Elliot Cowan was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1974.
He attended the Independent College of Art and Design and followed by post grad year at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Upon graduation Elliot worked in several Melbourne animation houses before abandoning big city life for Tasmania.
There, he spent nearly 10 years to write, direct and edit television commercials. He also illustrated a series of books for television veterinarian, Dr Harry Cooper. His pen and ink drawings have been presented in exhibition in two continents.
Frustrated with the lack of animation in his life he left for London where he worked for Uli Meyer Animation, working as a story artist and gag man on the feature film Monstermania! being produced at the studio.
While in London, he started animating The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead and Roundhead, a series to become a pet project.
As of late 2009, nine Boxhead and Roundhead short animated films have been completed. They've been in circulation at film festivals all over the world since 2006, playing some of the most important festivals in the world.
The Boxhead and Roundhead film, Brothers In Arms, won Best Animation at the River's Edge Film Festival, Best Film in Non Verbal Communication at the Animazing Spotlight and garnered a special mention at the Banjaluka International Festival of Animation. In the words of the festival, "The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead & Roundhead: Brothers in Arms, a film that depicts the story about the futility of war using minimum resources and achieving maximum expression".
The most recent Boxhead & Roundhead film, The Thing In The Distance, won a Golden Pencil Award at the prestigious 2D Or Not 2D Festival in Seattle, Washington. Festival director and animation legend Tony White said of the film, "Here’s a perfect example real innovation and yet a traditional approach combined. The somewhat spooky but extremely enjoyable “The Thing in the Distance” by Elliot Cowan is one you must not miss. Suffice it to say, you won’t have seen anything’ like it before!".
Before leaving London for New York, he worked on several music videos with McKeown/Devita Productions, and the "cave painting" sequence animation on a trailer for designer and director Neil Ross called The Blue Man.
Elliot has been in NYC since 2007 and has completed projects for Sesame Workshop, The Logo Channel, Charter Communications, Elizabeth Arden and more.