The New York City subway has inspired many of my drawings. Most have actually started on the subway as sketches of passengers or notes taken on overheard conversations. I've been hit (often literally) with some of my best ideas while riding the train to work in the morning. Even waiting on the platform can show you something interesting.
The drawing above is based on a man I saw napping on a subway platform bench. Unlike a park bench that is just one long strip of rear-state (!), most subway platform benches have thick, rigid arm-rests that divide them up into individual seats. The man's lower half was wedged into one such seat, and his upper half was curled over an armrest, his head and arms lolling to the side. It looked supremely uncomfortable, and yet he was napping like a champion, as all my annoying efforts to wake him proved fruitless (and NO he was not dead - I checked). Thanks to his accomplishment, I realized just how perfectly ill-suited to napping those benches are. I also realized that a person can sleep anywhere if he is either tired enough, or really, really good at sleeping.
I wonder if this drawing matches how this person was envisioning the experience in his head.
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