Blog | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

November 27, 2017

How my Art Portfolio Site Evolved

I studied painting and creative writing when I was in college. As an art major, I had a project to make a portfolio website for my artwork. And that’s how I got started with web development – I taught myself HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so I could have a functioning portfolio site.

The first version of my portfolio site looked pretty terrible, but I was so proud that I figured out how to make it all on my own. I also liked how building the website was an art of its own. Above you can see that I made the header and navigational links collaged images. I later learned that using images for navigation isn’t very user-friendly, so I converted the navigation to text.

Aside from teaching myself to code, and continuing to read articles on the subject, I also started taking classes in graphic design. I was hungry to make my website better, but I also wanted to make it look better too. I ended up creating a logo for my site, which you can see above. I suppose I was pretty proud that I designed the logo all on my own, that initially it was rather large in the header.

For the next version of my site, I realized I needed to shrink the logo down more, and I started featuring more images of my work on the homepage. Once I had a better handle on the basic look and feel, I started building it out more.

In 2010, I put together an educational section with online lesson plans, since I noticed that students and teachers were contacting me every year with questions about my work. I wanted to make it easier for others to learn about my process and technique.

I continued to play around with the overall look and feel, as well as making improvements to the user experience, like making the website responsive.

Earlier this year, I worked on redesigning my site once more. I even added an online store for purchasing my work directly from the site, to make things easier for users. I also redesigned the logo so it wouldn’t emphasize my collage work as much, which would open my work up to other mediums.

My site has come a long way. I’m proud that I’ve taught myself a number of things while going through the process of building it – such as learning about coding, web design, user experience design, and content creation. I’m so thankful that it’s easy to share artwork online – and by having a web presence, I’m able to reach people I never thought I’d be able to reach before.

November 22, 2017June 14, 2024

How to Develop a Creative Support Network

Criticism and hard work come with the territory of being an artist. And in order to move past all that criticism, and make all that hard work not seem like work, it’s good to have a strong support network in place for yourself. A support network can help you achieve your creative goals by being a source of motivation and encouragement.

Here’s how you can build your own creative network:

1. Ask for Help

Reach out to local artists you admire for advice. Who knows, maybe you’ll build a few friendships out of those connections, and artistic friendships are powerful.

2. Surround Yourself With Your Champions

Spend more time around people who encourage you. Spend less time or avoid the naysayers. You want to surround yourself with people who lift you up and challenge you in good ways, while distancing yourself from those who discourage or put down your work.

3. Give Back to the Community

Volunteer your time as a creative – let that be by visiting schools or organizations to talk about your technique and process, or by offering career advice to aspiring artists. Giving more than you get is a great way to not only grow as an artist, but as a person.

4. Network

Get to know other artists and art enthusiasts in the community by attending local art openings and exhibits. You can also meet other artists or aspiring artists by taking art classes or attending creative meetups.

A strong network can serve as a great resource for helping you shape your art career. It can also encourage you when you’re feeling discouraged or overwhelmed. It’s always helpful to know that you’re not alone with the struggles and joys of living the creative life, and hearing other artists share stories about their experiences can help you feel relieved about the direction you’re headed with your work. And best of all, a network can inspire you – meeting wonderful people who do their own exciting work, can motivate you to challenge yourself in new ways.

November 21, 2017November 28, 2017

Collages from Columbia, Maryland

Kristin’s students from Columbia Academy in Columbia, Maryland made their own collages after studying my work. The students are 7th and 8th graders, and it was wonderful seeing their painting with paper works of art!

Several of the students had a great way of incorporating text into their collages, like this owl collage.

While others focused on using different textures along with a few solid colors.

I liked how this particular piece made use of type along with the composition of a cardinal.

Overall, I was really impressed with Kristin’s class. As always, it brightens my day when I have a chance to see student work inspired by my art.

And to all the other student artists out there – keep up the great work! I am always impressed by what you are creating!

November 15, 2017June 19, 2024

The Contemporary Unicorn

I’ve always thought rhinos were fascinating animals. They look like aliens in many ways, and for that reason, I thought I’d focus on their peculiar appearance when naming this piece. And sometimes you just want to have fun when titling your work!

