Meet My Zine

So about a decade ago... or more, I participated in trading ATC cards through the mail. I did that, mail art and trading jewelry charms by mail for several years. So when I first learned about zines I was kind of hooked on at least trying to make one. I can't see mailing these out though or sticking to a mailing list with a deadline, but some people do that very successfully. It's a digital world now and I much prefer digital delivery to snail mail.

But I love the idea of making them as a form of self expression and you can print them out and distribute them if you want. They are what cut and paste originally was before computer cut and paste, you remember real art? It was messy, sticky, took time to dry and was just plain fun and I think that is what kids that make these have missed out on. Computers are a great tool but sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty. "Get down in the mud" to have some real fun, so to speak. Most art can be digitized later. I'm telling you there is a whole sub-culture of zines out there to discover.

The appeal for me is original artwork mixed with other types of media and spreading a thought or uplifting message around. And you can try all different kinds of artwork out on them. There aren't a lot of rules to follow here. I have so many different types of artwork through the years that would be great in a zine.

WHAT IS A ZINE?

They are part book, part card, part full page ad and part informational magazine for personal creative expression for writers/artists. I like them. I don't know if I'll make very many of them but I do like the idea of making them and spreading positive messages and personal points of view with them. So I had to try one. I know it's completely digital and not too personal or expressive but that's just the type of art I'm into right now - vintage digital.

So I thought to get my feet wet and just to get one made, I would use some of them as the booklet part and do some larger artwork on the back (which is a full page fold out). Or maybe I'll just use some of my digital works. Mine will not be stapled but you can fold and unfold it at will to see both sides. I'm really kind of excited about working on these. I just hope I have some extra time to work on them.

So here's my first zine and it's free because I'm not that good at it and don't know if I will make enough of them to ever get good at it... or ever make another one again for that matter, so I wanted to give it a try. But FREE is always good! You can download both sides of it in the free section tab above. 

You can download both sides of it in the free section tab above. Maybe someone can benefit from my experiments. 

Print on both sides. Trim off the gray edge. Fold into eight sections. Cut the middle two fold lines. Fold in half length wise with right side facing out. Push the two ends together to make a book with a front and back cover. Instructions can be found here >  How to Make a One Page Book