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.

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIrOfTywDkY)

And a PDF version you can download for free.

Download PDF tutorial

Here are a few preview pages from the PDF:

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).

A colored illustration of Bruce Wayne's mansion (Wayne Manor). The building is painted back with blue highlights. Windows are illuminated in white on the left and right sides of the building. To the right of the building, there's a bat symbol in the sky. The sky is painted a cool gray color with blue clouds, and black lines. In front of the building, in the foreground, there are small trees painted in black with blue highlights.

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.

A pencil sketch of Bruce Wayne's mansion. To the right of the building, there's a bat symbol in the sky.

You can see my other Posca pen illustrations under the “Posca” tag.

Bluth's Frozen Banana Stand

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

A color illustration of the banana stand in Arrested Development. The banana stand is on the left, in the foreground. George Michael and Maeby are standing behind the counter. To the right of the banana stand, there's a brown building. A white and blue lighthouse is in the background.

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

A pencil sketch of the banana stand in Arrested Development

You can see my other Posca pen illustrations under the “Posca” tag.

Metropolis at night

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

Illustration of Metropolis skyline at night

I started with a pencil sketch to outline each building.

Pencil sketch of Metropolis skyline

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

Paint progress on the Metropolis illustration. This image shows the block colors: slate gray for the sky; black and light gray for the buildings.

Then I added in all the details.

Detail of Metropolis illustration

You can see my other Posca pen illustrations under the “Posca” tag.

Walking into Hill Valley

Here's an illustration inspired by a scene in Back to the Future: Marty walking into Hill Valley.

A painted illustration of Marty McFly walking into Hill Valley. The road is painted light green. The grassy fields on either side of the road are dark green and light green.A sign posted in the grass says "Hill Valley, 2 miles."

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, I chose two shades of green. I kept Marty's outfit realistic (orange vest and blue jeans) to signify that he's out of place...or, more accurately, out of time.

Here are some thumbnail sketches I did prior to painting the scene. I wanted to test out colors--what looked good for the grass and Marty's outfit.

Thumbnail sketches to test colors for the grass and Marty's outfit.

And here's the simple pencil sketch I started with.

Simple pencil sketch of a man walking on a road.

You can see my other Posca pen illustrations under the "Posca" tag.

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 Posca pens.

The course covers how to create a pencil sketch to get the composition down. Then it explores various color schemes to determine how to color the illustration. I especially like the challenge of limiting the number of colors used.

I like the process I learned in this course. It takes me several hours to finish an illustration, but I really enjoy the time I'm spending learning and practicing. I'll share my illustrations here as I finish them.

The course encourages choosing a theme that will motivate you to keep working on sketches. I chose places in movies, TV shows, and books. First up is The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron.

Here's the pencil sketch:

A pencil sketch of The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron. The Candy Bar is positioned to the right of the page's center. Behind the Candy Bar are buildings on the right and left.

I chose to go with realistic colors, so I used Posca pen colors that are close to what this location looks like in the show.

Here's a progress photo, with the larger areas of color done:

Progress on the illustration of The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron. The sky, buildings, and street are colored in. What needs to be done includes window panes on the buildings, details on The Candy Bar building, and details in the street (like lane lines and shadows).

And here's the finished illustration:

An illustration of The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron. The Candy Bar is positioned to the right of the center of the page. Behind The Candy Bar are buildings on the left and right sides.

I really enjoyed making this as my first attempt at a Posca pen illustration!