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Richie Pope’s latest path to online fame came the same way the last one did: in his email inbox.

The proof was on Google all day Monday.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. doodle that appeared above the search bar on Google’s home page was the work of Pope, a 2009 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts.

“One of their art directors sent me an email in December asking me if I’d like to do something for Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” Pope said by phone Monday. “Of course, I said yes.”

Getting to do a doodle for Google was a career boon for Pope, a freelance illustrator who lives in Richmond. And getting to do the doodle for MLK day was also a source of personal pride, Pope said.

“Because I’m black in America, it weighed on me in a good way,” said Pope, who often incorporates messages of social consciousness into his work. “There’s still power in an image.”

It’s not the first time Pope, 29, has attracted attention for his work as an illustrator and comic book artist.