A zine (an abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine; "zeen") is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. It is produced via photocopying and bound with staples and is often in black and white.
Most zines revolve around a music scene of some sort, but others are dedicated to artwork, poetry, cartoons, editorials and short stories. Because zines do not have any sort of corporate backing, they are very rugged, individualized, and much more charismatic than larger, more popular magazines whose content is often dictated by their advertisers.
My zine
Instead of choosing a specific theme for my zine I decided base it around some of my favourite things. This made it a lot more personal to me, while hopefully also intriguing to others.
The only real reoccurring feature within my zine is that each double page consists of a "zoomed in" image and a "zoomed out" image on a linked subject.
Front & back cover
Front
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The letters on the cover are supposed to be representative of those used in a scrabble game, while the word 'THINK' purposely doesn't give any indication of what is contained within the document, thus making you open it up and have a look.
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| This is obviously themed around my love of tea, while also taking inspiration from the "Keep Calm And Carry On" posters which were originally intended to be 'morale boosting posters' during World War Two. |
Page 1
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I chose to do a bookcase as it meant I could use lots of detail and also reading is one of my hobbies.
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Here is the 'zoomed in' aspect of the book theme, a page of Jane Eyre . Both pages were done with black fine-liner pencil.
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Page 3
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| This silhouette of a dancer in the rain was first drawn in pencil then filled in a black marker pens. |
Page 4
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This is actually the score for a piece of music in a film I like. I drew it up on tracing paper to give the page more visible texture. This is the 'zoomed in' part of the music themed pages, and the dancer the 'zoomed out'.
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Page 5
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| For this page I scanned in a map and then drew a window frame on the image using black fine-liners. By doing this is breaks up the image and also makes it more unique. |
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| This is the 'zoomed in' aspect of the travel themed pages as, unlike the map, it is focused on one particular area- New York. This is significant to me as it's always been a place I've wanted to go. |
