Blog | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

August 30, 2017June 18, 2024

10 Exercises to Help you get Inspired with Your Artwork

Inspiration can take work, just like being an artist takes work. As an artist, you need to consistently schedule the time to practice your craft. When it comes to inspiration, you need to be dedicated to discovering and exploring different ways that you can jumpstart your creativity.

I usually find that getting myself out of my comfort zone helps energize my mind and makes me ready to tackle new and exciting things. So if you’re having trouble getting inspired, here are a few ideas of things you can do:

1. Walk around your neighborhood and challenge yourself to take ten creatively cropped pictures

This will help you start thinking creatively about common, everyday things and settings by looking at them in a new light.

2. Make a claymation inspired by a dream you had

Working with clay and thinking creatively about illustrating different moments in time, even if they can seem silly and nonsensical like dreams, will help you find the art in moments.

The Ewok Terrier by collage artist Megan Coyle — “The Ewok Terrier” Collage on paper. 5″x7″
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3. Play with your food

Find different and unique ways to rearrange the food on your plate. This can help you find the fun in everyday activities. And who knows, perhaps this could inspire a fun new series.

4. Find ten different items in your room and create characters inspired by them

This is another exercise in finding the art in common, ordinary things. Our lives can’t always be really exciting or inspiring, so it’s up to you to find that inspiration in what might otherwise be drab or dull.

5. Write a poem where the first line comes from the first thing that pops into your head

Brainstorming ideas can sometimes feel like a chore. Turning it into more of a game can help you find inspiration, and get into a brainstorming rhythm.

6. Take a series of photos to make a flipbook

It’s great to look at things you’re used to and might normally overlook in a new way. Making a flipbook can help you focus on making mundane actions interesting.

7. Make a collage entirely from cutting and layering text

This allows you to look at typography in a new way – by focusing more on the shape and color of text than the actual content.

Portrait of a Dog by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Malachi” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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8. Make a painting without using a paintbrush

Again, this gets you thinking outside the box. Without a brush, what kind of shapes and strokes can you make with other objects or tools that are dipped in paint?

9. Find the music in normal sounds and dance to it

Avoid succumbing to the humdrum of routine and the ordinary, by training your ears and mind to find the music around you.

10. Pretend you are someone else – what kind of work would you make? Try it!

Learning to see things from someone else’s perspective is a useful skill to have. If you’re making art from someone else’s point of view, it could help you think more about the messaging behind your work.

August 28, 2017June 5, 2024

Slow and Steady

I’m drawn to making animal collages because I love how much variety there is when it comes to animals. They come in so many shapes and sizes. Each species has its own expressive quality and personality with whatever shape and form they take.

As a child, I used to be a bit of a nature kid. I loved animals, loved reading about them, visiting them at the zoo, and buying knick-knacks and souvenirs of them. I used to spend hours playing outside, playing games with my imagination where there were always some sort of animals present. And I suppose today, the way I stay in touch with that part of childhood, is by continuing to create different images and depictions of animals in my artwork.

This turtle collage is another example of how I’m continuing to explore compositions of different animals, as I continue to play with texture and solid colors to construct each image. For the background, you can see that I used fragments of images that had clouds and terrain in them. For the turtle, I focused on various solid greens, and made sure the shell had fragments of texture from images of street signs and shrubbery. Overall, I had fun making this piece – at times it was a bit of a struggle, but I’m happy everything got pieced together in the end.

August 27, 2017September 24, 2017

How to Build a Wall of Positivity for Your Creative Self

As a creative, it’s easy for my confidence and self-esteem to take a hit from time to time. I am putting myself out there as an artist, which means it’s easier for my work to get rejected and criticized. And although I can get better at dealing with rejection when it comes to my work, that doesn’t mean it won’t sting from time to time.

In an ideal world, I’m sure all artists would love to have every piece they’ve made to be thought of as perfect and beautiful to every viewer. The truth is, not everything we make will be great and not everyone will like our work. But that’s part of the beauty of being an artist – the exploration of our work and process. It’s a fantastic journey where we experiment with making things. Some of those experiments won’t turn out well, while others will make us stand back in disbelief that somehow we made something that came together just right.

But for those days when I’ve felt discouraged and frustrated with my work, I realized I needed to find a way to remind myself that I am capable of doing good work. So today I decided to do an exercise. I decided to build a “wall of positivity,” and I thought I’d share it so that it can help anyone else out there who needs a little bit of a creative confidence boost.

