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 a regular pen and then photograph the paper to use the drawings digitally.

A hand holds a pink zine titled Playground games in the 1990s with a sketch of a playground structure. A pink zine lists pros and cons for four children's games: Kickball, Four Square, Kick Back, and Red Rover. A pink zine humorously lists pros and cons for playground activities: Swings, The Floor is Lava, Double Dutch, and Circle Dodgeball. A pink zine lists pros and cons of games like Horse, Tag, and Knockout. A collection of zines titled Playground Games in the 1990s.

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 on the front cover is modified from Terrance Barksdale’s photo on Pexels.

A person is holding a red zine, titled Movies I never want to see again, with a small illustration of a spilled popcorn bucket. A person holds a red zine featuring brief commentary on the movie District 9. A red zine with commentary on the movies Annihilation and Jupiter Ascending. A red zine with commentary on the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and TRON. Five copies of the zine Movies I never want to see again, fanned out on a yellow background.

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 orange paper.

A small orange booklet is titled My 20-minute rule for movies with a film reel design on the corners. Page 1 of the zine with text about someone's movie preferences and their approach to deciding if they want to continue watching a movie. An open orange booklet features the text watching movies. An orange zine titled My 20-minute rule for movies is decorated with film strip graphics. A hand is holding an orange zine with the text My 20-minute rule for movies on it.

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 using blue, purple, and red inks. Some pages have digital illustrations. All the text is typed.

It might be difficult to tell from the photos, but I tried a new page size for this zine, and I like it! A 12-page zine, printed double-sided on one 8.5x11-inch sheet of paper. The finished zine is about 3.5 inches high x 4 inches wide and bound with staples. And these dreamy cotton candy colors are on every page.

Glorious.

A zine titled How to Deal with Small Talk: a practical guide. A zine page with encouragement to pretend to be a person who likes small talk, set against a colorful background. A pastel-colored zine page displays the phrase Leave them with a sense of mystery. A hand holds a zine titled How to Deal with Small Talk: a practical guide. A zine titled How to Deal with Small Talk is placed on a textured surface.

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
A hand holds a blue zine titled Timers for Travelers and other thoughts about time travel. Circular designs are above and below the text.

Pages were made with a combination of hand-drawn illustrations, digital elements, and typed text.

The zine measures 5.5 inches high x 4.25 inches wide (quarter-page zine). The cover is blue cardstock. Interior pages are printed in black and white on 24lb white paper. The zine is hand-folded and bound with staples.

An open zine, displaying a passage about how time travelers may lose their sense of time. A zine spread with time travel tips and an ad about a career in time traveling. An open zine with a page that features a constellation drawing with a poem and time travel tips. Two copies of Timers for travelers lying on a yellow surface.

Zine: Everyday Time Travel

“Everyday Time Travel” is about ordinary moments that feel like time moves differently than normal.

A hand is holding a small zine titled Everyday Time Travel with a decorative geometric pattern.

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 details with fineliner pens. Then I wrote the text on white paper, tore out pieces, and glued them over the scrapbook paper. I like how all the colors and patterns came together.

Here are the interior pages:

A vintage-style page spread with orange paper, a retro telephone, and a message about time slowing down on Friday afternoons or when on hold. A zine spread with a poetic quote about quiet moments with snowflake patterns and yellow and blue backgrounds. A textured purple background with musical notes. Handwritten text describes how time and memory interact with music, emphasizing the effects of playing songs on repeat and singing verses out of order.

And the back cover:

A hand is holding a the back cover of a zine with a thank you message.

Zine: Questions to ask yourself, part 3

“Questions to ask yourself: Part 3” is a hand-drawn mini zine with thoughtful questions and illustrations.

