the office | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

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.

March 14, 2024June 8, 2024

Toby Flenderson

“Toby Flenderson” is the fifteenth portrait in my series inspired by The Office, and I was surprised how easy it was to piece this one together, especially after my last one was a bit of a struggle. Sometimes you have good days and bad days with art. And sometimes you have a piece that’s a struggle while other times you have one that flows together well.

I’m beginning to think about what my next series will be. I’m thinking I may do a portrait series that involves fewer portraits than this one so that I can finish it a little quicker than it took me to work on this one. We shall see…

February 29, 2024June 8, 2024

Karen Filippelli

I cant’ believe I’m up to portrait number fourteen in my series inspired by The Office. “Karen Filippelli” was a rather difficult piece to tackle since my initial sketch was a little too rough. It’s definitely helpful when the initial sketch is more accurate. Otherwise, I end up spending even more time trying to reshape various features of the figure’s face.

Regardless of how much of a struggle this one was, I’m looking forward to continuing the next few pieces in this series. I have about four left that I’d like to work on before shifting gears and starting a new portrait series.

January 29, 2024June 8, 2024

Creed Bratton

I managed to finish one more portrait this month for my series inspired by The Office – this one is number thirteen, “Creed Bratton.” It’s yet another portrait made entirely from magazine cutouts and I mainly focused on using solid colors, with the exception of a bit of texture for his hair. This one took a little longer than usual to get all the details in place. Again, I don’t feel as though portraiture comes naturally to me, and it’s something I’ll continue to work at so I can continue to grow and improve.

I’m planning to make at least five more portraits in this series, so it will be a little while before I start my musician series.

January 14, 2024June 8, 2024

Ryan Howard

My first collage of 2024 is now complete – it’s also the twelfth portrait in my series inspired by The Office. “Ryan Howard” (BJ Novak) was another fun piece to tackle. I’m hoping that as I continue to build out these portraits, the more comfortable I’ll get with making portraits in general. I am also planning to make at least five more portraits in this series. This series is also taking me a little bit longer to complete because of how many portraits it’s consisting of.

Once this series is complete, I think I’ll explore making portraits of musicians before I start tackling more portraits inspired by TV shows.

December 13, 2023June 8, 2024

Phyllis Vance

“Phyllis Vance” (Phyllis Smith) is the eleventh portrait in my series inspired by The Office. Some of my portraits have been a bit of a struggle to complete, but this portrait of Phyllis flowed together. I always enjoy when my process is smooth, although there’s no telling if one portrait will be easier or more difficult to tackle than the next. I think part of the reason behind these inconsistencies is the inconsistencies with my practice – I’m not always able to practice my art that often during the week, and as a result, I can get a bit rusty.

This year was a year devoted to running, although I still managed to complete at least one new collage each month. Next year I’m planning to focus a lot more energy on my creative work, so you will most likely see more new artwork in the new year.

November 30, 2023June 8, 2024

Stanley Hudson

I can’t believe I’ve made it to the tenth portrait in my series inspired by The Office. “Stanley Hudson” (Leslie David Baker) was another fun piece to tackle. It took me a little longer than expected to complete this one simply because I’ve been pretty rusty and out of practice with my art-making. I hope to stick to a more consistent schedule in the future.

The majority of this year, I was pretty slow at piecing together new collages since I was marathon training for quite a while. And now that the marathon is behind me, I’m looking forward to putting more time and energy into my creative work. I want to create a few more portraits in this series but I also plan to work on some other subjects simultaneously. I think I should bring back my live streaming work since it was a great way to keep myself accountable and motivated to stick to an art-making schedule.

October 20, 2023June 8, 2024

Meredith Palmer

“Meredith Palmer” (Kate Flannery) is the ninth collage I’ve completed in my series inspired by The Office. Is portraiture getting any easier for me? It doesn’t feel like it, but when I compare some of my latest portraits to the work I was doing a couple of years ago, there is definitely an improvement. And that’s part of the art-making process – the more you practice your craft, the better you get at it. And even though the progress can be slow at times, there is indeed progress through practicing.

This piece was a little bit of a struggle after I blocked out all of the color. I spent a decent amount of time adding in all the detailing to ensure that Meredith looked like Meredith. Overall, I’m pleased with the result, and I’m excited to get started on yet another portrait in this series.