Riding the subway during the pandemic has been an exhausting experience for all. Limited service, essential social distancing, obligation to wear a mask, and a general sense of fear across the system were not helping folks to feel united. NYC artist Devon Rodriguez found a way to make circumstances not as uncomfortable for fellow travelers by sharing his talent with them in exchange for a smile.

It all began in 2010 as a means for the artist to fill up his portfolio to get into art school, but in 2021, it suddenly became a viral hit as hundreds of thousands of people were astonished by the skill and talent, as Devon recalls it: “I’ve been doing these sketches since 2010 but they really just started taking off online in the last five or six months,” Rodriguez says. “Six months ago, I only had about 30,000 followers on Instagram and now I have 1.6 million.”

Rodriguez also launched a TikTok account at the same time, which allowed him to reach a far broader following. Despite not having done much video material in the past, he began sharing short videos of himself producing his work, which quickly gained millions of views: “I started doing them as drawings instead of paintings since they were faster and every video I put up was reaching millions and going viral.”

Though the subway looks a lot different nowadays, with empty carriages and cautious people keeping their distance, the artist is optimistic that New Yorkers' commutes will one day return to something that feels more normal: “I hope everything goes back. I didn’t think it would last this long,” he says. “But whether it does or doesn’t get back to normal, I’m still going to be doing this.”