Nidhi Chanani

Nidhi Chanani (1975) is an Indian-American illustrator and artist born in Kolkatta, India, and raised in California. She currently works and resides in San Francisco, CA with her family. Her Every Day Love series captures small moments from every day life in a whimsical manner.

Nidhi Chanani was raised in Southern California. After receiving a degree in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Chanani worked at non-profit organizations before entering the comics field. In addition to taking art classes, she briefly attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She often features local Bay area back drops, as well as images derived from her Indian heritage. She explains, "I grew up watching Bollywood films on the weekends, eating Indian breakfasts, and spending time with my Indian family. It didn’t ever feel like because I didn’t live in India, India didn’t live in me. Even if I don’t draw something Indian per se, something about my “Indian-ness” will come through whether I make the characters brown or pick a setting reminiscent of India. There is something about who I am in everything that I do. And who I am is Indian. I don’t think that is ever removable from what I do."

In April 2012 she was honored at the White House as a Champion of Change.

She worked as a concept artist for the 2011 Australian film, Hannah and the Hasbian.

She has also worked with Hasbro, Paramount Pictures and Disney.

She is working on Pashmina, a graphic novel, about first-generation immigrants who find their place in America, due to be published in 2017.

Chanani creates her art using digital media, wood burning, and watercolors. She notes what she uses for tools, "For my illustrations I use flash and photoshop with a heavy dose of brushes and textures I've created. For my wood burnings I use raw wood and a professional wood burning pen."

2012 White House Champion of Change

Chanani and her husband, Nick, live in San Francisco.