My local library offers tons of free classes. A few weeks ago I was looking at the upcoming events and there was a class called “Zine Workshop with Graphic Novelist Sierra Barnes.” I was intrigued. I thought I sort of remember hearing about zines, but not much other than the line, “I wanna publish zines and rage against machines” in the Harvey Danger song “Flagpole Sitta.” I started Googling, which led to YouTube videos, and more YouTube videos, and soon I was obsessed with learning more.
“Zine” is short for magazine, and its just a way to put your thoughts and ideas out there in a booklet form. Zines can be as simple or complex as you want. There are no rules here! What I love is that you can put anything in your zine to express yourself. And you can do anything you want with your zines. You can sell them, give them away, hide them, collect them, trade them, and probably many other things I haven’t even thought of. Needless to say, I was super excited to attend this class after bingeing on YouTube zine videos.
Artist Sierra Barnes led the workshop which included me, a librarian, and a woman that brought 2 kids along. Sierra led us through the paper folding process, and then we were free to use the library materials for making our zines. I immediately went to a pile of magazines as I felt like making a collage. The class was only an hour long, so I felt like I was in an episode of Top Chef or Project Runway, having only about an hour to make my creation. In a way the time crunch was good, as it forced me to put whatever I had in my head down on paper. I set to work cutting out images of flowers, cats, birds, and decided my zine would be about the things I see on my neighborhood walks.
The class also gave us a chance to ask Sierra about her work as we worked on our projects. She had just finished a major deadline for her upcoming graphic novel coming out this month. It was interesting to hear about the publishing process for a graphic novel and all the drama that goes with it!
The time crunch forced me to get my ideas out as fast as possible. No time for self-critique or editing, just creating. And knowing that a zine could be anything and I could do anything with it was so freeing! I loved it! I arranged my little pictures into collages, and then titled each page with the theme. It felt so good to just create something with no expectations, like breaking through a huge mental barrier.
Without further ado, I give you my very first zine: Things I See on My Neighborhood Walks
Now that I’ve taken the class and learned how to make a zine, I have so many new ideas! I want to keep making zines, and some are going to be based on the characters from my daily art journal. Stay tuned for the zine “Squirrels are D!cks!” I also plan to attend DC Zine Fest coming up November 18 to get inspired by more artists making zines, learn more about zines, and meet new people that enjoy this art form.
