"Chitrakootha Forest Romance" (2023)

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.

Freehand ink sketch of a South Indian Tamilian grandmother with two nose stud piercings. The style of her bottu/bindi is also associated with Tamil culture. For the sake of the sketch and in a break from the typical bottu/bindi, this design is repeated along the bridge of the nose. The eyes are slender and wing-shaped; the tinge of blue in them represents the onset of old age in a dark eyes. The hair is shown to be white and black, and bursting flowers are tucked behind both of the grandmother's ears. Her necklace is shown in the upper-right of the sketch. A hint of colored pencil was used to color the blue-green in her eyes and in her face. The lips are curved to indicate a hidden smile. This style is influenced by Bapu, a South Indian Telugu artist.

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.

Drawn with ink. This sketch shows a slender hand holding a cigarette, and the illusions inside the smoke cloud. There are two eyes, fanning out like wings, and multiple crescent shapes are present. One crescent holds a ladder which pours down towards a figure, reaching out to climb it. Another crescent holds a swing, while yet another serves as a bed. A crescent ship with a figure on top sits next to an ocean. A crescent swings beneath the ship in the form of an anchor. The last hidden crescents are in the bindi/bottu of the face and in the eyes themselves to mark a line of symmetry. Finally, a face peers from behind at the cloud and the smoker. The style was meant to be surreal, dreamy, yet frazzled. The figures are inspired by Warli folk art from the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Brochure designed using ink. Each piece from the concert repertoire was incorporated. For instance, "Stained Glass Windows" was a general theme, hence the entire piece is framed into a classic, Gothic window. The upper panel represents "March of the Planets," the rose beneath the planets represents the "Roses" piece, and the upper-left panel represents "La La Land: City of Stars," in which Emma Stone dances beside 5-star film ratings and a streetlight (which is reflected on the right panel's border). The upper-right panel contains Georges Bizet's "Carmen" via a sweeping skirt covered with the hearts of men who fall for Carmen. The central plum symbolizes the "Sugar Plum Fairy," the reed flutes lining the lower left and right panels' edges are from the "Dance of the Reed-Flutes," all from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite." "March" from "Nutcracker" is combined with the "March of the Toys" piece in a soldier-teddy-bear playing piccolo on the lower right panel. "I Have a Dream" from "Les Misérables" is captured on the lower left panel through the girl from the novel's book cover. Finally, "Treasures Under the Sea" is portrayed through treasure chests and seaweed in the lowermost panel. Bold lines and reflective scripts are used to highlight the concert date as window shutters. The "Bi-Co" or bi-college is similarly kept in thick, sharp angles, with "Winter Concert" script kept in diminishing/growing font. The entire brochure design exemplifies symmetry and harmonious composition.

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.

Page 2 of Executive Summary targeted towards potential investors for Bloqcube Inc, a pharma-tech start-up. Designed using Adobe Illustrator. Highlighted company milestones, contrasted testimonials, and drew attention to competitive advantage graphic.

Pencil drawing created for Drawing course. Displayed at Anglo-American School of Moscow. Realistic sliver of a face shows a tortured inner self, fighting for control inside the mind of a monstrous external self, shown with the cartoonish outer eye and stitched smile. A bindi/bottu holds both the external and internal self together, at the seams. The hair is drawn stylistically, with fluid shapes and slight curves fitted next to triangles.

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.