NYC subway doodle artist shares his story at Festival South

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Festival South brought in an artist Friday from New York City who is well-known for his doodling skills.

New York City subway doodle artist, Ben Rubin started off drawing on his IPad while riding on the subway in 2011, and decided to create an Instagram account a few years ago, and began posting his work on there. It did not take long for people to start noticing him, which helped him get to where he is at today.

Rubin recently arrived in Hattiesburg and has been creating illustrations from pictures that were taken from local photographers, and discussed his work at Festival South.

"Most of my work is based in the New York City subways, but sometimes it's nice to broaden out and do something else. In my mind, these creatures not only exist in the cities, but they're out in the country and places like Hattiesburg," said Rubin.

"It's an exciting opportunity for us to showcase not only Hattiesburg for our own culture, but if you look at all of his followers, the number of likes that are happening on this that are going 'where's Festival South? And where is this Hattiesburg place?' And that's what we're really about, trying to bring people and tell our story of the great things that are happening here in Hattiesburg," said Festival South artistic director, Mike Lopinto.