Devon Rodriguez’s Life and Career as a Visual Artist

Painter Devon Rodriguez grew up in the South Bronx and first became interested in art as a child. He started working in graffiti at eight years old before moving on to portrait drawing. He graduated from the High School of Art and Design and later attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. Now known for his portraits of everyday people—particularly New York City subway commuters—Devon is one of the most popular visual artists on TikTok. In 2021, Devon’s work was offered at auction for the first time through Phillips New York. In 2022, Devon landed on Forbes’s “30 Under 30” list for social media. His work has appeared in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and various publications, including The New York Times.

In a short period, Devon Rodriguez’s career has skyrocketed, making him one of the most well-known visual artists of the day.

1. 1. He is from the Bronx. Devon grew up in NYC, which offered him a vibrant environment for regularly finding new subjects. Through public transportation, Devon came across myriad subjects daily, whom he would focus on and draw as part of his subway series.
2. 2. He is TikTok’s most followed visual artist. With twenty-seven million followers, he is the most followed visual artist on TikTok (his handle is @devonrodriguezart). He surprises subway riders with detailed drawings he makes on commutes. Viewers can see and hear the subjects’ moved and gleeful reactions.
3. 3. He was a finalist for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The National Portrait Gallery has an annual portrait competition, for which Devon was a finalist in 2019. Many consider the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition the country’s foremost portrait prize.
4. 4. His work has appeared in leading news outlets. As Devon’s works grew in popularity, he received more and more press; he and his works have appeared in leading outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Artist’s Magazine, and others.
5. 5. John Ahearn took note of Devon’s work. While in high school, Devon got the attention of sculptor John Ahearn, who attended a school portrait exhibit and noted Devon’s oil paintings of subway riders. Ahearn asked Devon to be the subject for one of his sculptures.

Devon is a master of portraits and social media. You can expect these five highlights and more from his class on drawing and painting realistic portraits, available exclusively on MasterClass:

1. 1. Practice drawing a range of subjects. The more varied the faces and bodies you draw, the better an artist you will become. ”My first art teacher, Jeremy Harper from Samuel Gompers [High School], always told me to practice different faces,” Devon recalls. “You get better with the more faces that you draw. So he showed me his sketchbook, and he had all these subway sketches. He would just get on the subway and draw people without even asking. And it was super inspiring for me. That was in 2010, so then I started drawing people on the subway. No one really knew about it until 10 years later, 2020. I started posting videos of it on TikTok, and then they started going viral.”
2. 2. Take care of your equipment. Brushes are a painter’s instrument; you need to care for them so they last a long time. Devon steps through his process of taking care of these invaluable tools, saying, “First, I'm gonna grab my water and dish soap. Grab a paper towel and take the majority of the paint out of the bristles. . . . I'm gonna make sure my hands are wet, and then I'm gonna add dishwashing liquid to the palm of my hand. It's super important to make sure you have all the paint out because this is how your brushes are gonna last for a long time. . . . I'm just going in circles in the palm of my hand until I see no color come out.”
3. 3. There are multiple avenues into the art world. Rodriguez grew up in the era of social media. “Throughout high school, my teachers would go to gallery openings every Thursday, and that was how they networked, met other people, and met art gallery owners,” Devon says. “That was always their advice for me: to go to art galleries, talk to people, try to get my art out there, and market myself. But for me, coming up in the social media world and also being a shy person, I would never go to these openings. And as a kid from the South Bronx, I always felt like the people in these art galleries were too pretentious. I just wanted to get my artwork out there on social media, so I started marketing myself as an artist after I learned the craft, after I graduated from high school. I believe that social media, in our day and age, is more powerful than an art gallery.”
4. 4. Varnish your paintings once they’ve dried. To preserve your painting, it’s important to use varnish. “Varnish is a clear coating that protects your painting over the years,” Devon says. “It also brings all of the colors back to life. When oil paint dries, it becomes super matte and a duller color than we intended it to be. So varnish is gonna bring all of that back to life and protect the painting from any dust getting into the paint and for any cracking.”
5. 5. Work with a variety of brushes. Devon suggests working with five main brushes, which will vary in size and help you execute different parts of your portrait. “The smallest one is twenty-zero. Next up is a size two. Then a size four. A size six, and a size eight,” he says. “As the number goes up, the size gets larger. The smaller the brush, the smaller the tip. For this small brush, you could use it for little details like the highlights in the eyes or, like, little eyelashes, or whatever you see fit.”

For additional perspectives on creativity, consider these classes:

1. 1. Es Devlin on turning ideas into art: Tony Award–winning artist and scenic designer Es Devlin creates large-scale performative sets. Watch Es’s class to learn about producing art for audiences, storytelling with light, and creative collaboration.
2. 2. Futura on spray-painting and abstract art: Pioneering painter and street artist Futura has made art for more than fifty years. Watch Futura’s class to learn about using unconventional tools, designing characters, and collaborating with brands.
3. 3. Jeff Koons on art and creativity: Artist Jeff Koons’s influential works have broken auction records, including three world records for most expensive artwork by a living artist—most recently in May 2019, when his sculpture Rabbit sold for $91.1 million. Watch Jeff’s class to learn how to channel your creativity through color, scale, and form.

If you want to learn to capture portraits on paper and canvas, start by building a toolkit of materials. Discover TikTok sensation Devon Rodriguez’s approach to drawing and painting realistic portraits, marketing yourself as an artist,varnishing an oil painting, and more when you sign up for the MasterClass Annual Membership.