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He recently published a coffee table book called “ Chance Encounters: Temporary Street Art by David Zinn” and points those interested in learning his craft toward 'The Chalk Art Handbook: How to Create Masterpieces on Driveways and Sidewalks and in Playgrounds.' “And that photograph might end up in a book or a calendar or a post card.” “As my work on the sidewalk got more popular, people were willing to pay me,” he says.

Zinn’s social media accounts received two huge boosts - once when Instagram featured him on its official page and once, during the pandemic, when the BBC did an uplifting story on him. A recent collaboration between Zinn and 'unknown artist(s)'

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In another creation, Zinn transforms a patch of children’s sidewalk chalk into a work called “Big Fish in a Small Playground,” making sure to credit his collaboration with “unknown artist(s).” That post was shared nearly 500 times.

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A crack in the sidewalk inspired this recent creation. Zinn started his social media accounts to keep connected with his brother in Massachusetts, but now has nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram, a million on Facebook and 3 million on TikTok.Ī recent post on Facebook (pictured below), for example, makes use of a crack in the sidewalk to frame the teeth of a sluglike creature named Mel, accompanied with the caption “Mel's social anxieties disappeared after he found those lost dentures.” It received nearly 6,000 likes. Over the course of 20 years, people began to notice what he did, both on the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and on social media. So how did Zinn monetize his “pointless” art? Just enjoying the present is about as carefree as you’re going to be.” “Worrying about the future of something is not the fun part. “Doing it has taught me good things about embracing the joys of temporary art, and by extension, the joys of embracing how everything is temporary,' he says. How long his work lasts depends on the weather and foot traffic, but it’s never long. “Bits of gum that people have dropped that connect the dots and provide the inspiration.”

“It’s the broken spots that usually provide the inspiration,” he says. He’ll find an interesting crack in the sidewalk or bit of graffiti and work around that to create whimsical characters. So Zinn will grab his chalk - often just cheap Crayolas - and head outside. That was 20 years ago and Zinn is still making chalk drawings - only now it’s his life’s work and has taken the place of his more commercial freelance assignments. “I shamelessly rationalized that I could go outside and enjoy the nice day as long as I was making art,” Zinn says. At first, it was an excuse for David Zinn to get outside on a sunny afternoon.