pet portrait | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

December 26, 2021June 9, 2024

The Colorful Conure

I had a lot of fun working on this commission the other day – it was my first time working on a custom bird pet portrait. Generally I get requests for dog portraits, and every once in a while, a cat portrait, but I hadn’t worked on a pet conure portrait before. The client supplied several reference photos and let me know which photo should be the main reference. This portrait was made as a Christmas gift for the daughter of my client, who actually studied my art in school.

The detailing for this piece was pretty intricate since I had to cut some extremely small pieces of paper. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed working on incorporating a lot of fragments of texture as well as solid color into this piece. I live streamed most of my process, and it was fun chatting with my followers as I worked on the details.

January 5, 2021June 10, 2024

Bark Wahlberg the Golden Retriever

This was the last collage I completed in 2020. It was also the first collage I’ve ever worked on while live streaming my process. I was nervous about live streaming at first, however, I’ve gotten used to it and actually like it a lot. It’s a wonderful way to work on my artwork and have some company at the same time. Especially these days when we’re all cooped up, it’s a wonderful way to connect with my followers and other artists.

Lately I’ve been live streaming from time to time on TikTok. I’m planning to start live streaming on Instagram as well, but I’ll work on a schedule to make it easier for my followers to know when that will happen. I suppose at the moment I like how I can hop on and live stream on a whim when it comes to TikTok.

December 28, 2020June 10, 2024

The Happy Bernedoodle

This piece was the second one of two commissioned pet portraits of bernedoodles that I completed recently – and this one was of a dog named Ace. This piece was a lot easier to tackle than the other one, but that may have been because I was feeling a little rusty with dog portraits until after I completed the portrait of Addi. Ace’s sketch was also much closer to the composition of the final portrait, which also helped a great deal. I especially enjoyed working on Ace’s portrait since he looks so happy, it’s hard not to smile when you see an upbeat expression like that.

If you’r interested in purchasing my custom art, you can learn more about the commission process here.

December 27, 2020June 10, 2024

The Playful Bernedoodle

This piece was one of two commissioned pet portraits of bernedoodles that I completed recently – and this one was of a dog named Addi. I had a lot of fun tackling this portrait, and a big part of that was how expressive Addi was in all of the reference photos that I was provided. I initially struggled with this collage since my sketch wasn’t well thought out. I didn’t include the octopus toy in the sketch, and Addi’s paws were posed differently. As a result, I ended up having to rework her paws. I also realized that the shape of her head wasn’t sketched out proportionally, so again I had to work on reshaping that section. This portrait was a good reminder that initial sketches are so helpful for planning a piece, and taking more time in the beginning to get the sketch down right, will save you a lot of time later down the line.

If you’r interested in purchasing my custom art, you can learn more about the commission process here.

September 11, 2020June 10, 2024

Franklin the Cat

Earlier this year I got to work on a cat portrait for a commission. I had a lot of fun tackling this portrait, specifically because one of the reference photos had the cat wearing a cute, striped bowtie. The client was also wonderful to work with.

Over the years I’ve made a number of cat portraits, but usually the custom art orders I receive are dog portraits. It was fun working on something a bit different as far as my custom artwork goes.

July 21, 2020June 5, 2024

Hedgehog

When it comes to my animal portraits, I’m mainly drawn to making bird and dog collages. So the other day I decided to work on a hedgehog collage for the first time. I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, since I figured the spines might be difficult to recreate. I was pleasantly surprised with how I found some texture that worked well with making the hedgehog’s spines. It’s nice to go outside of your comfort zone and try new things.

July 15, 2020June 10, 2024

Golden Retriever

One of the silver linings of quarantine is that it’s forced me to get more productive with my artwork. I can’t believe that this “Golden Retriever” collage is time lapse video #14. Nearly every week since lockdown has been going on, I’ve been striving to complete one of these time lapse videos. And I was pleasantly surprised with how this piece turned out.

June 8, 2020June 10, 2024

The Long Haired Dachshund

I’ve made quite a few dachshund collages over the years, and the other day I wanted to work on making another long haired dachshund portrait. I also decided to film the process. The interesting thing about filming my collage process, is that sometimes I feel a little nervous about filming my work. I never know how things will turn out and if I’ll be pleased with the finished collage. However with this piece, I was happy with the results.

And here’s the time lapse video:

December 3, 2019June 11, 2024

Corgi in the Wild

It’s been a while since I’ve made any new work. Life has been difficult for a number of reasons these days, and as a result, I’ve had to put my art on hold. Luckily my time has freed up a bit lately, and I felt a need to dive back into art-making. I figured what better way to get back into my creative routine than by making a collage of one of my favorite types of dog?

Anyway, stay tuned for more art. Previously I used to make something new just about every month. I’m thinking that I’ll alter this frequency a bit as I start exploring different creative outlets. After all, a big part of being an artist is exploring and experimenting with different ways of being creative. It’s good to change things up.

April 18, 2019June 11, 2024

The Distracted Pit Bull

Life has been a little hectic and chaotic for me lately, so I haven’t had a chance to make that much new artwork. However, I still managed to find some time. This is a commission that I completed the other day for a friend from high school. I used a pretty limited color palette for this piece, which was challenging and fun in it’s own way. I tried to incorporate a decent amount of texture in the background as well as for the dog. This collage was also a challenge in the sense that the dog’s head is tilted at an unusual angle. Anyway, I enjoyed tackling this pet portrait of a dog from Peru.