50 Doodled Creatures That Popped Up In Unexpected Places, By David Zinn (New Pics)

Bored Panda reached out to David, who updated us on what he has been up to lately.

“My first book Temporary Preserves is now out of print and copies of Underfoot Menagerie are dwindling fast, so I’m working on a couple of new book projects to document my most recent street creatures. I am also hoping to create a new expanded edition of The Untold Tales of Nadine, which I’m fairly certain is the world’s first D.I.Y. storybook.”

We were wondering how David selects the locations for his drawings. The artist shared his process: “I prefer to let my locations choose me; because it’s always easier to draw something that wants to be there. Pareidolia – our psychological habit of seeing patterns in random shapes and specks – helps me to find faces, tails, windows, clothing, and a thousand other parts of any potential image and then I just fill in whatever pieces are missing,” wrote David.

David seems to find inspiration anywhere, may it be on pavement, in cracks, holes, and grooves. We asked the artist to elaborate on a memorable instance where an unexpected surface led to a particularly unique creation.

David shared: “While looking for a shady place to draw last June, I stumbled across a hydrangea bush with one perfectly round white blossom reaching far enough over the sidewalk that I could draw a squirrel holding a waffle cone underneath it. Given the ever-changing seasons, weather, and botanical variability, the odds of finding that perfect inspiration on a randomly chosen street corner were phenomenal.”

The drawings David makes tend to not last very long. We asked how the impermanence of such pieces influences the artist’s creative process.

“Aside from the fear of not finishing a drawing due to unexpected rain, creating ephemeral art is calming and therapeutic. When a piece of art has no future, all the questions of preservation, impact, commercial value, or anything else become irrelevant. You are free to relax and enjoy the present moment without the distractions of practicality,” explained David.

Despite David’s drawings being temporary, his artwork has an everlasting impact on people around the world, and his travels only serve to keep him more inspired. Because of that, we were curious about which countries are on David's wishlist.

“There are whole continents I haven’t visited yet, so I’m always hoping for an invitation to draw in Australia, Africa, or South America just to tick those off my list. However, in my past travels I’ve also been keenly aware of the long hours spent not drawing while in transit and the pressure created by a limited window of time in a new place, which makes it tempting to exhaust all the opportunities outside my front door first. I have drawn well over a thousand creatures within walking distance of my house and haven’t even scratched the surface of the possibilities there.”

David also shared a story about an interaction with a passerby that left a lasting impact on his art.

“I’ve often been frustrated by my stereotypically American lack of language skills in foreign countries, because the best part of drawing in public is often having random conversations with strangers, especially children (who are the least likely to know any English). Once, when I was drawing on an old millstone in De Wijk, a young child started watching me work and asking questions in Dutch I couldn’t understand – but then the piece of chalk I was using broke in half. He picked up one piece, I took the other, and we drew something together in a suddenly compatible moment of friendship. This has stuck with me as a powerful reminder that we can connect with people even in situations where communication seems impossible,” wrote David.

And lastly, David added: “Before the age of five, we are all supremely self-confident artists. Doubting our own creative voice is a learned habit, a regrettable side-effect of gaining empathy and compassion for others; for better and for worse, after the age of five, we care what other people think.

No matter who you are or what you think of your skills as an artist, you still have every right and responsibility to your own creative expression. If you don’t share your unique point of view, no one else will because no one else can.

If this idea makes you anxious, don’t worry: you are probably doing this already. Even if you don’t draw or paint or sing or dance, there is something in your life that creates the same feelings of satisfaction that every artist experiences. It might be telling a joke well, cooking delicious food, choosing your clothing, or just arranging any objects in your environment in a way that makes you happy. The point is to let yourself enjoy these actions without restraint and remain open to opportunities to share yourself more fully with the world.”