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Chalk Artist Takes To Michigan’s Streets To Lift Spirits With His Delightful Cartoons.

a photo of chalk art featuring a small animal holding a balloon from inside a brick next to a photo of chalk art featuring a green monster eating a manhole cover like a cookie

As kids, we’re encouraged to express our creativity through avenues like drawing. Many of us stop these fun hobbies as we grow older, but David Zinn found a way to turn his childhood passion into so much more.

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David is a professional chalk artist. His delightful drawings can be found all over Ann Arbor, Michigan, but his work has reached countless people across the world. We’ve gathered some of our favorites for you to enjoy below!

1. David is a self-taught artist, and all of his work is inspired by nature and the random objects he finds at the locations of his drawings.

2. “I think I started drawing on sidewalks because I had successfully failed to make art anywhere else,” David said.

3. People often ask when he first started drawing, but David views this questions a bit differently.

4. “The important question isn’t, ‘When did I start drawing?’ It’s: ‘When did you stop drawing and more importantly, why?'”

5. David partially attributes kids growing out of being creative to self-doubt.

6. “Self-doubt should never be allowed to win. We are all brilliant artists under the age of 5,” he said. “This self-doubt is something we learn.”

7. No matter if you’re interested in drawing, dancing, or “stacking sugar cubes in a precise way just for the sheer joy of it,” David says it’s all about doing what you find fun.

8. “It’s all creativity and it’s all good for your soul.”

9. Oftentimes, art isn’t given enough recognition for making a positive impact on the world.

10. “Science is how we solve problems, but art is how we cope with them, which is good, because science often takes a long time to solve them and in the meantime we have to cope.”

11. According to David, art is also a great way to help your brain relax, especially on days when it’s hard not to overthink.

12. “My brain is constantly trying to help. It’s trying to think its way out of this situation by thinking of all the stuff I should be doing and all the stuff I might be doing wrong but it makes me absolutely miserable.”

13. “So I think creativity serves, among its many purposes, the ability to make that part of your brain shut up, just stop, because it’s trying but it’s not helping.”

14. That’s why David’s work has been all the more important to his neighbors – and himself – during the pandemic.

15. “All in all, I’m feeling grateful that there are opportunities for cheerful nonsense even in the middle of this very weird time,” David said.

We’re so impressed with David’s incredible art skills! But we’re even more impressed that he’s discovered such a clever way to make the world a little happier and to encourage creativity in all of us, no matter our age.

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