I took a stack of three different color sticky notes. One color would be used to focus on my achievements as an artist, another would highlight my skills, and the last would focus on my personality traits.
I wrote down a different achievement or positive way to describe myself on separate sticky notes.
As I wrote down a thought, I took the sticky note and stuck it to a blank wall.
I kept writing down thoughts until I had a few rows of notes on the wall.
I took a step back and stared at the notes for a little bit. It’s difficult to feel discouraged with your work when you have a wall of positivity staring back at you.

I think it’s important for artists to find creative ways to remind themselves why they’re doing what they’re doing. It’s good to recognize your successes no matter how small, so you don’t forget the great things you’ve accomplished and where they can lead you next.

August 24, 2017August 24, 2017

Bell Pepper Oil Painting Series from College

Before I started focusing extensively on making collage art, I was a painter. I studied painting back in college, and during my freshman year, I had an assignment to create a still life series that used a different technique for each painting. I decided to make a series of bell peppers, and my first painting (pictured above), was meant to mimic the style of Vincent van Gogh.

My next painting focused on only using the complimentary colors orange and blue.

The next piece in the series used arbitrary color. Blue is actually one of my favorite colors, so it was only fitting that I used blue for this particular piece.

And lastly, I made a painting using more natural colors. I decided to make the piece look flatter so I could simplify the overall composition even more.

August 18, 2017June 5, 2024

Golden Girl

I’ve always been a bit of a dog person. I grew up with a dog, and I always appreciate getting to visit my friends who own dogs. This is a piece inspired by one of those furry friends.

If you look closely at the Golden Retriever’s fur, you’ll notice that it looks like the texture of hair. That’s because I cut out fragments of images of blonde hair from models in the magazines I paged through, in order to construct this piece. The background is composed of fragments of landscape scenes, and the nose is made up of a few interesting textures I found.

Overall, I enjoyed making another collage of a grinning dog. Golden Retrievers are such fun dogs, and I’m especially a fan of adorable Golden Retriever puppies.

August 14, 2017September 12, 2017

15 Inspirational Quotes About the Creative Life

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” ~Andy Warhol

“If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.”~Edward Hopper

“Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.”~Paul Klee

“Creativity takes courage.”~Henri Matisse

“To create one’s own world takes courage.”~Georgia O’Keeffe

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”~Pablo Picasso

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”~Joseph Chilton Pearce

There is only one way to see things, until someone shows us how to look at them with different eyes.”~Pablo Picasso

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”~Pablo Picasso

“I don’t like to say I have given my life to art. I prefer to say art has given me my life.” ~Frank Stella

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.”~Auguste Rodin

The best way to describe the creative life:

“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.”~Vincent van Gogh

I like to think of this quote as a reminder that there will always be challenges in life. It’s just a matter of teaching yourself how to power through the tough times so you can reach those successes.

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”~Kurt Vonnegut

“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”~Vincent van Gogh

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”~Andy Warhol

August 14, 2017June 18, 2024

Why I Make Collages

I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. I guess you could say that first I learned to walk, then I learned to draw. When I was in preschool, I spent an unusual amount of time in front of an easel. During grade school, I took after school pottery classes and other artsy classes, like bookbinding and drawing comics. In college, I continued to make art in my free time until I decided to major in it. And now, I can’t go a week without working on something.

But why collage? I’ve been making collages since high school, and over the years my style and technique have shifted. There’s just something about collage that makes me come back to it year after year.

Sea Explorer by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Sea Explorer” Collage on paper. 5″x7″
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With collage, I like how I’m constantly surprised with what I’m making. I especially like the medium because I’m working with found materials. And since I’m not mixing my own colors, and I’m relying entirely on what colors I can find in other images, I’m never quite sure how a piece will turn out. It’s always a surprise.

There’s also something therapeutic with the repetitive motions involved with constructing a collage – paging through magazines, cutting and pasting paper. I’m drawn to how these motions help me relax and escape from the stresses of life. And for a moment, I can stare at something other than a computer screen.

Flamingo Dancers by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Flamingo Dancers.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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Back when I was first learning how to paint, I was taught to look at objects as being constructed of different shapes. With collage, I can actually cut out those shapes. Thus it makes it easier for my process as an artist, when it comes to visualizing my compositions.

Lastly, I am constantly amazed by artwork that challenges the limitations of different mediums. I love art that looks like it was made from one medium, when it was actually made by something entirely different. That’s why with my artwork, I like to manipulate paper in such a way that it mimics the brush strokes in a painting.

