Hey! It’s me, Megan.
What’s My Story?
On August 21st, 2001, my mom gave birth to identical twins. When my sister and I were toddlers, my parents would give us coloring books to keep us busy. My dad likes to joke that he always knew what pages were mine, because unlike my sister, I always colored inside the lines. I continued coloring in my coloring books for a couple more years before I discovered painting. I remember being gifted my first pack of canvases for Christmas when I was seven years old and feeling like I was a professional artist.
Growing up, most of my free time was spent drawing or painting. I painted everything from landscapes, sport team logos, my favorite movie characters, and abstract pieces for my living room. At the age of ten, I had started my own little business, taking commissions from friends and family, and selling my paintings at our annual neighborhood garage sale. In my high school years, I experimented with a variety of mediums outside of acrylic paints including water colors, alcohol markers, colored pencils, brush pens, and I even took up calligraphy. It was in high school that I also took up digital art.
I grew up in a racquetball family. (I promise this is relevant.) My parents were both racquetball players, and as soon as I could walk, I was swinging a racquet. When my parents would go to the gym, my dad would give my sister and I racquets and would put us in a court together instead of taking us to the day care. We would stay in there for hours hitting racquetballs together, making up our own rules for teh game until we were old enough to comprehend them. I played in my first State Racquetball Championships when I was 7 years old, and I competed in my first National Championships when I was 8. By the time I was 18, I had six National Championship titles, and had competed on Team USA at the World Racquetball Championships three times, medaling at all three.
I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but for most of my life I didn’t think that would be a reality for me. I was 16 years old playing at the National Racquetball Championships when I decided I wanted to pursue a career in animation. I was in the middle of a match when I collapsed to the ground and had to forfeit because I was having severe muscle cramps. I laid on a table in pain while recieving treatment from the athletic trainer on site. In an attempt to get my mind off the pain, the trainer asked me what I wanted to do after high school. I was about to enter my junior year, and I still had no idea what I wanted to do. I told her that I was an artist, and I wanted to do something art related but that I had been told by countless people that I could not make a career out of art. She pointed at the little temporary Spider-Man tattoo that I always put on my wrist before my matches. She then told me how her husband was an artist, and he worked as an animator. After hearing her talk about her husband’s work, I became set on following the same career path.
In the weeks following the tournament, I saved up my money and I bought my first iPad and taught myself how to make digital art. I started drawing in Procreate until I learned how to make 2D animations. Once I got to college, I became proficient at using apps like After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Maya on the desktop.
After graduating college, I worked a six month full time internship as a Game Artist at a small game development company called Nerd Ninjas, where I helped them launch their first original project, Rougue Pinatas. After that, I was promoted into a Junior 3D Artist position where I’ve gotten to continue growing my skills as a contributor to multiple different projects. I pinch myself everyday as I get to live out my dream of working as a professional artist.