Elena Choy was born in Ruijin, China, where they were adopted at a young age and have lived in Vancouver ever since. While they are biologically Chinese, their mother is Japanese. As such, they identify as Japanese because they are engulfed in the culture and language at home, a culture that has gone on to inspire many of their art pieces. They have been attending Collingwood school since junior kindergarten but didn’t discover their passion for art until a few years later. When they are not working on a new art piece, they enjoy watching anime, reading manga and playing video games. 

Elena’s art journey began in 2017, when they saw a friend working on an art piece, and decided to try it out for themselves. Soon afterwards, they took an art class for the first time in grade eight but found that they preferred to create art in a less controlled setting. By the next year, they became much more serious about their interest in art and began to expand their repertoire from paper illustrations to digital art. In later grades, they took classes such as Design and Technology, and Multimedia where they further explored the idea of using computers for art. They thoroughly enjoyed these classes and were inspired to start projects such as motion graphics and 3D modelling. 

More after the photo.

When asked about their biggest inspirations in the field of art, they refer to their many online friends that have encouraged them to continue working and improving. One specific friend, @taroteii, inspired them to create an online store which they opened in March of 2021, selling acrylic charms and other merchandise.

Over the years, art has become an extremely important aspect of Elena's life. As they put it,  “I started art because It looked like something cool to do that my friend was doing but it has evolved into something much more”. Elena now dedicates hours each day to exploring new types of art and improving current projects. Throughout their years of experience, they have developed three main pieces of advice for aspiring artists. The first is to observe and apply, to take in information from the world and apply it to one's art. The second is to fail and cycle. This means that when a piece of art goes wrong, finish it and apply what was learned to new art, rather than getting stuck on one mistake. Finally, they would advise stepping out of your comfort zone in order to explore new fields of art and ways of expressing creativity. Elena believes that not only has this advice helped their art, but art has helped them. It has allowed them to grow as a person and tell stories, which they believe is the most important thing that art can do. ​

After high school, Elena plans on going to Vancouver Film School and taking the one-year intensive game design course. After that, they hope to become a game developer and create or work at a small indie company where they are able to explore their art and ideas without limits.