A New Chapter – Finding My Own Style (Part 1)

It’s been a long break but it’s been a wonderful time of reflection and contemplation. No matter where my thoughts take me, they somehow always take me back to my love of art. Not just the physical art, but the process of letting my imagination pour out on paper.

I’ve decided to lean into that heart beat and dive deeper into my “hobby” of sketching and see what happens when I let my imagination run loose! While doing so, I want to discover and embrace my own style. I have a massive appreciation for talented artists in the world, but what I’m learning is that the best way to appreciate and thank them isn’t to just do fan art, but to be my own artist. (Not discrediting fan art because it is still amazing and I love it too). But that’s where this next chapter is taking me, finding my own style and embracing it.

Step 1: I’m going to be stepping out on a limb and producing my own unique creative art where you’ll get to see my own imagination! Regardless of how it’s received, I’m excited to embark on the journey and get to know myself better through my own art.

Step 2: Name changes and social media! I’ve gotten married since I originally started this blog, and I thus have changed my name. I’m going to leave the blog name as-is because it was with my maiden name where I produced my favorite work of all time and had my dream come true by being selected as the Disney 2015 D23 Challenge finalist. I am still on cloud 9 from that!! But I’ve started an Instagram where I’m producing all original art! If you’ve enjoyed the blog and want to see where the next chapter of finding my own style leads, than please follow my Instagram! @meglaughlin.art

The Instagram is where I’ll be posting all my new creative endeavors for now. This isn’t goodbye but a “see you around.”

So here’s a sneak peak of what will be posted on my Instagram and Part 2 will be found there…

To start, I’ve been dreaming up a series of sketches that reimagine inanimate objects as if they had personalities as people. What would they look like? What is their personality?

Here’s the first bit!

a couple who loves to dance the night away by Meg Laughlinan baseball pitcher at the top of his game by Meg Laughlina dancing queen by Meg Laughlin

Thank you to all the followers and friends and I hope to continue to connect with you via Instagram!

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January 18, 2020 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Figure Drawing, Movement, Quick SketchesTags: adventure, animation, art, blog, Character Art, design challenge, disney, disney art, drawing, experimenting, expression, Figure Drawing, finalist, friendship, hand drawing, imagination, love, movement, next chapter, quick sketch, quick study, sketch, sketching, tonal drawing Leave a comment

Doodles….an ode to coffee

My favorite coffee shop is closing. It’s been a place where I spent some of my first dates with my husband. A place where I met friends and took family. This coffee shop has been a center for community for years. As I reflect on this place, and all the people it’s brought together, I started doodling….not really knowing what it was at first. The coffee shop was on my mind. As the doodle evolved I realized it’s becoming a statement of all the various ways people drink coffee, just like the variety of people that walk into the coffee shop every day. It’s all different, it’s all beautiful. We’re all different, we’re all beautiful. The more variety, the more beautiful the doodle (life and community) becomes. I’m so thankful for this coffee shop. And I love that doodling is a means of expressing/reflecting on my thoughts. External processing, as one might say. An ode to coffee. An ode to community. It’s all beautiful.

May 10, 2019 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Quick SketchesTags: art, beauty, blog, coffee, community, diversity, doodling, drawing, experimenting, expression, hand drawing, imagination, ode, quick sketch, quick study, reflecting, sketch, sketching Leave a comment

A Facial Expression Says a Thousand Words

The phrase is “a picture says a thousand words.” But what about the picture speaks? I wanted to sketch some fan art today and was exploring various options. I normally do classic Disney characters and images, but I figured I’d challenge myself with something more current. Wreck-it Ralph immediately popped into my mind, and as I started researching his character, I realize how expressive he is! Then I realized that his expressive nature is a part of who he is! So I couldn’t accurately depict Ralph without illustration just a few of his many facial expressions. Each of these speak something different but together they tell us how “animated” Ralph’s personality really is!

