Archive

Write down your ideas: Friendly reminder to write down your ideas, even if you don’t know yet what you’ll do with them. My newest zine, “My Favorite DVD Designs,” was an idea I came up with two years ago. I didn’t even start working on it until a few months ago. Here’s the initial …

My Favorite DVD Designs zine: “My Favorite DVD Designs” is a 16-page zine that collects photos of DVDs with interesting graphics. This zine celebrates physical media. Pages feature photos of discs with text about how the graphics connect to the TV show or movie. I have 1 copy available on Etsy (U.S. only). I also …

Zine fest is about a month away, so I’ve gotta start folding. 😅

I was practicing carving patterns: a checkerboard and curvy lines.

Trying something new. 🙂 I made this hand-carved stamp on a typical eraser.

I used photo collections in Micro.blog to create a page with my featured zines. Then after the photos, I added links to each zine.

I made a quick page about zine trades. I think so far when people have asked me to trade, it’s been on Instagram. But now I have info in the Fediverse, too. 🙂

Test print process: Here’s what I do for test printing zines, which is the stage in my zine-making process between text and images are done and everything looks good to go. Step 1 I realize I’m done with writing and visuals. I do a little happy dance (in my head) because the hard part is over. Test prints …

Astronaut Food: New zine! “Astronaut Food” is a mini zine about freeze-dried food that astronauts eat in outer space. The zine includes history about developing food for NASA missions. The back side of the zine (when unfolded) shows vintage Tang ads and a list of sources. If it’s giving Bill Nye …

Update on my slash pages: I had some slash pages here on Mythical Type and some on kalikambo. Some pages were duplicated between sites and some pages were different. It was confusing to me, so I made one set of slash pages on kalikambo, and I removed the duplicated slash pages on Mythical Type. There’s still a …

Spaced Out is now available in a digital format! You can download the zine as a PDF on Ko-fi. Read more about Spaced Out

2024 zine recap: I make zines for fun, and I want zines to be primarily for fun, so I don’t set specific goals each year. Even so, I’m really happy with what I accomplished in the past year! Here’s a rundown of zine-related things I did in 2024. Zines I made I made 10 zines! Mini zines: Useless Venn diagrams The …

Spaced Out zine: One more zine for 2024. 🚀 “Spaced Out” is a quarter-page zine that collects writing and illustrations that are inspired by outer space. Illustrations were hand-drawn in black and white, and color elements were added with space-themed washi tape. All text is typed. Details: 12 pages …

Knowledge is: Here’s a collage zine I started at a local zine hangout on Thursday and finished tonight. I like experimenting during zine-making events, so this style is very different from the zines I usually make. The images are pretty random. 😂 I was looking more at colors and patterns, with less regard for …

Happy Doctor Who day! I still have a few copies of Hipster Doctor Who. It’s available in my Etsy shop, or you can message me if you’re interested in trading. 🙂

Collage background for a zine: I’m working on a new mini zine about astronaut food. For the background, I wanted to collage a bunch of images of stars, the night sky, and related textures. I collected images out of an issue of Astronomy magazine, and I gathered some illustrations and scrapbook paper I had. Here’s a photo of some …

Urban Legends is now available as a digital zine! You can download the PDF on Ko-fi for free (or pay what you want). 👻🎃

Urban Legends made it to Australia!: I sent a copy of Urban Legends to Sea Green Zines, since she helped get the word out about open submissions. Check out the video review on Sea Green Zines’ YouTube channel. Urban Legends is about 25 minutes in. There’s a whole other set of zines in the video before that if you want to check that …

Left-brained art: “Left-brained art” is a mini zine that includes tips for how to make art without having to plan all the details up front. Each page includes a tip and brief explanation. This zine encourages you to work with the materials you already have and not worry about what people will think of the …

My first zine was a joke: “So you met your doppelgänger” was the first zine I made, back in December 2019. It was a fun little thing to give to my friends at work for New Year’s Day. I was playing with the idea of “new year, new you.” I wanted the zine to read like a straightforward guide but at the same time, it’s dry …

Test copies: This week I’ve been making minor edits to my new mini zine, Left-brained art. After I drafted text and images, I printed a test copy. Then I used a red pen to mark edits and changes. Back to Canva to make edits and then print a new test copy. More red pen. Repeat until I’m happy with how …

Contributor zine: Urban Legends: “Urban Legends” is a quarter-page zine that collects art and writing about urban legends, myths, and folklore. Eighteen people contributed stories, poetry, illustrations, and collages. Work was submitted from the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Belgium, and Germany The finished zine is 36 pages (including …

