Zines on Zines
Zines on Zines
What is a zine? Well, we have plenty of zines that can explain themselves and even teach you how to make your own.
A zine (pronounced ‘zeen’) is a self-published, small-press, or handmade publication. Zines are often ephemeral, capturing a particular time and place. They tend to be non-commercial, reproduced by photocopying, and made to add new voices to the mix of publications out in the world. Zines can be made by anyone, about any topic.
This selection of zines from the Owens’ Teeny Tiny Zine Library will provide you with an introduction to the wide variety of formats zines can take, walk you through the basic steps of making one, and provide plenty of inspiration to start making your own zines. Many have free downloadable versions that you can print out and use to start your own zine library with.
Sarah Shay Mirk
How to Make a One-Page Zine
2019
Created by author, zinester, and journalist Sarah Shay Mirk, this free PDF demonstrates how a single sheet of paper can be folded and cut into an eight-page zine complete with a cover, back cover, and six interior pages. Simple, accessible, and endlessly adaptable, it provides an ideal template for anyone interested in making their first zine.
Downloaded thousands of times by readers around the world, this guide is also a favourite resource for zine-making workshops at the Owens.
David Lasky
How to Make Zines and Mini Comics
2001
David Lasky’s How to Make Zines and Mini Comics puts the power of publishing in the hands of the people! Originally created for Meadowdale High School’s ArtsDay in 2001, this small zine reveals the secrets of sharing your ideas through writing and drawing.
David Lasky is a Seattle artist and teacher who has been making comics and zines since 1991.
Julia Gfrörer
Thuban Press Guide to Analog Self-Publishing
2019
Learn to self-publish the Thuban Press way (that is, without spending hours in front of a computer) with this step-by-step guide. All you need to make your own book and share your unique artistic vision with the world is an idea and a copy shop.
Julia Gfrörer is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and author. As a teenager, she began self-publishing her art and writing under the imprint Thuban Press.
Margot Terc & Childish Books
ZINES! ZINES! ZINES! (for kids)
2021
A beginner’s guide, this little book will walk you through the what, how, and why of zine making. It comes with a blank one-page poster fold so readers can dive into writing and illustrating their very own zine.
Temporary Services with PrintRoom
What Problems Can Artist Publishers Solve?
Temporary Services booklet #118 is a collaboration with PrintRoom. For this booklet, 17 artist publishers were invited to respond to the question: Thinking locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally: What are some social, political, economic, and ecological problems that artist publishers are equipped to address or solve using their knowledge, skills, and resources?
The result is a strong collection of texts (and images) that represent vital thoughts about what artist publishers are capable of in this particular moment, with calls for solidarity, generosity, sharing, and experimentation.
Erin Dorney
Make A Zine: A How-To Guide
2020
A pocket-sized how-to guide, Erin Dorney’s free publication is filled to the brim with information about what a zine can be, how to make one, and ideas to fill your blank pages. Once you’ve made one zine, keep making with her how-to guide on ekphrasis (pronounced ek-fra-sis), a literary description of, or commentary on, a work of art. She suggests bringing this zine with you to your favourite gallery or museum (and maybe leave a few copies behind for other patrons to enjoy).
Erin Dorney is a conceptual poet and artist based in Western New York.
Kirsty Fife
Archive it Ourselves
2019
This zine created by Kirsty Fife shares strategies and tips for documenting and archiving DIY histories. Fife gives tips about archiving through websites, zines, listings, fliers, podcasts, recordings, art, poetry, and even t-shirts and merch as a way to record DIY culture.
Fife is a creative educator, DIY cultural organiser, zine maker, academic, musician, and archivist based in Leeds, Yorkshire.
Andrea Beverley
a zine on zines
2015
Sackville has a zine scene that has ebbed and flowed over the years. The community has been such a site of zine activity that in 2015 Dr. Andrea Beverley (Canadian Studies/English) at Mount Allison University conducted a small research project that itself became a zine. Full of quotes from interviews, A Zine on Zines plays with the conventions of presenting research.
Megan N. Liberty
A New Manifesto for Book Art Criticism
Made by Megan N. Liberty in collaboration with Corina Reynolds, this pocket-sized publication is a manifesto comic from Book Art Review and a call to raise the bar for book art criticism!
Megan N. Liberty is an arts writer, editor, and archivist based in Brooklyn. She is the Art Books section editor at the Brooklyn Rail and co-founder of Book Art Review.
Steven Fraser
Zines Saved My Life
2021
Zines Saved My Life is a 28-page comic book about zines. It explores mental health in a visual and engaging way that shows how important zines, art, and communication are. The comic is personal and intimate and follows Steven Fraser as they look at what zines and DIY art means to them.
Jessica Gath
I Wanted to Write a Book
2020
A deceptively simple zine, Jessica Gath shows you how anyone can write an entire book, if you can overcome your self-doubt.
Jessica Gath is a “possibilitarian” who makes artwork in paint, garments, zines, food, correspondence, community, activism, song, dirt, plants, and “whatever else gets the job done.”
Marc Fischer
Towards a Self-Sustaining Publishing Model
2021
Marc Fischer describes this text as being “written in one coffee-fueled blast of energy” the morning of the program Towards a Self-Sustaining Publishing Model, organized by Be Oakley of GenderFail and presented on Zoom by Printed Matter on April 2, 2021. In the text, Fischer shares practical advice for sustaining a publishing practice drawn from three decades of experience as a zine maker, publisher, and artist. At its core, the publication highlights how “publishing is a life journey and not a get rich quick scheme, or even a make very much money scheme,” which must be built around generosity, community, and collaboration.
