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.

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:

astronaut illustration

I wanted to go for a collage look, but still where I made each part of it. This is what the elements looked like, before I put the page together:

I started with black cardstock and a white gel pen for the stars in the background. If you've seen my space-themed illustrations, you know I love drawing stars on black paper. 🙂

I drew the astronaut on white cardstock and the…cloud thing on black cardstock with a black fineliner and white gel pen. Then I cut those out.

The white strips on the left of the page are pieces of white cardstock.

I printed the text using my Phomemo printer. It's so handy for little things like this!

And then I glued everything into place. To send it in for the zine, I scanned it, so I could send a jpg.

Making this page took a while since I created each element separately, but I'm really happy with how it came out.

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.

Right page text: Am I the lightning or the strike? Lightning bolts are drawn coming down from the top of the page.

Zine: Stardust and electricity

A black and white zine with a simple encouragement.

The cover a zine titled "You are made of..."
Two-page spread with the word "stardust" and black dots on a white background to signify stars
Two-page spread with the words "and electricity." Gray lightning bolts are drawn from the top of the page, pointing down.
Act like it.

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: a strong plastic-like material made from proteins found in milk.)

In the episode, she talks about the relationship between art, science, engineering, and design. Usually, we think of them as four separate areas. You work in one domain but not the others. But Neri says, what if, instead, we thought of them as a circle? As a clock, where we shift from one discipline to another over time. Input from one domain becomes the output of another.

Neri uses architecture, design, engineering, and biology in her work, so it makes sense that she talks about interdisciplinary work.

A diagram displays on the screen at this point of the episode, and I paused it to draw it myself. When I see a diagram that clicks for me, I love recreating it as my way of learning.

Here's the circle, with the disciplines each having their own domain, but now connected.

I'm paraphrasing the explanation from the documentary:

Art is for expression. It looks at cultural behavior, which leads to questioning presumptions about the world. These questions lead into science.

Science is for exploration. We gain information (input from art) and turn it into knowledge (output to engineering).

Engineering is for invention. It takes knowledge and turns it into utility for design.

Design is for communication. We take utility, give it context, and turn it into cultural behavior (which is then expressed as art).

Full circle.

Continuing with the clock analogy, Neri says that at the midnight position, that's where art meets science, where Picasso meets Einstein.

I love this model because it shows the value of these disciplines working together. Rather than limit work to one domain, you can shift through domains (with a team...no one is an expert in all four areas) to create a full understanding, exploration, use, and expression.

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 sheet of cardstock and used blue and black stamping inks to build the background colors.

The blue ink is distress oxide ink, so it reacts with water. After the blue and black inks dried on the page, I sprayed the blue area with water and used a clean brush to move the water around and add some texture. Then I let it dry completely. I drew the seaweed and everything else in the blue area with Tombow dual brush pens.

I drew the stars and moon in the black area with a white gel pen.

To create the text, I used a Phomemo thermal printer with sticker paper.

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 can sort out what I want on each page.

Guiding

I like to work on zines with the page unfolded, so I use small sticky notes to label each page, like this:

This lets me work on pages in whatever order I want, without losing track of the order in the folded zine. And, having the page unfolded means I don't have to worry about ink bleeding through to another page.

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 stencil and traced the gear shapes with a brush and plain water. That's what made the sort of ghost-looking gears. I used watercolor brush pens with the stencil to create the darker blue and purple gears. The blue and orange clock faces (most of the cover page and the clock faces on the inside pages) are scrapbook paper that I happened to have and fit perfectly. :)

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 (whether they’re a clone, from an alternate universe, or a time traveler).

This is my most popular zine! You can read it below. Physical copies are available to purchase on Etsy.

A holds a mini zine titled So You Met Your Doppelgänger: How to deal with the other You - a practical guide, against a colorful background. A hand holds a mini zine with humorous advice on handling encounters with a doppelgänger. A hand holds a mini zine featuring drawings of two overlapping circles with stick figures labeled You and Your doppelgänger, along with handwritten prompts about determining similarities and differences. A hand holds a mini zine providing guidance on co-existing with a doppelgänger, discussing pros and cons, ethical concerns, and identity setup.

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 people around you expanded into the pages of this zine.

I tried something new for me—monochrome. Only gray and black pens and markers in this zine. I like how it turned out.

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!

Escape zine cover
Escape zine - deck of cards puzzle
Escape zine - word ladder puzzle
Escape zine - magic square  puzzle
Escape zine - exit door
Escape zine - unfolded view

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 projects. I played with a few different formats and settled on this one, back in May 2018:

may 2018 log
My monthly log from May 2018

My first monthly log

It’s similar to the monthly log in the official bullet journal method, but I added columns to track activities for media consumption (pictured in the yellow columns above) and creative work (pictured in the blue columns). I also had a column for "social", which was any time I spent hanging out with family or friends. My "other" column served as a catchall for everything else, like chores or errands. And there was space for brief notes for each day.

I liked this format, but the blue columns were mostly empty month after month. That's because I cycle through what kind of creative projects I work on. For example, I'm rarely drawing and writing at the same time. It's typically one, and then the other. And I have times where I'm not working on any creative projects at all, for whatever reason.

Also, it didn't really matter to me what kind of media consumption I spent time on (reading, writing, or listening). Having separate columns for those didn't help me.

So, I simplified.