Zine station success: Yesterday I ran a zine-making station at a public library fundraiser. 🙂 The library had a Fall Fair with a bake sale, raffles, magic show, and games. Arts and crafts tables were inside the library. Here’s the zine-making station. The library provided magazines, scrapbook paper, markers, glue …

What's a zine?: “What’s a zine?” is an 8-page mini zine that you can download and print on your own. It includes a brief introduction to zines: what zines are, some historical highlights, and common formats. The zine is available on Ko-fi for free (or pay what you want). The PDF is sized to print …

Washi tape as collage pieces: I’m working on a new zine, and I want to share some process pics with you. 🙂 I’m making pages with black and white illustrations and then using washi tape to make collage elements. Here’s how I’m doing it. Draw the picture in black ink. Lay a piece of tracing paper over the drawing. With a pencil, …

Zine: So You Met Your Past Self: “So You Met Your Past Self” includes tips for what to do when you meet a past version of yourself. This fictional zine is a handy guide for the time traveler in your life (even when that’s you). This zine is available on Etsy (U.S.) only. I made the background for this zine by …

Visuals in Barbie and Pleasantville: 

I wrote an essay for The Wrench Dispatch: The Movie Issue about visuals in Barbie and Pleasantville. The zine came out in January 2024 and collected essays about recent movies.

The essay is about 900 words, so I’m going old school and putting it under a Read More. So retro.

Zine: How to make a mini zine: “How to make a mini zine” is an 8-page mini zine that you can download and print on your own. It includes a brief introduction to zines and instructions for how to fold an 8-page mini zine from a single sheet of paper. The zine is available on Ko-fi for free (or pay what you want). The …

Zine: The antidote to social media: “The antidote to social media” is a mini zine that looks at how negative things are outweighing positives on social media. But social media platforms are still a good way to find people to connect with. The zine suggests ways to work around the negative aspects of social media. Copies …

Zine: Children of Immigrants: “Children of Immigrants” is a half-page zine that collects art and writing about immigrant experiences. Thirteen people contributed stories, poetry, photography, illustrations, and collages. The finished zine is 8.5" x 5.5", 28 pages (including covers), and printed in full …

Zine: Shoveling sand - My favorite writing advice: “Shoveling sand” is a 20-page zine that collects my favorite writing advice from several writers. I grouped quotes by themes including “keep a notebook,” “don’t worry about being popular,” and “get the first draft down.” This zine measures 5.25 …

Zine: Useless Venn Diagrams: “Useless Venn Diagrams” is a mini zine with random observations, put into Venn diagram format. Topics include puzzles, note-taking, and movies. Printed in black on teal paper. I drew this zine by hand and then adjusted spacing and layout in Canva.

Zine: Cat's Cradle: “Cat’s Cradle” is a tiny story about mimicking someone. It’s not quite sci-fi, but it feels like it…maybe because it was inspired by a scene near the end of Annihilation. (I won’t spoil the movie and neither does the zine.) Here’s the full text of the …

Zine: Hipster Doctor Who: Doctor Who celebrates its 60th anniversary next month. I collected some quotes from the Doctor in a zine…with random hipster photos. 🤭 Saturated colors, vintage objects, and a soft tone—this style of photo was all over the internet in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Copies are available on Etsy.

Zine: Work in Progress: “Work in Progress” includes process photos and notes about how I made some of my zines. Not tutorials. More like DVD commentary, but for zines. I designed this in Canva and printed it through Mixam. (Not an ad, haha. I like sharing how I make stuff. Hence, this zine.)

Zine: Modern-day Sisyphus: “Modern-day Sisyphus” is a mini zine about 21st century tasks that never go away. The zine is inspired by Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology who is tasked with rolling a boulder up a mountain, only for the boulder to roll back down every time he reached near the top. Copies are …

The hot air balloon in Elemental: I watched Elemental without knowing what to expect, because Disney’s marketing missed the mark (again). But I liked the movie overall. One of my favorite parts was seeing how each character used their element, like Ember inflating a hot air balloon. I wanted to draw the scene with the hot air …

Zine: Song lyrics I mishear: “Song lyrics I mishear” is a mini zine that lists lyrics where I hear the wrong words. Each page is about one song and includes the actual lyrics along with what I hear instead. I wanted the interior pages to be a mix of typed text (the actual song lyrics) and handwritten notes (the …

How to design a mini zine in Canva: I made tutorials that show how to set up a design file in Canva to make an 8-page mini zine. The tutorials go over how to set up guides and what the page order will be. Everything in the tutorials is done with the free version of Canva. There’s a video version you can watch on YouTube. And a …

Zine: Things we wouldn’t have to worry about if we didn’t depend on cars: I’ve been particularly annoyed lately about how much we depend on cars, so I made a little zine about it. I’m not saying we should eliminate cars completely. I want better public transportation so everyone has more and better options for getting around.

