Nirupa is a Botanical Illustrator and author. She speaks about the flora and fauna encountered during her work expeditions and how she uses illustration as a medium of higlighting the diversity of nature.
She received a grant to create her book Hidden Kingdom—Fantastical Plants of the Western Ghats (published in 2019). She has also published Pillars of Life—Magnificent Trees of the Western Ghats (2018) in collaboration with eminent ecologists.
She recently collaborated with the Centre for Wildlife Studies on Wild Shaale ('Wild School' in Kannada), an environmental and conservation-education program designed for rural school-going children, aimed at nurturing interest and empathy toward India’s wildlife and wild places. During the COVID-19 lockdown, she recorded art classes to be televised on the national channel Doordarshan, as part of a program coordinated by the Going to School Foundation, and conducted a workshop for Science Gallery Bangalore's PHYTOPIA exhibition.