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 of the images.

Several astronomy-themed images featuring celestial bodies and lunar surfaces.

Here’s a photo of what the collage looks like.

A collage features various cosmic-themed elements, including stars, planets, and celestial textures on a textured background.

Next I’ll scan this into my computer, add more images digitally, and then add text (…which I still have to write).

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 everything looks.

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.

  1. Draw the picture in black ink.
Auto-generated description: A drawing features a simple depiction of the Earth with stylized continents and a smaller circle resembling the moon, both using striped and dotted patterns.
  1. Lay a piece of tracing paper over the drawing. With a pencil, outline the area where washi tape will go. For this page, I wanted a curved shape around the planet.
Auto-generated description: A hand-drawn design of Earth and a crescent moon is shown on a piece of tracing paper placed over a cutting mat.
  1. Use washi tape to cover the area outlined in pencil. I kept even lines of tape but you could overlap pieces or rip the tape into smaller pieces.
Auto-generated description: Decorative tapes with star patterns are arranged on a piece of paper, all placed on a cutting mat.
  1. Flip the tracing paper over. Use scissors to cut along the pencil line.
Auto-generated description: A collection of colorful brick-like shapes arranged in an arch pattern is placed on translucent paper over a cutting mat.
  1. Glue the washi tape piece onto the drawing.
Auto-generated description: A paper cut-out art piece features a stylized Earth with textured continents and a cosmic-themed crescent shape, accompanied by a dotted moon above.

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.

Auto-generated description: A booklet titled So You Met Your Past Self: a practical guide is displayed against a red background. Auto-generated description: Tip 1 suggests ensuring time-travel permits and avoiding interactions with one's past self to prevent complications. Auto-generated description: Tips for interacting with Past You include staying calm, being reassuring, and lying if necessary to protect them, with the understanding that future knowledge gives you an advantage. Auto-generated description: A blue card with tips about interacting with the past and timeline risks is shown on a red surface.

I made the background for this zine by hand. I diluted blue fountain pen ink in water. Then I painted the ink on to watercolor paper.

Auto-generated description: A sheet of blue watercolor paper is placed on a measuring grid.

After the paper dried, I drew an abstract design with a dark blue marker and white gel pen.

Auto-generated description: A series of abstract, interconnected geometric shapes are drawn on a blue watercolor background, bordered by a ruler grid.

This kind of line drawing is a technique I learned from Katie Gebely.

First you draw dots on the page, at random. Then you connect the dots with straight lines. That’s what I did with the dark blue marker. Then I added shorter lines in white gel pen.

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.)

A hand is holding the zine Work in Progress. The cover of the zine has a light blue background. A photo on the cover shows an index card with notes, some illustrations of a man pushing a boulder up a hill, a notebook, and a purple zine. A close-up view of page 1 from the zine Work in Progress. Pages 2 and 3 of the zine Work in Progress. These pages show rough sketches and finished illustrations from a zine titled How to teleport safely. A two-page spread from the zine Work in Progress. These pages show initial drawings and completed pages from the zine Vignettes from Camelot.

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 balloon floating over the city. I started with a pencil sketch. It’s rough. I wanted to figure out the foreground vs. the background and where the balloon was in the sky, in relation to the skyline.

A sketch showing a variety of abstract and geometric shapes resembling buildings and structures.

Here’s a photo of when I was painting the larger areas. I simplified colors and composition (all those buildings!) because it’s so much detail.

A drawing depicts a surreal cityscape with tall blue buildings, a hot air balloon, and glowing fires.

Here’s the finished drawing.

A vibrant, fantastical cityscape drawing that depicts towering buildings with brightly lit windows under a starry sky, featuring a hot air balloon.

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 PDF version you can download for free (or pay what you want).

Here are a few preview pages from the PDF.

A guide titled How to design a mini zine in Canva with a subtitle about setting up design files and page order is displayed on a blue background. Instructions for using Canva to create a zine design are provided. A layout guide for zine page order, including instructions for rotating elements and the arrangement of the back cover, front cover, and pages.

If you have any questions or feedback on these tutorials, please send me a message.

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.

A sketchbook displays a black and blue drawing of a silhouetted mansion landscape with a bat signal in the sky, flanked by paint markers and held open with clips.

Here’s the pencil sketch I started with.

A sketch of a building and the bat signal is drawn on a spiral-bound notepad with a black pencil resting on it.

Bluth's Frozen Banana Stand

Here’s an illustration of Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand from Arrested Development.

A sketch depicts a colorful drawing of a banana stand labeled Bluth's Original Frozen Banana with two people inside.

I started with a pencil sketch to draw the outline of each building.

A spiral-bound sketchpad features a line drawing with geometric shapes and curved lines.

Metropolis at night

Here’s an illustration of the Metropolis skyline at night.

A sketch of a city skyline at night features illuminated buildings, against a starry sky.

I started with a pencil sketch to outline each building.

A pencil sketch of a cityscape is drawn on a spiral sketchbook.

I started painting by covering the large areas first: slate gray for the sky, black for some buildings, and gray for some buildings.

A sketchbook features a stylized painting of a cityscape with abstract buildings and a central circular element.

Then I added in all the details.

A stylized cityscape illustration features tall buildings and a starry night sky.