Zine: An Incomplete History of Zany Brainy: “An Incomplete History of Zany Brainy” is a 20-page zine about a U.S. retail chain from the 1990s. These stores focused on affordable, educational toys for children. The zine includes background on Zany Brainy, my favorite toys from the store, and what happened to Zany Brainy after the …

Zine: Playground games in the 1990s: “Playground games in the 1990s” is a pros and cons list of recess activities that were popular in elementary school. (At least in central Pennsylvania, in the 1990s.) Each page includes small illustrations relating to playground activities. I drew on Whitelines paper so I could draw with …

Wayne Manor: Here’s an illustration of Bruce Wayne’s mansion (Wayne Manor). I really like how the blue highlights contrast against the black on the building and the trees. Here’s the pencil sketch I started with.

Bluth's Frozen Banana Stand: Here’s an illustration of Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand from Arrested Development. I started with a pencil sketch to draw the outline of each building.

Zine: Movies I never want to see again: “Movies I never want to see again” is about movies I watched one time and do not want to watch again. This doesn’t mean they’re bad movies! But something about them makes me feel like once is enough. I drafted this zine by hand and then I made it in Canva. The popcorn bucket …

Metropolis at night: Here’s an illustration of the Metropolis skyline at night. I started with a pencil sketch to outline each building. I started painting by covering the large areas first: slate gray for the sky, black for some buildings, and gray for some buildings. Then I added in all the details.

Walking into Hill Valley: Here’s an illustration inspired by a scene in Back to the Future: Marty walking into Hill Valley. I made this as part of a course on illustrating with Posca pens. The assignment was to use two shades of the same color as the main colors in the piece. Since a lot of this image is grassy fields, …

The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron: I took an online course on illustrating with Posca pens taught by James Chapman. He has posted lots of his sketchbook pages to his Instagram. I had a couple Posca pens for a few years, but I hadn’t done much with them. I saw this course and thought it would be a great way to practice with …

Zine: My 20-minute rule for movies: “My 20-minute rule for movies” is about how I don’t feel guilty when I stop a movie I don’t enjoy. I give any movie a fair chance, but I’m okay turning it off if it’s not for me. I made this zine in Canva. It’s 12 pages, printed in black and gray scale on …

Zine: How to Deal with Small Talk: “How to Deal with Small Talk” is a collection of tips for how to handle small talk conversations. Maybe you’re like me and small talk drags you down. And maybe, like me, you have to put up with it anyway. Hopefully this zine can help. This zine is printed in full color. I made the background pages …

Original or the clone: The Philly Zine Fest is accepting submissions for their Anthology zine. I made a collage with a bit of text I’ve been waiting to use somewhere. The background is photocopied aluminum foil (for real!). I simply cut a piece of aluminum foil and made a copy of it. Then I crinkled the aluminum …

Halloween collage: I contributed a page to Webs Across the Campfire, vol. 2, a special Halloween zine from Vlasinda Productions. Copies are available in their shop. For my page, I wanted to make a collage. I had paper from my ink color experiments to work with. I cut these into shapes for clouds, a moon, and pumpkins. …

How to lay out a zine in Canva: When I worked on my zine, Timers for Travelers, I finished the writing first. I knew I wanted illustrations throughout the zine, some hand-drawn and some digital. I decided to lay out the zine in Canva so that I could combine text, digital elements, and hand-drawn elements. I’m really happy with how …

How to figure out page order for printing zines: How do you arrange zine pages so they print in the correct order? There are lots of ways to do this, depending on the size of your zine and the number of pages. Here’s one method for quarter-page zines. Shout-out to Ryan at Pocket Thoughts. His method for printing quarter-page zines is the …

Zine: Timers for travelers: “Timers for travelers” is a 20-page zine about time travel. It includes: Why timers are important to time travelers Tips and warnings for traveling through time Time travel methods Pages were made with a combination of hand-drawn illustrations, digital elements, and typed text. The …

Zine: Everyday Time Travel: “Everyday Time Travel” is about ordinary moments that feel like time moves differently than normal. Out of the zines I’ve made so far, this one probably came together the fastest, from the initial idea to the finished zine. I made the backgrounds with scrapbook paper, and I added some …

Zine: Questions to ask yourself, part 3: “Questions to ask yourself: Part 3” is a hand-drawn mini zine with thoughtful questions and illustrations. This is part 3 in a series.

