Category: Experiments

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Arts & Fails: Getting Started with Markers

Nigiri marker drawing by Megan Coyle

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:

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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:

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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.

Watercolor painting of water lilies by Megan Coyle

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:

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