Megan Coyle | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

August 22, 2025September 11, 2025

Arts & Fails: Getting Started with Markers

Where’s the fun in doing the same thing over and over again? That’s why I’ve decided to make this Arts & Fails series, where each project involves experimenting with a medium or technique that’s outside of my comfort zone. And who knows, maybe I’ll find a new medium that I’ll like just as much as collage. The goal of this series isn’t to make a perfect, polished, finished work, but to try something new, embrace the mess, and have fun along the way.

For this project, I decided to get my inspiration from one of my favorite foods, nigiri. Previously, I’ve made a sushi-inspired collage, and at some point I’d like to make a nigiri-inspired collage, but for now, I figured why not make a marker drawing?

Here’s a video of the project:

I began with sketching out the nigiri. Then I worked on layering in lighter colors for the highlights before adding in darker colors on top. The area where I really struggled was drawing the white nigiri – it ended up looking a tad too colorful with too many clashing colors. I think if I were to tackle this composition again, I wouldn’t have used so many bright colors layered for the white pieces. The other ones looked close to what I had in mind, and the colors I selected made it easier to tell what they were supposed to be.

If you’d like to make your own marker drawing, here are the supplies I used:

August 15, 2025September 11, 2025

Arts & Fails: Getting Started with Colored Pencils

Colored pencil landscape by Megan Coyle inspired by the Great Saunter

This is the 2nd project I’ve tackled in my Arts & Fails series. Within the past few years, I haven’t done a lot of sketching other than the sketching I do to block out my compositions for my collages. I’d love to delve back into drawing and keep honing other artistic skills. So for this project, I figured why not attempt to make a colored pencil drawing. I’ve never been particularly good at using colored pencils. I’m also not the type of artist who wants to make photorealistic works of art, but I am interested in seeing how I can layer things to make my own representational drawing.

For this piece, I decided to draw inspiration from the Great Saunter, which I participated in earlier this year. If you’re not familiar with the Great Saunter, it’s an event in NYC where participants walk the perimeter of Manhattan, which is about 32 miles. I have never walked that far in a day before, so I wanted to challenge myself. Although I’m glad I did the Great Saunter, I’m not sure if I’ll ever do it again. While walking the perimeter of Manhattan, I took a few photos of the city. And for this piece, I decided to use a few photos of parks and streets as my reference photos.

Here’s a video of the project:

I began the drawing by making a rough sketch of the composition. I bounced around a bit, blocking out colors before layering in yellows and oranges for warm highlights, and blues and purples for the shadows.

Overall, I’d say this was a successful failure. I don’t like how the street is off-centered, and the overall layering is just okay in my eyes. However, I’m proud of myself for working with a medium I rarely use, and I’d definitely like to return to it sometime in the future.

If you’d like to make your own colored pencil drawing, here are the supplies I used:

August 8, 2025September 11, 2025

Arts & Fails: Getting Started with Watercolor

Watercolor painting of water lilies by Megan Coyle

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve been making collages entirely from magazine cutouts. And ever since I graduated from college with a BA in Art and English, I’ve primarily focused on making my collage art. However, this year, I’ve been feeling a bit restless. I’ve been missing the art experimentation that happens when you take art classes. I miss trying new things, so that I can approach my comfort medium with a fresh perspective. So I’ve decided to start challenging myself with an Arts & Fails series, where I’ll challenge myself with a medium or technique that I’m not familiar with. The goal is to break outside of my comfort zone and try something new. The goal isn’t to create a polished, finished work of art, but to try something new, embrace the mess, and have fun along the way.

The first project I wanted to tackle was watercolor. I had a watercolor set that I ordered a while ago just sitting around, and I really wanted to finally test it out. So for this project, I focused on making a watercolor painting inspired by the Bronx Botanical Garden, from one of my recent visits there. You can check out the video about the process below:

I started the project off by blocking out the different shapes and colors for the watercolor. Then I worked on adding in additional layers, focusing on the highlights first, since those needed to stay light. Then I worked on adding in the shadows and defining the shape of the composition a little better.