I also wanted to play around with layers, so this collage has more obvious layers than my usual work. Typically my collages are pretty flat, while this one is raised in different sections. I think I’ll try to focus more on layers and texture for my next few pieces.

November 2, 2017

Mixed Media Duck Painting from College

This is one of the paintings I completed during my freshman year of college. I decided to make a slightly abstract piece, and started off with an acrylic painting, then drew on top of it with oil pastel. I was always drawn to using oil pastels back then. I think there’s just something about the way drawn markings look that I always enjoyed incorporating them into my artwork.

October 27, 2017June 18, 2024

Hippo’s Day Out Available at Pawcasso Charity Art Auction

Hippo's Day Out by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Hippo’s Day Out.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
Order a print

Saturday, November 4, 2017 6pm – 10pm
National Airport, Historic Terminal A

I’m excited to announce that I’ve donated my “Hippo’s Day Out” collage to an upcoming charity art auction called PawCasso. The event is taking place on November 4th, and raises money for Homeward Trails Animal Rescue. You can find out more about what’s up for auction, as well as get tickets to the event, by visiting their website.

October 26, 2017November 1, 2017

Color Pencil Self Portrait from College

I was looking through a few old sketches I made back in college, and came across this self portrait. It made me realize that over the past few years, I’ve had a tendency to focus a little too much on collage. I think I’d really enjoy revisiting some of these other mediums that I used to work in. Perhaps I should start a new color pencil sketch series? We shall see…if anything, it’s been great getting inspired by artwork from my past. I’m looking forward to changing things up again in the future.

October 25, 2017October 26, 2017

Bosty goes to Mexico City

Bosty wanted to travel to another country, so he hopped on a plane to Mexico City. He started off his trip wandering around the streets, swinging by places like the Placio de Bellas Artes to check out the latest art exhibits.

Afterwards he did some exploring and snapped pictures of interesting buildings. He especially liked the House of Tiles (Casa de los Azulejos) with the intricate pattern of tiles on the building’s exterior.

He had so much fun learning about a new city and hearing everyone around him speaking Spanish. It was wonderful being in a place that was so different when compared to his home in the U.S.

The Centro Histórico was a great place to take in the sights. Bosty liked how this one building was decorated and ready for celebrating.

He liked how colorful the streets were, with some buildings that were painted bright colors.

And he was amazed by how many beautiful public areas were in the city, some filled with unusual and unique sculptures.

The next day he went on a day trip to Teotihuacan to visit the pyramids. He was pretty proud of himself for hiking up and down the Pyramid of the Sun.

The best part of climbing up the pyramids was seeing the beautiful view of the area. Bosty had never seen anything quite like it before. I think he might even be inspired to check out the pyramids of Giza in the future…

The following day, Bosty continued to sight-see as much as he could. He even got to see the pole flyers and their Dance of the Flyers (Danza de los Voladores), which was an exciting experience for a tourist.

He ended his trip by swinging by a couple of museums. One of his favorites was Museo Soumaya, which had an incredible art collection. Bosty couldn’t believe how many works of art they had – he could have easily gotten lost in the museum for hours, just admiring all that artwork.

Next he strolled around the Museo Jumex to see a couple of their modern art exhibits. He liked how the building sort of looked like a factory drawing.

Overall, Bosty was pleased with his excursion and really enjoyed getting to know a new place.

October 19, 2017October 20, 2017

Hat Oil Painting from College

I made this textured oil painting back when I was a junior in college. This was part of my studio work as a painting major, and I was trying to tackle a still life and make it interesting for myself. I remember I used to try to avoid making still life works of art because I didn’t think they were very exciting. These days I’m more interested in tackling still life when it involves food of some sort.

I used my palette knife for the vast majority of this painting. You can see a lot of texture in the background, and I actually layered quite a few layers of paint for sections of the hat as well.

October 12, 2017October 13, 2017

Photo Collage from College

This photo collage was one of my art projects back when I was in college. We had to pick a shape and then take pictures of objects that contained that shape. It was an interesting exercise that got you thinking more about the shapes that make up objects around us.

I decided to pick triangles and after I took a series of pictures, I cropped them, printed them out in our computer lab, and rearranged the photos on a square piece of paper.

Overall, I enjoyed finding shapes in unexpected places. And I also liked the process of arranging the cropped images – finding a good balance of color and the variation of the similar shapes.