Pickpockets may be the least of your troubles if you fall asleep on the subway.
Blue monsters are snuggling up to snoozing straphangers on the F and R trains — at least in the drawings of Park Slope resident Ben Rubin.
Outfitted with an iPad, the amateur illustrator has sketched imaginary creatures atop photos of unsuspecting strangers and willing family members and friends for the past five years. (He acknowledges he may have to start getting strangers' permission, now that his Instagram account and Facebook page have gone viral.)
"I draw whenever I’m on the subway, but I also draw sitting on the couch with the family in front of the TV, I draw in bed, I draw when I’m sitting around, waiting for my son to finish band practice," said Rubin, who spends the rest of his time running a Brooklyn-based creative marketing studio.
Subway delays — the bane of existence for most New Yorkers — don't bother him, he said.
”Since I like to spend my time drawing, I will often take the local instead of the express, just so I have more time to hang out and draw and relax," Rubin said.
Rubin's sketches sometimes place monsters in place of straphangers, while other times he dispatches his monsters to hold subway rule breakers to account.
"It drives me bananas" when people break commonly held subway etiquette, said the artist whose Instagram account has more than 66,000 followers. "I always try to be a good subway rider."
But Rubin's drawing is more observational than instructive, an outgrowth of his teenage love of comic books series such as Daredevil and X-Men.
”When I was teenager, I was drawing superheroes and monsters," he said. "I’m kind of still doing the same thing."
Here's what Rubin has observed on the subway and embellished with his stylus:
Many a napping rider
”I always try to take pictures of people who are doing something interesting or aren’t really paying attention to me taking a picture," Rubin said, "so obviously sleeping people are a good target.”
The artist himself never naps on the subway.
Manspreaders
As a cartoonist, Rubin finds manspreading amusing, he said, "because you can put all sorts of things between peoples’ legs."
While he personally has no issue asking a straphanger taking up more than one seat to make room for another bottom, the artist wishes he understood manspreader psychology.
”Is it deliberate, like someone’s sitting down and they’re feeling very aggressive, and they’re like, 'I’m going to take up all this space, and f--k you?" he asked, wondering. "Or is someone just completely oblivious and they’re sitting there because it’s comfy that way?"
Passengers who put their feet on the seats
A father of two, Rubin says to his kids, "If there’s one thing I’ll do, I’ll teach you how to conduct yourself properly on the streets and public transportation in New York. So always walk on the right side of the stairs, don't block the door, and don’t put your feet up on the seat."
The aforementioned door blocking
Sweltering subway cars and platforms
This year, Rubin happened to be away on vacation when temperatures peaked underground.
“I didn’t think [this summer] was that bad, because I wasn’t in the subway during the big heat wave. Luckily, I missed that week."
Smartphone addiction
"I'm addicted as anyone else," Rubin admitted.
The specter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump
Rubin, a Bernie Sanders fan who intends to vote for Hillary Clinton, tries to avoid making political statements, but won't shy away from them when the bolt of inspiration hits.
"I intentionally try not to get too political, because with Trump it’s almost too easy, it’s low-hanging fruit," he said. "But occasionally if I have an idea, I’ll knock one out.”
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