Pragya:
So Rafeeque, I mean, earlier you were playing with chemicals and compounds. Now you’re playing with tools and digital art. So what motivated you to make this transition?
Rafeeque:
I joined IISER Trivandrum in 2011, so I was very fortunate to join the Institute at that time because the Institute was very young. It just started a couple of years before and there was room for growth in all aspects of the Institute. So as students, we had opportunity to get involved in anything that we wanted . Like for me, I was always interested in design and generally visual arts. So when the Institute was setting up all the departments like mess committee, cultural committee and science club, things like that, so I always took part in all the design activities, like designing logos, designing other materials, like posters, things like that. Designing videos for promo launch of cultural arts, things like that. So I think most of my focus was designing in logos for various initiatives within the Institute. So that gave me a lot of room to understand basic design tools like adobe illustrator, Photoshop, things like that. So that was my start. So once I finished my Masters in 2016, I was working in material chemistry, mainly material oriented frameworks. So when I finished my Masters, I wanted to go for PhD in material chemistry. So I came back home. So I took some time and I chose a country which I want to pursue PhD. Then I went back to my professor and I asked, Can you support my application with your recommendation? So he said, okay, I’m happy to support, but do me a small favor. Stay here for some time. One of my students, Doctor Shabnamkar, she’s about to finish her PhD. She was writing her paper. So she created a molecule which forms a DNA kind of helical structure in solution. So for that, they needed a 3D illustration. So she tried to come up with an illustration using PowerPoint. Powerpoint is the go to tool for PhD students. I don’t think anyone has explored the possibilities of PowerPoint as much as science PhD students. So she came up with an illustration, but the illustration was okay, but the majority of the 3D information was not there. I worked in the same lab during summer, so I know that it is the final result of her hard work over the four plus years. So a professor knew that I was involved in few designing activities. So he asked, Can you help her in drawing this illustration? So I said I don’t know any 3d illustrations so far, but I can try and draw the structure. So he said, take three days of time. So I went back and started searching for scientific illustration tutorials. There were very few tutorials which focus on scientific illustration. And Luckily, I came across a designing software where you can create 3D illustrations, which is from Google, made with the idea that 3D for everyone. So it is a very simple software. So we created the illustration. Professor was happy, and later she published the article.
So at that time when I was searching for this tutorials, I came to know that there are people dedicatedly working in this field who known as scientific illustrators. And there are master’s programs offered by universities outside India on scientific illustration. And I was very surprised to know that. And it was no doubt that I can become a better illustrator if I get an opportunity. So I went back to my professor and I said, Sir, I decided not to do PhD. I may not want your recommendation right now. He was surprised and asked, what is your plan? So I said, I think there is a good opportunity in scientific illustration. I think I can help research students in creating illustrations for their research papers and presentations, things like that. So he knew that like there is a dedicated field. And there are people working in this area. And he was associated with a lot of journals. So he knew very well about the field and how someone can get into it. So he said, that is a good decision. But you need good experience like you will not be able to get a job immediately. You need a good portfolio. So I said, okay, there are institute where they design educational materials for students. I said, I will join there as an Indian or as a primary beginner level job. And I will attend design classes in an Institute. And once I finish and I will start applying that. So he said, Why are you going there? You can stay with me and help me in making my research papers. So he was associated with a lot of academic activities. Many administrative job was there. So once he got free from all of that, he had more than 14-15 research publications need to be published immediately. So he said, See, I have these many projects. Just help me in making the figures. I know like you are learning, you take your time and learn. So it was aha moment for me. I immediately said yes, and I joined there as a scientific assistant. So my job was to help in creating illustrations for the manuscript with professor as well as if any need comes from his students. He had a very big group. And he also encouraged me to collaborate with other departments and other faculties. So that was the start and how I took that decision with confidence that I knew that many research students were struggling to create illustrations for manuscript. So when we did summer projects in various labs in the Institute, I saw PhD students starting to work on an illustration in a PowerPoint, and they take one week, two week time to finalize an illustration, especially in chemistry Department. I know many PhD students are out of time in making illustrations. Yeah, that was the moment I knew that there is a community that I can help.
