S Shakir Ali was born in 1956 and is a miniature artist from Jaipur, Rajasthan. He specializes in Persian Mughal paintings and Islamic illustrations. His grandfather Syed Hamid Ali was a court artist and his father was an art collector. Inspired by both of them Shakir Ali started learning miniature painting at the age of 15 under the guidance of Ram Gopal Vijaiverigiya and Ved Pal Sharma. His attention to detail, and fineness is noteworthy and his strokes done with a single haired brush, mark the detailing of his paintings. The intricacy is so fine that the paintings cannot be viewed alone with the naked eye, but need a magnifying glass to view the details. Shakir Ali also experiments with creating modern miniatures and contemporary art using the miniature technique.

In 1992, Shakir Ali represented India in SAARC 10th Folk festival in Islamabad where he won the first prize in an art competition. He has participated in several solo exhibitions across India and overseas such as India Fair, Dubai, Harmony Art Foundation, Mumbai and Festival of India, Brussels. Over 2000 students have been trained by Shakir Ali and he continuously holds demonstrations to create awareness about this art form. Shakir Ali was awarded the Padmashri in 2013.