Making a Zine!

I've long been a fan of art, in all its varied forms. It's amazing how accessible it is, and how it can be enjoyed by anyone. One art form I find particularly cool is zines(pronounced like magazine), so I decided to make one for this contest.They're self-published works that are usually not widely distributed, and usually reproduced with printers. The thing about zines is that that the only person they have to please is you, and maybe some people who share your interests.You can make a zine about anything, and barring a one base material, with anything. The only wrong way you can make is a zine is not making one at all!

To make a zine, you need:

1. A piece of copy paper
2. Something to put in the zine(I'm using pens to draw, but you can also glue in pictures for a collage)
3. Something to cut the paper with
4. A way for you to draft ideas(I'm using a sketchbook)

1. Get your sheet of copy paper and fold it in half hamburger style.
2. Open it up and fold each end towards the crease you just made.
3. Open it up again and fold the paper hotdog style.

1. Get your piece of paper, and fold it hamburger style again. Make sure the folded side is facing you.
2. Using your scissors or other cutting tool, make a cut from the bottom of the paper to the halfway point(the creases you made should act as guides).
3. Open up your sheet of paper and fold it hot dog style.
4. With the part you just cut facing up towards you, take the ends and push you paper inwards, until it collapses into a rectangle.
5. Fold that rectangles once more against the crease, and you've got your zine.
6. Go through each page if the zine and number each page from 1-8. This will allow use to fold it back in the correct order.
7. Open up your zine, with the numbered side facing up. Now its ready for your ideas!

Now it's time to come up with your idea! Your zine can really be anything, and the ideas don't even need to be cohesive. I decided to make a zine about a hurricane that passed through my area recently. I found the ways people reacted to it and the weather leading up to it very interesting, and almost beautiful in a way. Unfortunately, many people are also suffering the consequences of the storm, with people losing power, security, and even their lives, so there is also sadness. I wanted to capture all these aspects in my zine.

The reason we fold the zine before this step is to allow us to plan for the pages. They're not the biggest, so its a good idea to know how everything will fit. I'm using one of my sketchbooks for this part.

1. I drew 8 boxes roughly in the shape of the pages of my zine, and labeled them 1-8.
2. In each box, I roughed out what I wanted to put on each of the corresponding pages.

Now that you've got both your zine base and a rough idea of what you're going to be doing it's time to actually make your zine!

The cool thing about using copy paper to make a zine is that it's really easy to replicate. If you have access to printer, you can unfold your zine and make more copies. Then, just follow the folding directions and you can give them away or sell them if you please!