A simpler monthly log

A few iterations later, this is what my monthly log looked like:

may 2019 log
My monthly log from May 2019

Fewer columns. I had three, plus a section for notes.

CBA = Creative Bank Account

The first column is for "Creative Bank Account." This is an idea from Jake Parker (see his overview video). To summarize his video:

I marked this box when I spent time making "deposits" into my creative bank account. What were 3 yellow columns the year before were condensed to one column.

CO = Creative Output

The second column is for "Creative Output." This is for time I spent working on a creative project. That could be drawing, writing, or making something. And it included practice time; not only finished work. The blue columns from the year before were now condensed to one column.

The asterisk

The asterisk (*) column served as my catchall. I marked this for social events or running errands. Anything that was not CBA or CO.

I liked the simpler layout. At the end of the month, I could see at a glance where I spent my time when it came to creative work.

This format served me well, but I noticed a trend over time. I marked the CBA and asterisk columns every day. The CO column was the only one that varied.

I didn't need to have columns for things that happen every day. That didn't help me see a pattern. So I simplified the log even further.

Simpler still

Starting in May 2020, this is what my monthly log looks like:

may 2020 log
My monthly log from May 2020

One column to track CO, and then space for brief notes each day. And that's it.

Besides being quick and easy to fill out the log every day, this simplified format is also easy to draw. Fewer columns, fewer lines, means a faster setup every month.

I like looking for ways to simplify my journal. The less time I spend on layouts and formatting, the more time I have for writing and working on projects.

Are there things you like to track monthly? How do you go about it? Please let me know in the comments, or send me a message.

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. Two hours to be productive by reading a long article in Spanish about magical realism and the writers who best exemplify the movement. Two hours to drink tea (I don’t like coffee and it’s terrible here anyway) or watch the news on TV (la presidente is visiting Chile this week, the highlights of yesterday’s fútbol game). Two hours to pretend to be a local while I sit in this café.

This is routine for me now. After Art History, I take the B-line two stops east to the “microcentro,” the business and theater district of Buenos Aires. It’s not actually in the center of the city. It’s more northeast, but that’s how it is in Buenos Aires—people say things they don’t mean.

I come to this café every Wednesday morning at 10:30, give or take a few minutes. The menu here is huge, physically and in terms of options for breakfast and lunch. I’m not much of a breakfast person, so I order té con leche (tea with milk) and medialunas. The tea is a British brand, nothing special, but medialunas are the best food I’ve eaten in Argentina. They’re palm-sized croissants with flaky dough and come in two varieties: plain or sweetened with a thin coat of syrup on top. Most places have only the sweetened kind, and I won’t complain about that.

The waiter comes back with a full tray. I ordered two things, right? But not even the menus here are clear on what they mean. Té con leche means I get a large mug with a saucer, a tiny pitcher of warm milk on a saucer, a small teapot of hot water on a plate, and a tiny glass of orange juice. 

The first time I ordered tea in Buenos Aires, I thought it was a strange custom of mixing orange juice into your tea. But no, the locals drink the orange juice separately. A little bit of vitamin C never hurt anyone.

Medialunas come in a basket. If they’re larger ones, you get three. Smaller ones, four. 

My square table that is supposed to seat two is covered with excessive glassware. I rearrange everything into an arc around me to make space for that magical realism article. The page I’m on is talking about Julio Cortázar’s use of time. He likes to jump around a lot.

I unwrap the tea bag and drop it into the teapot. I look up at the TV and see that the public bus employees are striking this afternoon. Fine, I take the subway home on Wednesdays anyway. After the tea steeps, I fill my mug halfway. The rest I fill with milk.

Some of my friends back home joke about how much sugar I put in my tea. As in, I have some tea with my sugar. That didn’t change when I switched hemispheres. Most people in Buenos Aires have too much sugar and caffeine anyway. It’s because they stay up late and wake up early. Every kiosk on every street corner has a variety of sweets and candy bars to give you a sugar boost any time of the day. The waiter probably doesn’t think anything of the three sugars I put in my tea. Either that or he’s used to it by now. I always have the same waiter.

When you walk into most shops in Buenos Aires, employees will immediately walk up to you and ask what you’re looking for. This makes sense for two reasons. One, they want to make a sale, and two, direct contact with customers reduces shoplifting. 

Restaurants and cafés don’t work that way. Usually you walk in and find a table yourself. When the waiter notices you, he gives you a menu. You have to wave him over when you’re ready to order. You may take your time eating and sit for as long as you like, and then you have to get the waiter’s attention again for the bill.

Americans are used to attentive waiters so the first few times I ate out were frustrating, but I don’t mind as much anymore. The locals are better at it than I am, but I’m getting there.

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 while before they can make a living off of it, so in the mean time, they need a regular job. Austin says, get a job you can tolerate, pay your bills, and build a routine. When you have regular hours that you work, you know what time you have left, and you can carve out time to write stories, compose music, take photos, draw…whatever it is that you do.

Better yet, Austin points out that if your job doesn’t take a lot of creative energy, you’ll be happy to pour that energy into your hobbies. You take care of yourself, and you keep your mind in the right place to produce art.

This is more useful than the advice I’ve seen that focuses on craft. Other books I’ve read on writing tell me to set a daily word count goal and find a distraction-free space—which is fine, but they don’t connect creative work to the rest of your life.

Steal Like An Artist is the first book I’ve read that blends creative work with the average, day-to-day things. It’s the first time I’ve said, “Yeah, that’s something I can try today.”