Ellen Surrey – Joyful Recollection
Ellen Surrey is a Los Angeles based illustrator currently studying at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. She loves to create things that people of all ages can enjoy. Her illustrations are full of colors, joy, and nostalgia. When Ellen draws people or characters she tends to think about the expression they are making or story she is trying to tell. This is especially true when she is drawing a portrait of an actual person. And a lot of times she is thinking of the next piece. “My ideas never stop and it’s hard to keep up with them,” she says. Lately Surrey has been doing a lot of mixed media. Usually she uses a combination of gouache, acrylic, acrylic ink, and colored pencil. And when she does black and white work she usually just uses pencil. All of her artwork starts with a hand done drawing. Then she uses the computer as a tool to adjust a drawing before going to final. Most of her final pieces are done by hand and very few are done in the computer, mostly because she really likes the idea of having a physical piece at the end. After graduating, Ellen would like to write and illustrate children’s books and create her own line of greeting cards. When she isn’t making art Ellen enjoys watching old movies, finding treasures in thrift shops, and going on adventures to new places. 
