Megan Bluhm was born in Michigan City, Indiana in 1975. Coming from an intensely artistic family, she was inspired to develop her pencil skills early. She was introduced to scientific illustration at age sixteen. After producing drawings to accompany lab reports for a high school anatomy course, her teacher, Miss Roxy Young, directed her to the field of medical and biological illustration. Already aware that she loved both art and science, Bluhm knew that she had found her path. After high school she began her studies towards a Biology degree at Purdue University North Central, but the pull of art school was very strong. She left Purdue to study at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At the Art Institute her passion for representational natural subjects was encouraged. One professor, Peggy Macnamara, would prove to be her greatest influence and ultimately a dear friend. Through Macnamara, Bluhm learned her watercolor techique and the idea of fearless painting through careful underdrawings and bold experimentation with color.

Bluhm completed her undergraduate studies in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Two years later, she returned to academia for her Masters at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Medical and Biological Illustration in May 2002 and began her freelance business, Megalo-Media Illustration, in Michigan City, Indiana. From her home studio, she spent the next two years creating pencil drawings, web sites, paintings, and digital works for a variety of clients, including the Smithsonian Institution, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health.