How To Make A Zine

Time To Impart Some Knowledge

I don't claim to be an expert on all things (or any things) cartooning, but one bit of knowledge I managed to pick up after four years at art school is how to make a zine with a minimal amount of stress and tears.

Zines come in all shapes and sizes with all types of subject matter but I've conveniently categorized them in my head as tiny short-form comics. They can feature stories, they can just be a series of illustrations, or really anything; your imagination is the limit. If you're not in an art school (where cartooning students keep several copies stashed in their pockets at all times) you're most likely to find zines in the indie/self-published section at a comic book store or at a comic convention.

One of the great things about zines is that they are pretty easy to craft and there are a variety of ways to make them. I'm going to share with you the one way I know how to!

I'll be taking you through the steps it took for me to make this zine titled, "C'era Una Volta" which basically means Once Upon A Time in Italian. It's a little zine about a few of the Italian traditions & folklore that I find interesting/grew up with. In the US there is an issue with Italians & Italian-Americans presented in media, mostly only shown as raging stereotypes. For example, guidos, mobsters, mama's boys, loud & abusive, etc. So in my art and with this zine, I wanted to share parts of the culture that a lot of people (in the US) aren't familiar with.

Disclaimer: It's important to note that the Italian culture varies from region to region; though there are commonalities, the lore can be vastly different depending on the area. Please keep this in mind when reading the stories in the zine.

Template for a quarter-size zine using one piece of paper:

So first you're going to need to make a little template for yourself. I used standard printer paper to make things easy for myself but it can be whatever size sheet of paper you want.

You have the front side of your paper with pages 6,3, 8 & 1 and then to be printed on the back are pages 4,5,2 & 7. Once it's all printed out, cut the page along the designated line, slide the pages together, and staple in the center! Easy as pie.

Layout for Side 1

Layout for Side 2

These files were made in photoshop. After I had laid everything out, I created a pdf and printed it out. I was able to use a fancy printer that prints front and font back if you don't have one of those available you can just feed the paper back in once the first side prints out.

The most frustrating part about this whole process is making sure you don't print one side upside down, so it may take a little trial and error.

Putting it Together

After cutting it in half and stapling it together, this is how it came out.

Now You Have a Zine!

Hopefully ,these directions made sense and you now have the capabilities to create your own zines to your heart's content. Like I said before, there are tons of ways to get to the same end product so if you find a different way to do it, go forth.

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If you'd like to keep up with more of my work you can check me out at the following:

Instagram: @la.fumettista
Tumblr: http://la-fumettista.tumblr.com/tagged/art
Twitter: @TheresaChiechi
Website: https://www.theresachiechi.com/