My Zine Archive is Growing!

Hey there!

2024 has been an active year for creating art, doing commissions, and creating zines! I will share in more detail another time about the commissions but for now I want you to look at all of these zines!

I’ve been teaching myself through reading books, blogs, following online tutorials, and experimenting with different materials to make a variety zines.

I’ve made zines that are a practice in observational drawing, others in storytelling, and others very “head empty, go with the flow” kind of creating.

Zine making has provided me with a space that is open to let creativity flow without too much over analyzing of myself or what I’m doing.

Unless it’s a perzine…those are more therapeutic than I was expecting and I’m grateful for them.

If I make a mistake, no big deal, I simply use that perceived failure as material for a collage, and for what I can do differently next time.

I have this mindset as an artist already but making zines has really ramped it up.

So far, my two favorite forms of zines are the classic single paper with eight sections and single fold booklet zines. Although more complex in layout, they have yielded some great “Ah Ha!” moments that is familiar to every creative person at some point.

Each layout has their pros and cons but I love that about them.

Figuring out how to most effectively use the space available has lead to discovering multiple new ways of thinking and pushing beyond those limitations! It’s also sharpened my eye when I look at artwork of some of my favorite visual artists.

I feel like making zines has pushed my artistic and storytelling skills to a new level!

With the exception of “Painter”, “CRASH”, “In the Forest”, and “JXN to LGB”, all of the zines pictured were made this year.

Which is your favorite and what kind of zines do you enjoy?

If you make zines, feel free to share them here!

Justin RansburgComment