Repairing Worn-out Graphics: Cute Bunny Edition

My training as a science illustrator comes in handy in the most unexpected ways. The “Family Farm” section of Woodland Park Zoo is much-beloved by its young visitors. There’s a particular interactive experience that has gotten a lot of attention over the years. This panel has a pretend stethoscope, which triggers a recorded heartbeat sound when you hold it over each of the illustrated animals on the graphic.

“Alive Like You” graphic at Woodland Park Zoo’s Family Farm. The illustration shows a cow, a rabbit, a goat, and a child next to a model stethoscope.

As you can see, this experience has gotten a lot of engagement. So much so, in fact, that the ink had entirely rubbed off of the illustration of the rabbit, and was rapidly wearing through the cow drawing as well.

The illustration pre-dated by time at the zoo, and a thorough search of our digital and print files showed that we didn’t have a copy in the archives. Ack! What’s an exhibit developer to do?

Closer view of the wear and tear on the exhibit graphic. The heartbeat recordings are triggered by moving the pretend stethoscope, which contains a magnet, over certain spots on the panel. You can tell that the bunny has a popular heartbeat!

Never fear—science illustrator here! Over the course of a few weeks, I created a new pencil drawing that matched the dimensions of the original artwork. I then replicated that lovely storybook-style look with watercolors. (I did much of the painting while staffing the desk at the zoo’s early childhood building, Zoomazium, much to the delight of the visiting families.) The result was a fresh new graphic panel that very much matched the physical parameters of the interactive electronic elements, as well as fitting in with the look and feel of the original artwork. And happily, we have erased the years of abrasion that resulted from so much happy visitor engagement. A win, in short!