Nirja Desai

Scintillant Hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla)

It was Chris Jimenez's photography that inspired me to paint one of his photographs. I could not decide which one to paint. His work is phenomenal. He was generous enough to let me use one of his photographs. I wanted to do screen capture/record my process for a very long time. Finally got around to it. My computer was acting up at times so not everything is recorded in this screen capture.  The goal was to not 'color pick' any colors from the original bird and practice some digital painting. It was a lot of fun.

Reference Photography by Chris Jimenez chrisjimenez.net

Can't believe grad school is almost over. These pictures are from studio walk through. Some of my work from the 2 years I spent learning about Medical Illustration was displayed in the portfolio.

Bring it on real world.

First version of my Demo Reel for 2014. I quickly put something together as I was applying for a job. I will soon be making a better edited version.

I had the opportunity of working on a set of illustrations for a 'Birthing Kit' that was being put together for Haiti. InterVol, a non-profit organization started by Dr. Pennino ( who was one of my surgical photography professor) at Rochester General Hospital had approached me few weeks ago to create illustrations that would depict how to use the 'Birthing Kit' and the steps to home delivering a baby. The illustrations needed to be self explanatory, without any text, as these kits will be distributed in the area where people may or may not know how to read. The flow of the illustrations had to make sense, I played around with few different layouts. But in the end this made the most sense, without placing arrows everywhere to show the flow of direction. They gave me few old illustrations they had been using for reference.

I had asked them to send me few copies of my illustrations for memory sake (even though now we have every thing digitally saved), they sent me a t-shirt, tote bag, luggage tag and a card with very kind words. Also, few copies of the illustrations. I am very grateful to them for giving me this opportunity to illustrate for a good cause. This is one of the reason why I am in this field of medical illustration, where images are used to educate people without any words. 

Over 80% of all births in Haiti occur at home and 50% of those without any outside assistance. Birthing Kits, like the ones created by InterVol can help decrease infant mortality rate tremendously.

Here is a link to the organization http://www.intervol.org/

They are doing an amazing job! I wanted to help put the Birthing Kit together but I am getting ready to fly to India and work on my thesis.

Common Frog on a Lily Pad

Early morning lighting scene

Modeled, textured and painted in Autodesk Mudbox and Maya

I did this for a class I took with Angela Eliasz, it was wonderful to learn from her. She is an inspiration to the female community interested in CG/3D industry. I learned a great deal about lighting. I can't wait to apply this knowledge to future medical/scientific animation I create.

Check out her demo reel.

3D frog made in Maya and Mudbox. WIP.

WIP