As I was working on the painting, I realized I didn’t use nearly enough water. The paint was pretty pigmented. I also ended up using the white a lot to try to undo errors I made with the darker colors. Overall, I thought the final project wasn’t too bad considering I rarely work with watercolors. However, if I were to experiment with this medium again, I would have done the following:

Use more water to create more transparent layers
Sketch out the composition a little better. My initial sketch was very rough and I ended up running into issues where I was trying to reshape the shape of the lilies and flower.
Use less white paint and try to work more with lifting paint up (i.e. adding water to a sponge to remove pigments that way)

If you’re interested in making your own watercolor painting, here are the supplies I used for mine in case you’d like to get the same things:

June 4, 2025June 4, 2025

Sushi Time

Lately I’ve been trying to explore subjects that I haven’t spent much time on in the past. Generally I avoid still life or landscape compositions, so this year, I’m trying to work on tackling more still life collages. “Sushi Time” is a piece that I completed the other night, inspired by one of my favorite foods. I had a lot of fun working on the detailing of this piece – including cutting out the tiny pieces of paper to mimic the texture of rice in sushi rolls.

March 5, 2025March 5, 2025

Say Drake (Kendrick Lamar)

Kendrick Lamar portrait by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Say Drake (Kendrick Lamar),” Collage on paper, 7″x5″
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I’m a little late in making this collage—but that’s just what happens when you’re juggling a lot of projects at once. When I saw this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, I was mesmerized. It was a work of art, and I knew I had to create something inspired by it.

I had a lot of fun working on this portrait of Kendrick Lamar. I loved the grin on his face when he said, “Hey Drake,” and I wanted to capture that energy in my collage. I mainly used solid colors, incorporating more texture into the background.

In general, I’m really happy with how much work I’ve created so far this year. I’ve already made more artwork than I usually complete in an entire year. It’s amazing how much progress you can make when you build more routine into your schedule.

February 28, 2025March 4, 2025

Axolotl

This was my first attempt at collaging an axolotl. These creatures really do look like aliens – they are so colorful and look so friendly. I had a lot of fun working on this one, especially with adding in the bits of color and including some texture for the rocky floor. I managed to complete this piece in one night, after I had completed the sketch a previous night. It’s not common for me to complete these so quickly, but sometimes inspiration can really speed up the process. This particular piece was inspired by an axolotl song that’s been pretty popular on TikTok lately.

February 27, 2025March 4, 2025

She Rises (Anglerfish)

The other day, I saw viral footage online of an anglerfish swimming to the surface. There was something eerie about witnessing a creature from the ocean’s depths in well-lit waters. I found it really poetic how others interpreted the scene and the symbolism they saw in it—some said she was born in darkness and died in the light, while others noted she was swimming toward a light she didn’t have to give off on her own.

That image was too symbolic, too poetic not to turn into my own work of art. So in just one very inspired night, I stayed up extremely late piecing together “She Rises.”

February 23, 2025March 3, 2025

That’s Bananas

To think it’s not even March, yet somehow I’ve made more artwork in the first couple of months this year than I usually make in several months each year. Needless to say, it’s been a very creative year. This piece, “That’s Bananas,” is part of a food collage series I’m working on. Most of the pieces in the series will remain a bit of a secret until I finish the project. However, whenever I create a piece that won’t be included in the project, I’ll definitely share both the progress and the finished collage here. I currently have several projects in the works.

One of my goals this year was to be more creative than in previous years, and if I maintain the momentum I’ve had so far, I’ll be able to accomplish just that. I’m looking forward to sharing more of my projects that are currently in the works.

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

Coach

This weekend I finished the sixth and final (for now) collage portrait in my series inspired by the TV series New Girl. “Coach” (played by Damon Wayans Jr) was definitely a fun portrait to tackle. I’m noticing that when I actively work on several collages in a week, that I don’t feel as rusty when I make artwork. So here’s a reminder to all the other artists out there, that practicing your craft consistently truly is important. When I’m feeling rusty, it’s definitely a bigger struggle to complete these works of art.

With this particular piece, I focused a lot more on using solid colors with only some slight texture from the magazine cutouts selected. I also managed to complete this piece in a couple of days, instead of my usual process of slowly working on a piece over the course of a month (and by slowly, I mean only occasionally pouring time and energy into a piece).

So what’s next? I’m not sure what my next portrait series will be, but I do know that I’m going to work on a still life series on the side, outside of these portrait pieces.

January 11, 2025January 11, 2025

Nick Miller

This is the fifth collage portrait in my series in spired by New Girl, “Nick Miller” (played by Jake Johnson). I only have one more piece to go in this series before I move on to the next one. I’ve really enjoyed working on these portraits, although at times I’ve struggled to stick to a consistent art-making schedule. I’m hoping that this year I can get more consistent with my art. And I’m looking forward to continuing to work on several different series this year.

I’m excited to see how my process and technique improve this year by sticking to a better art-making routine. After all, that’s half the battle to being an artist – making time to actually make your art.