A few zines from my personal zines library.
New to zines? Gather your supplies, make a mood, and xerox like it’s 1992. Check out my guide to making zines with young artists + writers here.
A zine is sort of like a magazine. (Get it?) It’s a handmade publication, pamphlet or mini-book that you make yourself, usually at home, using materials you have on hand. It’s cheaply made, produced, and printed. It has a certain quality to it that’s at once unpolished and earnest. There’s a rich and long history of zines — from counter-culture revolutionaries making homespun manifestos in DIY pamphlets and small-batch printing the words + pictures that no corporation would print.
Bring ZINE-MAKING to your classroom, library, event, or scouting troop
Interested in booking a zine-making session with me? Contact me here or join my email list here to learn about upcoming local workshops.
In-person, analog crafting for the teen set? Yes, please. Workshops with teens are all about studio time: providing space, materials, and nudges. In these workshops teens plan their own zine by thinking about what they really want to say and how they’ll say it. Participants have access to a collage library of found art and my zine collection for inspiration. Recommended time: 90 minutes
Harness the creativity of school age kids with everyone’s favorite genre… comics! In our comics workshop, we start the session with a fun “Character Jam” exercise (adapted from the brilliant Lynda Barry). Then we plan our comic using a simple brainstorming tool. The zines format is adaptable to storytelling beyond comics, too — children can make illustrated ‘How-To’s’ or pen ‘All-About-Me’ zines. Recommended time: 1 hour
Young children are natural experts at zine-making, even if they can’t write yet. 4s and 5s enjoy cutting and pasting with collage, illustrating in their ‘mini books’ and narrating their stories to adults or peers. Using picture book prompts, children are inspired to express ideas, opinions, fictional stories and emotions visually in the zine format. Recommended time: 30-45 minutes
