The full piece is published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

These are snippets from a piece I created in response to an artist panel convened by Soham Dance Space.

The full piece is published on The Belladonna Comedy.

The full series is published in The Belladonna Comedy.

Illustrations for magazines and books.

During the pandemic, I befriended and collaborated with author Sejal Shah to create a series of comics that accompany her debut essay collection, This is One Way to Dance. Read the full piece on LitHub.

In the winter of 2019, I asked my Instagram followers to share their experiences with “desi fuckbois.” I received a flood of responses that demonstrated the glorious and harrowing breadth of this demographic group. I used the crowd-sourced responses to create this popular series on the ways toxic masculinity takes root among desi-American men.

This is a comic about Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, a South Asian feminist and freedom fighter. 

It has been published in Tides magazine and will be featured in an upcoming exhibit at The New York Historical, The New York Sari.

This is a snippet from a comic published in Cape Mag.

When I made this series, shows and movies like Master of None and The Big Sick were in the habit of presenting straight, white women as brown mens' love interests. The MO was to either exclude brown women or present them as burdensome, caricatured, and unattractive options.

In response, I decided to reimagine what it would have been like if the rom coms I grew up with featured anyone who looked like me, and the idea for the illustrations was born.  It was featured on Buzzfeed India.

A few Instagram faves I’ve made over the years.

I created a zine about growing up as the only brown girl in my neighborhood in Virginia. Email me for a full copy! (shebani.rao@gmail.com)

I created the visual identity for the South Asian American Digital Archives’ (SAADA) Revolution Remix walking tour and concert. The project centers South Asian immigrant history in Philadelphia through a walking tour and accompanying sound tour, which features original pieces by: Rudresh Mahanthappa, Anju, Zain Alam, Arooj Aftab, and SETI X. This project was funded through the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

These are examples of characters and environments that I’ve created for pitches for animated and live action shows.

I illustrated Leslie Knope's best compliments to bff Ann Perkins (and boyfriend Ben). They were featured on Buzzfeed (twice), where they made the front page.

I created merch designs for Indie-pop duo Lil Idli!