A mini zine titled Questions to ask yourself: Part 3. The subtitle says, Moods change with context. The zine is printed on white paper with black text. A page spread with handwritten text that says, Which do you enjoy more--starting or finishing? The drawing on the left page is a ball of scribbles. The drawing on the right page is neat rows of squares. A page spread with handwritten text that says Which do you find more difficult--jumping in or letting go? An illustration on the left page shows two wavy lines that then intersect into a double-helix on the right page. Near the right edge of the page, the lines separate.

This is part 3 in a series.

Three mini zines titled Questions to ask yourself Parts 1, 2, and 3 are arranged against a bright green background.

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 couldn’t decide on a blue or white cover, and neither could my Instagram poll. 😂 So I made both versions.

Two copies of a zine titled Vignettes From Camelot feature a drawing of a sword in a stone on the cover. One zine has a white cover and the other zine has a blue cover.

The stories in this zine started as a series of tweets I wrote a few years ago. My original idea was to write 10 tweets in a thread and have that be one story about people in Camelot. I never finished that, but I took the ideas I had for Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, and a messenger and fleshed them out into these vignettes.

A zine page featuring a table of contents on the left, with a story titled The Messenger on the right, discussing a young girl's development of a keen sense of truth.

I drew the illustrations by hand using black and gray markers and pens. I wasn’t sure which illustrations would go with which stories, so I drew each page individually. Here are a few of the original illustrations.

Two pieces of paper feature artistic drawings, one with black wavy lines and the other with a stone castle. Around the pages, a market, a pen, and brush pen are place on the table. Two different intricate pen drawings, one depicting a forest and the other abstract wavy lines with dots. Various pens and markers are place around the pages.

When I finished all the illustrations, I scanned them so that I could do the layout digitally.

I used Canva to lay out the text and illustrations. I made many of the illustrations semi-transparent so that the text over them was readable. In some cases, I put white boxes behind the text, so that the words stood out without adjusting transparency on the illustration. Here are two of the pages in Canva.

Two pages of the zine. The left page has an illustration of a castle wall with flags. Black and white text boxes cover part of the castle. The right page has a story about a young girl, with wavy lines in the background.

After I laid out all the pages, I did a few test prints to see how everything looked on paper. I made a some adjustments, and then printed several copies for my Etsy shop.

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 elements.

A zine titled Photographic Memories features a design with film strips and vintage camera illustrations.

It took me a while to make this zine. I knew I wanted to focus on photography, but beyond that, I didn’t know what to include. I knew I didn’t want it to be a how-to guide or lessons on photography. You can google all that and nothing I make would be as extensive or informative.

Instead, I thought about things that stuck with me—concepts and memories—and that’s what I made pages about. Here are some previews:

A page of the zine that looks like a notebook page with a list of qualities for photographers. The adjacent page shows photos of trees and their reflection in water. A sketch shows an an MP3 player with text expressing concern about its impact on prints and learning the controls by touch. A whimsical drawing illustrates the hazards of amusement park photography, including thunderstorms, sunburn, angry geese, and kids with squirt guns. Two copies of Photographic Memories. One copy shows the front cover, and the other copy shows the back cover.

I made each page individually and then laid out pages by hand. The original pages look like this:

Pages of the zine with drawings and handwritten notes. Small sticky notes denote page numbers.

I used sticky notes to label each page, so I wouldn’t lose track of what goes where. I scanned pages, added some white space as buffer, and then printed copies.

I learned a lot by making this zine in a larger and longer format than I’ve done before. I already have plans for my next zine. It probably won’t be as long but it’ll be the same page size.

Zine: How to teleport safely

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

A hand holds a small zine titled How to teleport safely — a practical guide, featuring a striped border. A hand is holding an open zine. The pages have drawing of a tree and a volcano with advice on aiming and not landing inside the volcano. A hand is holding an open zine. Handwritten text includes advice about keeping devices charged and carrying manageable luggage. The pages include simple illustrations of a battery and a suitcase. A hand holds an open zine with two pages: the left side encourages embracing the void, while the right advises not to panic, both featuring illustrations and text about travelers' experiences.