Portraiture | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

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.

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

Cece Parekh

The last couple of months of this year have been a bit busy with travel and celebrating the holidays. I managed to complete this portrait in between my trips down to Virginia. And this is the fourth portrait completed in my series inspired by New Girl, “Cece Parekh” (played by Hannah Simone).

This piece was a bit of a struggle since it’s been a while since I sat down and completed a portrait. In the New Year I’m planning to focus more energy on my creative work so hopefully these portrait will come easier to me in the future (with a lot more practice). I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and has a chance to start 2025 off wonderfully!

November 26, 2024November 26, 2024

Schmidt

Lately, I’ve been enjoying the challenge of tackling different portrait series. I’ve been pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, and I’m also excited to start some new still life and landscape pieces that have been in my backlog for a while.

This is the third portrait in my series inspired by the TV show New Girl: “Schmidt” (played by Max Greenfield). He’s one of my favorite characters from the show, which made it especially enjoyable to take my time and focus on capturing his likeness. I’m planning to create at least three more portraits in this series, making it a much smaller body of work than the one I created inspired by The Office.

September 17, 2024September 17, 2024

Winston Bishop

The other night, I completed the second portrait in my New Girl series: “Winston Bishop” (played by Lamorne Morris). I had a lot of fun working on the colorful pattern of his shirt and enjoyed the overall challenge of tackling another portrait.

Winston is one of my favorite characters from the show, so naturally, I had to create his portrait early on in the series. I’m planning to make at least four more for this collection. Right now, I’m aiming to complete one new collage each month, since my schedule has been pretty hectic lately. Keep an eye out for more New Girl-inspired collages!

August 14, 2024August 14, 2024

Jessica Day

New Girl has always been one of those shows that I can rewatch and still find myself laughing out loud. The characters are so unique and relatable in their own weird ways, and I knew I wanted to capture that in my art. So, I decided to dive into a new portrait series inspired by the show, and I kicked it off with none other than Jessica Day.

Creating this portrait was a bit of an adventure. I used upcycled magazines to piece together the vibrant, quirky essence of Jess. There’s something really satisfying about taking old materials and giving them new life in a way that captures the spirit of a character I’ve enjoyed watching for years. This portrait took some time, but it didn’t feel like a grind—probably because Jess’s infectious energy kept me going.

While I don’t plan on making as many portraits for this series as I did for my The Office collection, I’m excited to see where this journey takes me. I’ve got a few more New Girl characters in mind, and I’m looking forward to bringing them to life with this technique. Stay tuned—there’s more to come!

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024

Andrew McMahon

Andrew McMahon has been one of my favorite musicians for years. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve put many of his albums on repeat. Even now, as an adult, I continue to enjoy listening to his new and old music, as well as seeing him perform live. I thought it would be great to create a portrait of Andrew since his music has meant a lot to me.

It took me a decent chunk of time to complete this piece, although it wasn’t as much of a struggle as some of my other portraits. I think it would be fun to work on a series of musician portraits, although I might start working on another series inspired by a TV show soon. We shall see…

June 30, 2024July 1, 2024

Gabe Lewis

This weekend I finished the 18th, and last (for now), portrait in my collage series inspired by The Office, “Gabe Lewis” (played by Zach Woods). I may revisit this series again in the future, but for now, I’m putting it aside and turning to something new. It’s been fun tackling so many characters, and I’m happy with how many I was able to complete. This series was definitely a challenge, and I’m happier with some portraits more so than others, but overall, I like how I challenged myself for this one. With my next portraiture series, I definitely want to work harder at being completely happy with every work of art.

Up next? I think I’ll explore making some portraits of musicians before I dive into more portraits inspired by another TV series. And I may alternate between working on a portrait and a collage that can be part of a still life or landscape/cityscape series. To be determined…

May 31, 2024June 10, 2024

Erin Hannon

I can’t believe I’ve made it all the way to portrait number seventeen in my collage series inspired by The Office. “Erin Hannon” (played by Ellie Kemper) wasn’t the easier portrait to tackle, although I may have my recent travels and half marathon training to blame for that. I’ve noticed that some portraits may be more of a struggle than others, especially when I haven’t been able to dedicate a consistent routine to working on them.

And now, I just have one more portrait left in this series before I pivot and work on a new series. Perhaps I’ll revisit this one to add more portraits of supporting characters, but for now, this series is nearly complete.

April 30, 2024June 8, 2024

Andy Bernard

“Andy Bernard” is the sixteenth collage portrait in my series inspired by The Office. This one took a little longer than expected to complete since I was doing a bit of traveling earlier in the month. Thus I wasn’t able to devote a lot of time to collage-making. Hopefully I’ll be able to changes things up in the upcoming months and carve out more time to work on art.

This piece wasn’t as much of a struggle as some of the other portraits have been. I also enjoyed collaging a colorful shirt and sweater vest for him. I’m excited to see what the completed series look like. I believe I’ll have things wrapped up within a couple of months and then I’ll most likely move on to a musician series.