2020 Senior Exhibition Artists 2020 Senior Exhibition Artists: Ellen Canavan

Biography

Ellen Canavan is a Massachusetts born illustrator with a particular interest in cartoons and comics. Newspaper comics were Ellen’s first inspiration to make characters and stories of her own.

Statement

Skellybugs are fun, easy to draw characters made to be interesting and appealing to people of all ages. These small bugs are inventive, kind and have many friends. Skellybugs are much smaller than people so they get into a lot of zany adventures, each piece is supposed to build their narrative and introduce the viewer to a whimsical world parallel to our own. Tanya is a librarian who works at the library where the skelly bugs and the other creatures live. She is shown in multiple illustrations as a human with short curly hair and dark skin, along with the Star and Leaf the other two focus characters. Star is a yellow fairyfly, which are pixie like folk known for their magical proficiency, and leaf is a lime green skelly bug often depicted with a pointed purple hat.

Contact

ellencanavan@umassd.edu
Instagram @ellen_canavan_art

Slideshow

1. Hidden, 2019, digital illustration, 16” x 16.04”
2. Contact, 2019, digital illustration, 14” x 14.92”
3. Rat, 2019, digital illustration, 16” x 13.213”
4. Tailor, 2019, digital illustration, 16” x 16.027
5. Cards, 2019, digital illustration, 16” x 13.173”
6. Candle, 2019, digital illustration, 16.667” x 16.667”
7. Bloom, 2019, digital illustration, 16.667” x 16.667”
8. Cat, 2019, digital illustration, 16.667” x 16.667”
9. Ghost, 2019, digital illustration, 16.597” x 16.667”