Ten years ago I filled my subway sketches with people one by one over the course of a few sessions.

I decided to try it again, but this time I would add animals, combining my subway sketches with the zoo sketches.

The challenges of a crowded zoo

Ueno zoo in Tokyo is even more crowded than it was a year ago, probably as the number of tourists has increased post-pandemic.

Some of the animals draw large crowds of visitors packed into narrow enclosed spaces, some of which which are too dark for sketching.

The tiger and gorilla exhibits

These photos were taken on a weekday; the weekends are even worse.

Can you imagine how many people were standing in the panda line?

When I took this photo, the viewing time would not begin for another 30 minutes, so the actual waiting time was closer to two and a half hours.

Even if I had the patience to stand in line for that long, I would then have to attempt a quick sketch while people with megaphones told me to keep moving.

So I have given up sketching those animals in "bottle-neck" areas.

Other animals such as the giraffe, elephant and rhinoceros have more viewing space in front of them, so I can usually sketch with an unobstructed view.

And there are many easily accessible subjects such as birds and reptiles which had not been on my radar in the past.

If I put animals and people into one sketch, I am less picky about which animals go into the sketch, and I'm also less concerned about finding perfect subway commuter poses.

But Ueno Zoo is always a bit crowded no matter where you go, so you must stand while sketching, and the equipment must be minimal.

These sketches were all done on blank postcards in a leather jotter with a fat lead mechanical pencil.

For coloring I use a water brush and pocket size watercolor palette with a stapled ring of tissue paper wrapped around my thumb.

I carry these same tools in my pockets on the subway which is also usually very crowded.

With this novel idea of combining commuters and zoo animals, each sketch becomes an ongoing project spanning several days.

I can carry several works in progress with me and have a more fun sketching no matter where I go.

As I've mentioned before, people at the zoo are more relaxed despite the crowding, and more open to talking with strangers. Many of them are tourists from outside of Japan.

This is in stark contrast to the subway where nobody (not even foreigners) would dare to talk to a stranger even if he is obviously sketching.

Now that my sketches are a bit unusual, they seem to grab people's attention more than previously, and I get questions or at least smiles from people who are interested in what I'm doing.

So zoo sketching continues to be an international social event, which is a lot of fun for me.

I have a rubber stamp with a QR code that links to my website, so I thought I would use it instead of a signature.

Since everybody at the zoo already has a phone in hand ready to snap pictures, they can quickly grab the QR code when they look at my sketches.

My website includes SNS links, so I'm connected with several people I have met at the zoo in the past.

I have also been surprised by some people who told me that they were already familiar with my sketches on Instagram or X.

Note about Amazon links: If you click on a link and buy something at Amazon, a few pennies per dollar goes into my Amazon account, so instead of letting Amazon keep it all, you can pry a few pennies from their fingers make them share it with me. Any other vendor links I may put on this website are just for your convenience.