"Some people read, some people work, some people apply makeup,” says Joanna Sokua of riding BART. “I draw.”  

Since 2017, Sokua has been creating what she calls “BARToons” during her morning and evening commute. You might say she is a seasoned BARTist. In the past seven years, she has drawn more than 170 BART illustrations. 

While on the train, she snaps photos of scenes and passengers that spark an idea, and when she gets home, she’ll sketch them out or, most often, superimpose pop culture figures onto the images using a digital pen.  

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Full story: https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2024/news20240611

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The drawings depict Scooby Doo and Shaggy waiting for a train; Van Gough seated near the doors with a pipe and bandage over his ear; Doc Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future standing on a legacy train; Clark Kent looking at his phone with his Superman suit peeking out. Sometimes, she’ll just draw a passenger as they are, sitting on the train engrossed in whatever they’re doing. 

Sokua works in banking, helping small business owners secure financing for their ventures. She is one of many artists who have been inspired by their BART rides, from photographers roused by the system's striking angles to novelists who wrote their books almost entirely onboard. There have even been plays set on BART trains. 

On her BART ride from the East Bay to her office in San Francisco, Sokua is not thinking about her data-and-dollars day job. Mostly, she’s looking for subjects to draw. 

The creative exercise helps her unwind, and it’s deeply entertaining for those who keep up with her work on her Instagram (@the_und3rwrit3r), where she regularly posts her latest drawings.  

Read more about Sokua and see the drawings at https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2024/news20240611