I was born in Russia and immigrated to the UK as a child with my family and have lived, studied and worked in London ever since. Having finished school, I studied first at Byam Shaw School of Art, Central Saint Martins gaining a distinction level diploma in Fine Art and then obtained a BA Honours Degree at Camberwell College of Arts in Illustration in 2010. I hope to pursue a career in children’s books as an illustrator and as a writer and have illustrated the book covers for Hopscotch, an educational books publisher for the books 'The Victorians' and 'Famous Journeys'.

I also paint limited edition contemporary Russian Doll sets and sell them through Eyestorm Online Gallery and have exhibited them with Eyestorm at the Multiplied Art Fair at Christie’s and the Buy Art Fair in Manchester.

I work mainly in the mediums of coloured pencils, pen, watercolours and the printmaking techniques of etching and lithography. Whilst the Russian Dolls are painted using traditional means with tempera paints and a lacquer finish. I have also recently worked in Oils again for my painting 'Alejandro' which was long-listed for the 2011 BP Portrait Award.

Currently I am involved in the United Nations European ‘No to Violence against women’ Advert competition and you can view and/or vote for my entries 'Violence against a woman is violence against yourself', 'Violence against women is crime against humanity' and 'Domestic Violence leaves deeper scars than the physical marks' through these links.

Finally, here are some reviews of my work from my Degree Show:

"Yana Elkassova is one for all those fans of old Ladybird books – a clear inspiration on this extremely talented illustrator who mixes retro hyperrealism with a dash of darkness. She also had some wonderful custom made Russian dolls on show that you can view over on Matt’s blog post. And a beautiful website to boot."

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday 4th August 2010 on the Amelia's Magazine Website

"Yana produces playful illustrations for children’s books, made up of beautiful pencil crayon sketches, but it was her fabulous Russian Doll series that had me drawn (illustration pun intended) to her little section. Two sets of dolls appeared, one saucy Burlesque stripper, complete with flirtatious wink and hands-behind-back-undoing-of-bra, and a 1950s housewife going about her domestic duties."

Written by Matt Bramford on Wednesday 28th July 2010 on the Amelia's Magazine Website