Zine: Vignettes From Camelot: “Vignettes From Camelot” includes glimpses into the lives of Arthurian characters: Merlin, Morgana, Arthur, and an unnamed messenger. The zine is 16 pages long with 4 original stories and hand-drawn illustrations inspired by nature and magic. It’s printed in black and white. I …

Zine: Photographic Memories: “Photographic Memories” is a collection of illustrations, writing, and memories related to photography. It’s a quarter-page zine and 20 pages, which makes this the largest and longest zine I’ve made to date! The zine is printed in black and white and mostly hand-made with some digital …

Put your creative work out there: About a year ago, I stated making zines. It was something fun to share with friends, but then the pandemic hit, and we all stayed home. I couldn’t share my zines in person, so I started posting them to Instagram. I had no expectations for how people would respond. People seemed to like them, …

Zine: How to teleport safely: “How to teleport safely” is a handy (fictional) guide for how to use teleportation devices safely and avoid…incidents.

Zine: Text Message Moods: "Text Message Moods" illustrates what text message conversations look like, depending on people's moods. You may recognize these patterns. Copies of this zine are available in my Etsy shop.

Astronaut contribution: I contributed a page to the Pocket Thoughts Annual #3, a collaborative zine that features 25+ zinesters from around the world. Each contributor was welcome to do whatever they wanted with their page. I made this astronaut illustration: I wanted to go for a collage look, but still where I made each …

Zine: Questions to ask yourself, part 2: More questions with no real answers. This is part 2, with a different style of questions.

Zine: Questions to ask yourself, part 1: Some questions with no real answers, but maybe they offer some introspection.

Zine: Stardust and electricity: A black and white zine with a simple encouragement.

Shifting through disciplines: I started watching Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix. It's a documentary series where each episode focuses on one designer and a different kind of design. One episode is about Neri Oxman, a professor at MIT Media Lab. She leads a research team in exploring materials informed by nature. (Think: …

Zine: The Danger Zone: I have some sample fountain pen inks from The Goulet Pen Company that are colors I would not write with, but they are definitely colors I would draw with. A bright yellow ink reminds me of caution tape, so I created this zine of everyday dangers, with the danger highlighted in yellow on each page. …

Zine: Exploring is learning: I wanted to do a space and sea theme for a while, but I was stuck on the words. And then NASA found water on the moon. I love how the colors, text, and illustrations came together. If you want to read about my process for this zine, keep scrolling after the images. 🙂 I started with a white …

My zine process: A zine about how I make zines. So meta! Full disclosure: I wanted to draw little Daleks and built the rest of this zine around them. Bonus material Planning If I don't quite know what I want to write or draw, I plan out the zine on one page, like so: This acts as a rough draft of my zine, so I …

Zine: After the connection breaks: This is a little story about telepathy...or something like it.

Zine: What I learned from studying abroad: 

Zine: How to spot a time traveler: A handy little zine for how to identify potential time travelers. To make the background for this zine, I started with white cardstock paper. I used distress oxide inks (3 shades of blue) and blended them on the paper with a sponge applicator. This ink reacts with water, so I used a gear …

Zine: So You Met Your Doppelgänger: “So You Met Your Doppelgänger” is a hand-drawn mini zine printed on an 8.5"x 11" sheet of paper and hand-folded. The finished zine is 8 pages and approximately 4.25 inches x 2.75 inches. This fictional zine is a handy guide for what to do when you meet your doppelgänger …

Zine: Music Discovery Without An App: My inspiration for this zine came from my freshman year of college. The women who lived in the dorm next to me were both radio DJs and often had music blasting in their room. I didn’t mind—they had great taste!—and I found lots of songs I like through them. The idea of finding music you like through …

Escape the Zine: I made an escape room zine! Check out the puzzles below. If you try solving them and have questions or want to check answers, please send me an email. Happy puzzling!

Bullet Journal: Evolution of my monthly log: I use my bullet journal for personal writing and notes (nothing work-related), so I don’t have much that needs to be tracked on a daily basis. A couple years ago, I started tracking how I spent my spare time. More specifically, days I spent consuming media vs. working on creative hobbies and side …

Localized: A short story about living abroad: I was organizing some old files and found a short story I wrote in 2009 while studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I thought I had posted it here at some point, but no, I hadn't. Now seems like a good a time as any. So, here it is. Every Wednesday between classes, I have two hours to kill. …

Steal Like An Artist: Routine Art: This is the best advice I have read about creative work: Be boring. (It's the only way to get work done.) It's from Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, which is an excellent book for anyone interested in creative work. It's full of practical advice. Most people have to practice their art for a …