“Blue Butterfly” (2020)

Drawn in ink and pencil. This sketch is of the famous South Indian Telugu actress, Savitri (1934-1981) who dominated the South Indian film industry in the 50's and 60's. This illustration of her is taken from a scene in one of her film's songs, in which she stands decked in a sari, her hair adorned with a halo of jasmine flowers, a high hairbun, and a long, signature bottu/bindi on her forehead. She was easily recognizable via her distinct beauty: an oval-shaped face and wide eyes lined with kaatika (kohl). Hence, her style and features were the focus of this sketch.

Created with ink, draft (scroll down) created with pencil. This illustration depeicts the Hindu god Sri Rama as the center of the universe, providing balance between opposing sides. He carries an arrow (with a crescent-shaped head, similar to that of ancient Indian arrows, which had different shapes) and bow whose string curls around his arms. His crown, belt, and jewelry indicate his status as a warrior king, and a sun-like halo surrounds his head. His forehead is covered in the symbol of the god Vishnu, whom he is the incarnation of. His pants are drawn stylistically to show draped silk. His feet have small sparks next to them. He is surrounded by a structure which contains suns and moons, planets and stars. Rama's name, in English, Telugu, and Hindi, is written amongst these parts of the universe. The structure symbolizes both the universe and an atom: to suggest that Rama is present in the largest scale and smallest scale. In this illustration, centering him within the smallest particle is a reference to Telugu poet Annamacharya's writing on the same subject. Finally, the sacred syllable "Om" outlines the structure. Note: This piece was intended to be the first in a series of illustrations for a devotional kirtan (song) about Rama, written by the late Dr. Advikolanu Muralidhar. So, this imagery reflects the lyrics. This style of art is inspired by the Vedic Art style, hence the curved body of the male figure, the oval-shaped face, and elaborate ornaments.

Freehand portrait of Telugu film actress, Sai Pallavi. Illustration, made with Adobe Illustrator, is of a close-up from "Shyam Singha Roy (2021)." Sai Pallavi portrays a devadasi, or hereditary practitioner of classical dance, who yearns to be with her beloved Shyam. This portrait aims to capture the character, so very young and yet so very old, gazing into the distance. Hence, her hair is partially black and partially implied to be white via frazzled strands and empty space. The medium is meant to mimic traditional ballpoint pen sketches while utilizing patchwork to create dimension and flow in facial features.

Created using Adobe Illustrator. Brochure cover designed to incorporate each piece from the repertoire. Since one piece featured a looming mountain, a mountain with a cascade of music notes in a staff contains the rest of the illustrations. Since "Defying Gravity" was being performed, 9.8 m/s^2 (acceleration due to gravity) was crossed out beneath the witch's hat from the Broadway musical, "Wicked." Since Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" was being performed, a nutcracker soldier is kept in the boat. Three snowflakes, drawn in the Celtic knot style, represent the "Celtic Folk Songs" piece. Since "I See the Light" from Disney's "Tangled" movie was part of the setlist, the sweeping riverboat from the lantern scene is kept at the base of the design. Showcase details are boxed to grab the onlooker's attention, and an original, hand-drawn font was created to accompany the festive, candlelight theme of a holiday concert. The rich maroon and white color scheme is meant to be bold and eye-catching from afar.

Drawn with ink and pencil. This sketch was intended to show the artist's style of interconnected shapes with a human face. Curves, sharp angles, and continuous lines dominate this piece. Thicker shapes mark the lips, brows, and eyes. The eyes themselves are intended to unsettle the viewer with their empty gaze. Pencil was used to fill in the lower lip, eyes, and outline the flower in the hair.

Page 1 of Executive Summary targeted towards potential investors for Bloqcube Inc, a pharma-tech start-up. Designed using Adobe Illustrator, with arrows from company logo to emphasize transition towards new software and to keep eyes moving across the page.

Watercolor and ink painting depicting the threat to freedom of expression in the world, in society, in culture, and under oppressive governments. This freedom is crumbling and reflected in the shadows of vulnerable, multicolored dominoes. This piece demonstrates use of a vanishing point beyond the page.

Freehand pencil sketch using 4B and HB pencils. Drawn on a train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, with focus on blocks of unblended shadows and looser, flowing shapes. The goal was to blend realistic and surrealistic styles between face and hair. The linework outlining the profile purposefully thins and thickens to create delicacy.

Designed for American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)'s Poster Session on Cancer Genomics, commissioned by Dr. Kavitha Advikolanu. Title: "Evaluation of genomic instability, ploidy status, and P53 expression in archival paraffin-embedded tissue from primary ovarian cancer specimens." Poster (including Schematic Summary flowchart, Immunohistochemical and Flow cytometry pie charts, bar graphs, scans, and tables) created using Microsoft Powerpoint, Excel. Organized with goal of organizing 12+ sections of the research paper into several flows via box alignments, along with laying out graphics and scans in equal proportion. Each section is condensed, taken from Dr. Advikolanu's research paper of the same title.

Illustrated with pencil for a Drawing class assignment, in which students were instructed to create a piece that incorporated a hand, an object, and glass. Thus, this illustration is of a small, isolated, angelic figure trapped in a globe. A raincloud in the globe showers onto them, and the feathery drops turn into wings. Hence, the title of the piece. Meanwhile, outsiders attempt to offer comfort, represented by a hand holding a cocktail umbrella up to the glass. However, their efforts are futile; the figure is beyond their reach, and it will take more than a frail umbrella to shatter the glass. The figure, drafted in the second image below (you'll see it when you scroll down), has wrapped their limbs into a near-fetal position. They peek out at the hand, at the comfort being offered, but do not engage with it. Note the use of shading in the glass and wooden base of the globe, the high contrast of the figure's outline, a spot of light upon the glass, and the mechanical drawing style of the hand which breaks it into its simplest forms.