February 1, 2019 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Character Art, Movement, Quick SketchesTags: animation, art, blog, Character Art, disney, disney art, drawing, experimenting, expression, hand drawing, imagination, quick sketch, quick study, sketch, sketching, tonal drawing, walt disney Leave a comment

The Gentle Grace of Giants

I love elephants. These animals are incredibly massive but they have such a gentle grace about them. Maybe that’s because we typically see them moving slowly, or standing still. But their creation is such an odd but beautiful balance of swift grace found in a large creature. It almost makes them appear like and huggable. I wanted this watercolor to enhance that feeling. I wanted this beautiful creature to reflect its small and gentle spirit.

August 30, 2018August 30, 2018 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Character Art, Figure Drawing, Quick Sketches, WatercolorsTags: art, blog, Character Art, drawing, elephants, experimenting, expression, form, gentle, grace, hand drawing, imagination, quick sketch, quick study, sketch, sketching, watercolor, Watercolors Leave a comment

Pencil and Paper

What depth can be created through pencil and paper. As I experiment with mediums, I am loving pencil on watercolor paper because of the texture it allows. I can use the texture to my advantage when I have a subject who’s skin is full of texture!

April 8, 2018April 8, 2018 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Quick SketchesTags: drawing, elephant, free hand, pencil and paper, sketch, tonal drawing, watercolor paper Leave a comment

The Power in Small Beginnings

These are two simple sketches with pencil and pen variations on a canvas. First is your Simba, and then Wall-e and Eve. The canvas forced me to be quick and less detailed because it was a rough surface. Few lines can speak so many words though. I enjoyed playing with this medium!
Just like Simba, you never know when your journey to be king will begin. It’s never to early to start dreaming, the adventure awaits! I love The Lion King and young Simba’s. Could be why I named my dog Simba 🙂 Wall-e and Eve find their adventure beyond their surroundings, exploring expanse of the world yet finding joy in the simplest of things!



May 22, 2016 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Character Art, Quick SketchesTags: adventure, canvas sketch, Character Art, hand drawing, simba, the lion king, wall-e and eve Leave a comment

Few lines, Big Expression

It’s incredible how a few sketched lines and illustrate powerful emotions. I took two iconic scenes from the Disney movies Pinocchio and Tangled, and generated a quick sketch that used minimal unfinished lines to illustrate the emotions in each scene. In Pinocchio, Gepetto and Pinocchio are trying to escape the Whale and fear and adrenaline and desperation fill the scene. In contrast, the love scene in Tangled shows Flynn and Rapunzel surrounded by the floating lanterns, filled with awe, wonder, joy and the beginnings of love.

I’m working on illustrating expression and emotions through my sketches. Sometimes the free form of the lines are more successful than the rigid and lengthy sketch studies, so I did these very quickly and made myself stop before going into the minute details.

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Character Art, Quick SketchesTags: disney art, emotional art, expression, fear, floating lanterns, flynn and rapunzel, gepetto and the whale, love, pinocchio, Quick Sketches, tangled 2 Comments

You can fly!

Balancing architecture and animation as Peter Pan flies past Big Ben, this sketch aims to show this illustrative contrast. It’s incredible how Disney can incorporate two contrasting subjects (orthogonal crisp real-world architecture and the softness of Disney animation) into one beautiful story layout. Therefore the sketch is simple, composed of lines and shading, but the style of sketching purposefully represents the contrast between the architecture and animation.  

  
 

March 22, 2016 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Quick SketchesTags: animation, architecture, big ben, disney, hand drawing, london, peter pan, sketching, story art Leave a comment

A Story of Friendship

A quick 15 minute sketch of Todd and Copper from Disney’s Fox and the Hound, capturing the beginning of a great friendship.  

   

January 18, 2016 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Quick SketchesTags: best friends, disney, fox and the hound, friendship, hand drawing, sketching, todd and copper Leave a comment

WALL-e and Eve

Maybe one of my favorite love stories that Disney has made…

…WALL-e using the fire extinguisher so he can fly with Eve. Since I drew them separately, I wanted to do a drawing of them interacting and hopefully capture that interaction. 

A 20 minute sketch on a post-it note. 

  

January 15, 2016 by Meg Laughlin Categories: Quick SketchesTags: disney, eve, hand drawing, love, pixar, quick study, robot love, sketching, technology, wall-e 2 Comments