’t replicate the human act of painting” Marcus says.

It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t hesitate. It doesn’t choose to leave a mistake in because it feels right. Painting is a process - instinctual, emotional, even uncertain. That’s what makes it human. AI can make something that looks like art, but it can’t make meaning in the way a person can.

There’s something steady in the way he says it. Not dismissive, not idealistic; just lived-in clarity. He’s not interested in making a villain of the tools he builds. But he also doesn’t pretend they’re capable of everything.

He’s been in both worlds long enough to know that real creativity doesn’t come from speed or scale. It comes from being present. Responding to what’s in front of you. Embracing mistakes, emotion, silence, and yes sometimes inefficiency.

That’s not something a model can imitate. At least not yet. And maybe that’s the point.

Living in both worlds

Marcus doesn’t just talk about the tension between art and tech, he navigates it daily. At his agency, Elvifi: he builds AI-powered tools, automates messy workflows, and helps clients solve real business problems with clean, efficient code. It’s precise, structured work.

Then, when the tech is done for the day, he turns to portraiture: a practice that’s anything but structured. It’s slow. Emotional. Quiet.

“Coding is about logic and rules,” he says. “Painting asks for something else entirely. You’re not solving, you’re sensing.”‍

He describes painting as a process that changes depending on the day, where you’re at emotionally, what you’re thinking, what you’re holding.

Every time you put your hand to the canvas, something different comes out. That’s instinct. That’s human.

It’s that same instinct that keeps him curious as a builder. And it’s why he doesn’t see AI as a threat, but as a mirror. Something to sharpen your thinking against. Something that helps, that gives us superpowers, but never fully replace; what happens when real people make real choices in real time.

That balance doesn’t just shape his work. It shapes how he sees the future: not as a choice between human and machine, but as a space where both push each other to be better.

The human bit AI can’t touch

Marcus doesn’t speak in soundbites. He doesn’t need to. When someone’s lived in two worlds this completely, tech and art, code and canvas; you listen differently.

What he reminds us of is simple, but easy to forget: tools evolve. Trends shift. But the way we make things: the care, the timing, the instinct, that’s still ours.

And maybe that’s the point.

Because while everyone else is rushing to pick a side, Marcus is proof you can build with precision and feel your way through the unknown. That you can write clean code in the morning and spend the evening repainting the same eye until it finally feels right.

That creativity doesn’t always look like momentum. Sometimes, it looks like stillness.

He doesn’t see the future as either/or. He sees a middle ground. And honestly, that’s the space more of us should be aiming for.

The space we’re building together

At Out of Office, we spotlight stories like Marcus’s because they remind us what this community is really about. It’s not just remote jobs or digital tools; it’s people who are finding their rhythm in a new world of work. People who bring all parts of themselves to the table: the coder, the creator, the quietly curious parts too.

OOO is where that mix belongs. Where tech talent meets artists, engineers meet dreamers, and conversations about work are really just conversations about life.

If you want to see more of Marcus’s work, beyond the code- here’s his art site. His portraits speak just as clearly as he does. And if you’re curious, reach out. He’s as generous in conversation as he is on canvas.

And if you’ve got a story like this or know someone in the community who does, we are all ears. Because every voice adds something new to the map we’re building together.