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Hello hello! Who are you?
I’m Sanaiya, an early-career visual artist and student of Data Science & Media Design at the University of Chicago. I specialize in traditional illustration, most recently served as an archival management intern for intermedia artist Michelle Jaffé, and currently operate a small fine arts business, The Spot.
And what am I looking at?
This web portfolio/slideshow (created with reveal.js, Markdown, and Jupyter Notebooks, with _much_ difficulty) is modeled after a white cube gallery. Each slide transition, navigable via the arrows at the bottom right corner, represents a step in a digital gallery walk. I really appreciate your being here, lacing up your shoes, and walking with me.
Please enjoy a curated collection of my work across the realms of portraiture, conceptual art, studies / experiments, and fantasy character illustration. All images are accompanied by a short metadata description & a slightly longer caption for context. A wonderful open-source software called glaze.cs.uchicago.edu assisted me in protecting my art from generative AI data scraping.
At the very end of the portfolio (spoiler alert!), you’ll find URLs that connect to my LinkedIn, my unabridged body of work, and the order form for The Spot. Should you have any—any!—questions or suggestions regarding what I do or how I can do it better, my door’s always open at smluthar@uchicago.edu.
| Colored pencil |
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| An analogous color portrait I made for my sister’s birthday. Not needing to draw the bottom half of her face freed me up to spend ample time on her hair. To this day, hair—or lack thereof—is my favorite “facial” feature to draw, the one I believe best embodies essence over hyperrealism. Credit to Kamya Venkatesan for the reference photo. |
| Graphite, colored pencil |
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| A memorial portrait of my Nani, my maternal grandmother. It was worth all the time in the world to get her face just right. Credit to my mom for the reference photo, plus this beautiful picture of Nani among a bouquet. |
| Colored pencil, pen & ink |
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| My excellent friend Ayanna was one of the first folks to commission a portrait of mine, back when I began advertising my services in my senior year of high school. Ayanna's Astronomy draws on the specialties of established artists like James Raiz (comics) & Alphonso Dunn (pen/ink), and I adapted the background from a wall tapestry of hers, which depicts the phases of the moon. |
| Graphite |
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| I sometimes volunteer with the Illinois branch of Elara Caring as a portrait artist for hospice care patients. This is my first finished portrait; it took four months, and I’m very proud of it. Credit to Christian Rundblad for providing me with the reference photo. |
| Colored pencil |
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| This piece was conceived as a holiday gift for my friend Jessie, a marine biology researcher. The text comes from the “Charade,” a song in her original musical, Royal Flush. I then drew her picture, sourced from an underwater photoshoot, on top, in an attempt to capture all my favorite aspects of her character: artistic & academic. Credit to Patrick Palmer for the reference photo. |
| Highlighter, pen & ink |
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| A pink-paper profile portrait with no real-life counterpart or reference. I crowdsourced name suggestions from my friends. Other strong contenders besides Donovan include Usnavy, Arnold, Kredo, and “Jonas?” (with a question mark). |
| Pen & ink, marker, colored pencil |
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| Another birthday gift! It’s the fourth installment of my portraiture series Character Studies (2025-present), a tribute to my friends in the arts. I do very little preparation before each portrait, intentionally so, as an exercise in improvisation—I liken it to “visual jazz.” Credit to Burhan Munawar for the reference photo. |
| Graphite, various digital softwares |
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| My final commission of 2025 was a profile picture for my incredibly talented friend Arjun’s new Instagram account, @arjunsinghdrums. The portrait interweaves his cultural & musical heritage. Which do you prefer—the red or the black / white? Credits to Tori Ogiste (@tori_uptown) and Alexander Jibaja (@rufff_genius) for the reference photos. |
| Graphite, eraser |
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| A response to the Dropout skit “Couples Treat Single Friends Like Toys.” Symbolizes how every conversation involves at least a bit of role play—a bit of pretending, oversimplifying, stuffing ourselves in mannequin armor—from both parties. |
| Graphite, colored pencil, various digital editing softwares |
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| As a kid, I took apart my wooden mannequins & refused to throw away their disembodied limbs. That terribly expensive habit lent itself to the concept behind this piece: a destroyed reputation, memorialized via a border of flowers. |
| Crayon, various digital editing softwares |
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| Upon remastering this piece, I added two transparent mannequins as a visual riff on the idea of reflection. Reflecting on something for too long is like wearing your skull outside your head & calling it armor. |
| Graphite, colored pencil, various digital editing softwares |
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| One of my favorite compositions to date. Never before in my life have I solved a Rubik’s Cube, but I can imagine what it’s like to hold that pressure between two hands. |
| Graphite, various digital softwares |
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| A self-portrait and an exercise in perspective; I have drawn myself walking away from a mannequin, which symbolizes the inflexible notion of self I often hide behind. Earned an honorable mention at the 2023 regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. |
| Pen & ink study |
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| I’m not sure what to say about this piece, other than that it’s the creepiest “still life” I’ve ever done! A few days prior, I had learned about the virtue of including multiple line weights in a single composition & relished putting that virtue to use here. |
| Mixed media study (lipgloss, pen & ink, various digital softwares) |
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| An assortment of objects from my high school studio art class, which began as a blind contour & ideally ends as a cover for a magazine or CD. |
| Colored pencil study, various digital softwares |
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| A visualization of time-keeping (guitar), time-chasing (alarm clock), and the great contrast between thinking about a dream & acting on it (red versus green). Appropriately, my original statement for this piece has been lost to time. |
| Pen & ink study |
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| Yes or no? My favorite children’s story is “The Velveteen Rabbit,” which describes the life cycle of a beloved, albeit lonely, stuffed animal. Similarly, I imagine it’s pretty difficult for this little teddy bear to grapple with the fact that his best friend forever is a plastic leaf, never to biodegrade or have a proper life cycle. |
| Pen & ink, colored pencil |
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| A blind contour-inspired sketch of Spot, a doggosaur adorabilis with traces of bath toy DNA. I adopted him from his native habitat, a claw machine at the Field Museum, and he has been my muse ever since (sincerest apologies to all the people in my life). |
| Graphite, eraser |
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| What happens when a Medusa-themed and a South Asian fusion a cappella group join forces for a concert? You end up drawing on the concert promo poster a Desi Siren, who has the arms of a Hindu goddess and the hair of a musical goddess (Tina Turner)! |
| Pen & ink, graphite, colored pencil |
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| My take on a character created by Genevieve Evans for the Seabird Writing Conference’s Canon Wars: War for Enzan short fantasy story cycle. Genevieve describes her character (pronounced eh-ZAY-sha) a “magic-hating pirate & self-made cyborg with psychic abilities.” |
| Graphite, various digital softwares |
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| An abstracted action scene from War for Enzan. If you, too, would like to come soar with the Seabird Writing Conference, consider flying over to their website! https://theseabirdwritingconference.wordpress.com/ |