Collage is a medium that I’ve worked in for years. I’m drawn to how it surprises me, and how flexible it is – I can easily layer paper and pull up previous layers. And when it comes down to it, collage brings me joy, and I’m trying to do more things that bring me joy these days.

July 29, 2017June 8, 2024

Top 10 Things to do When You’re in a Creative Rut

I was recently in a bit of a creative rut. I was feeling uninspired and noticed that my attitude about my work was getting increasingly negative. I had developed this “what’s the point in making artwork anymore?” mindset, which was clearly toxic and needed to be fixed.

I started making some changes in my life, and found that several of them were pretty helpful. So if you find yourself in somewhat of a creative rut, here are a few things to keep in mind that can help you get out if it:

1. Take a vacation

If you have a day job and you’re working on your artwork on the side, or if you’re a full-time art entrepreneur, you might find yourself having trouble figuring out when to actually stop working. The danger of having a “never stop working” attitude is that you run the risk of burning yourself out. So if you’re finding yourself uninspired, and feel like your creative passion is beginning to fade, take a vacation. Your body is telling you that you need a break.

2. Give yourself pep talks

I realized I was being too hard on myself, and I needed to start talking to myself the way I talk to my friends or family members when they’re going through a hard time. Instead of dismissing my work as “terrible,” I started editing my thoughts so they’d be more like, “this might not be where you want it yet, but it will get there.”

Afternoon in the Park by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Afternoon in the Park” Collage on paper. 5″x7″
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3. Take better care of yourself

Taking a step back from your work and focusing on yourself can really help. Make sure you get enough sleep, eat, and exercise. If you’re worn thin physically, it’s difficult to work hard on your craft.

4. Go to a museum

Simply setting aside your work for a while, and going to an art museum or gallery to admire the work of others, can help you get inspired. It can also give you another perspective by showing you what else is out there, and how your work fits in. Or how you can do things differently now that you have learned about a new artist or body of work.

5. Spend more time with friends or family

Spending time away from your artwork and around others can help you get motivated again. Conversations can jumpstart new ideas.

6. Go to a concert or play

Seeing the work of other creative artists can help you get passionate about your work again.

7. Do something for someone else

Doing something for someone else can help you get out of your head, and you can start focusing on something new for a while. It can also help inspire future works of art.

“City Sunsets” Collage on paper. 5″x7″
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8. Organize your life

When your “to do” list is growing out of control, it’s difficult of feel in control of your life, and it’s easier to fall even deeper into a creative rut. Getting organized can make tasks related to your artwork more manageable. I’ve also found that mapping out what I plan to do for the week on my calendar, really helps breakdown my workload into manageable chunks. Plus, if I don’t have enough time to get to one item, I can easily reassign it to a new day. So instead of taming an incredibly long “to do” list, I’m working on a couple of tasks every day.

9. Set goals

First, I think it’s helpful to list out what you’ve already accomplished. It’s useful to keep a running list, so if you’re ever feeling negative about your work, you can pull out the list to remind yourself of what you’ve achieved thus far. Then I think it’s helpful to work on setting new, manageable goals, to continue to move you along with your artistic career.

10. Change something

It’s easy to become a creature of habit and fall into the same routine day in and day out. But if you’re in a rut, changing things up a bit can really help. It can be something as small as taking a different route to the grocery store, or experimenting with a new medium with your artwork. Change can take you out of your comfort zone and help move you forward.

Have you tried something else that’s helped you get out of a creative rut? Feel free to share what worked for you in the comments!

July 28, 2017June 19, 2024

A Snail’s Life

With this piece, I decided to focus more on using texture. There are a few areas where I used solid color, although for the most part, I wanted to see how I could layer several different textures together. For the snail’s shell, I wanted to outline the shape with solid color so that the shell could stand out more.

This is my first time tackling a snail collage. I think it might be fun to rework this subject with arbitrary color – actually it might be good to play around with colors for a new series. Lately I’ve been making collages that use more realistic colors, so we shall see what I’m able to come up with next.

July 27, 2017

Acrylic Self Portrait Painting from High School

Before I was immersed in studying painting in college, I made quite a few acrylic paintings in high school. This piece was part of a series I made where I played around with using color to convey different moods. As you can see here, I used cool colors to convey a somber tone. I also painted the background a dark color that I lightened up a bit by painting a thin layer of white paint over it.