On our short trip to Chicago, I managed to get to the Lincoln Park Zoo with the sketch book and the camera. I had in mind that I would sketch more and photograph less, but the animals didn’t cooperate much with that plan. All the same, I managed to get a couple goodies. Even slightly contrary zoo animals usually make for good stuff.

The reason the animals weren’t good for sketching is that it was too hot and sunny, and all they had in mind was a good sleep. And whereas I was most appreciative to them for staying mostly still, the fact is that they were usually staying mostly still under a tree, behind some bushes or — like the tiger — lying down so flat that there really wasn’t much to see.

Glad they were getting their beauty sleep but it’s not exactly what I had in mind.

But then that’s where the camera comes in handy. Grab a few quick photos and sketch at home from a printout.
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It’s a bit of a cheat, but it saves you having to hang out in front of the cages for so long that you start to seem to people like one of the attractions. (Funnily enough, people do have a way of talking to each other about what I’m drawing as if I couldn’t hear. I’m just as glad that they’re usually saying things that are complimentary — often much too complimentary — but it still seems odd. I think the problem is that you so rarely see anybody sketching anymore that they don’t know what to do. If you’re ever in that situation, the answer is: offer thousands of dollars for the drawing. The artist will be your friend.)

Well anyway, the photos gave me enough to work with that I could have some sketching fun once I got back home. But there were two of the photos that were also so interesting on their own that they made good photo-illustration once I added a little Photoshop magic to them.

I like all the brown-on-brown, but mostly I like it because neither Greg or I could figure out what the heck that thing was. It was called a takin. “It looks like it belongs in ‘Return of the Jedi’,” Greg said. He was right. I suspect zoo animatronics, put in place to fool unwary zoo patrons into thinking they are seeing fabulous creatures from the future. In this case, of course, the heat had fried its wiring, and it dropped in its tracks.

And this was yet another sleepyhead, though he might not look it.

The leopard spread out on the rock just to cool off, I’m sure. He looked just as torpid as all the other animals. But he also happened to glance at the camera just as I took the picture, and the flash went off because the inside of his cage was dark. Behold, we have the great stalker cat with eyes all aglow.I like how the picture turned out, but I’m also darn glad the nice leopard didn’t decide to get down off his rock and deal with the annoying lunch-item with the flashy thing. That would have definitely put a damper on our visit.