Woman Bursts Into Tears After Man Draws Her on Subway Without Her Knowing

If you are lucky enough to have an artistic gift, you should use it to do good in the world, as this recent viral video proves.

In footage posted to TikTok by artist Devon Rodriguez, we can see the moment he drew a woman on a New York City subway, and just what giving her the artwork meant.

The clip begins with Bronx-based Rodriguez, 25, who has more than 19.9 million followers on the app, taking out a piece of paper to draw a mask-wearing woman who is reading a book on the train opposite him.

Using graphite pencil and a clever use of shading he quickly renders her face in exquisite detail, before standing up to pass her the piece, explaining: "Excuse me miss, I drew you. I did this drawing of you."

The woman looks down at the artwork before clutching her hand to her mouth and bursting into tears, clearly overcome by emotion.

Rodriguez captioned the impressive video, which can be watched here, writing: "You never know when someone is in need of an act of kindness [sad-face emoji] [black love heart] let's all do something kind for a stranger today."

The beautiful moment has gained lots of traction online since it was posted on August 10, having been watched 11.9 million times and garnering more than 1.5 million likes at the time of writing.

Many people have also rushed to the comments section to share their opinions on the tear-jerking moment.

One TikTok user, Brittny, wrote: "People just want to not feel invisible. You made her feel seen."

Another person, Wildflowr2, added: "She cried... I cried. Your work is incredible."

Aixinco Roda explained: "Literally you opened a lot of feelings in her, and she really needed her drawing."

User8634686939446 typed: "What a beautiful reaction. It seems like she has been holding that in for some time."

Gibson is the name! stated: "Now I'm crying. Clearly she needed to know she was seen."

Lesley Amy revealed: "You drew my friend a few years ago before TikTok was a thing and its framed in his room still to this day."

Justasunflower commented: "It is as if she thought she was invisible, as if she thought she didn't exist anymore until you proved to her she was noticed, she was being seen."

Although the woman was clearly shocked by Rodriguez's drawing of her, the artist himself was equally as baffled by his online fame, as he told TODAY in a recent interview: "It's so insane. Some days I wake up and I can't even believe it."

He added: "I did the first subway drawing. I posted it and it got, I think, 4.9 million views. Once it got a million, I was like, 'I can't believe this.' I was watching it all day. I went, 'Oh, my God, it's still going, it's still going. It's crazy."

Newsweek has contacted Rodriguez for comment.