Life is rough at the moment. With everything that’s going on it can be tough to find ways to distract yourself. That’s why I recently started a personal project making one page zines about films that I’ve watched during self-isolation. It’s been giving me a lot of joy, so I thought I’d share this little video instructional I made here alongside a little how-to-guide!
Making a zine can feel overwhelming or scary, especially with all the rad creators and artists who release all kinds of amazing zines these days. But this zine is one of the most basic and easy to make — and the coolest thing is all it takes is one piece of paper and a writing implement of your choice. Here’s an easy printable template to understand how one sheet of paper can become an eight page zine for you to share all your thoughts, art, recipes, or even little doodles!
Rosie Knight
All you need to physically make your zine is a piece of paper and a pair of scissors! How you decorate or draw on it is up to you!
– To make your zine, start by taking one piece of paper (I use 8.5″ by 11″) and folding it in half length ways.
– Next, flatten the paper and then fold it in half width wise. Now you should have four segments on your piece of paper.
– With your paper laid out in landscape, take the right side and fold it into the middle crease.
– Next, do the same with the left hand side of the paper.
You should now have eight segments on your paper like the handy template above, which will allow you to work out what to put on each of your eight pages (or six with a front and back cover if you’re so inclined!)
– Now that you have your paper all sectioned out you need to fold in half width wise again.
– Then carefully take your pair of scissors and cut the paper down the middle fold. The cut should be the length of one segment/page.
– With your paper now ready to be folded into a zine, lay it back out in front of you. Then, fold it width wise and push the two ends together!
The cut and the folding you’ve done prior should mean that your piece of paper now looks like a little book!
Congrats! You’ve made a zine.
Rosie Knight
What you put in your zine is up to you! My project Total Rewatch centers on different films I’ve watched recently (feel free to do the same if that inspires you, or you can even head over to my website and print out my zine above to make at home in order to try out this folding technique first.) Other great options are mini-comics, recipes, journaling, or anything else you feel like jotting down!
You can either use the template above to make a zine on your computer or tablet–like mine–or you can hand illustrate and write on your paper with whatever you have around the house! Another cool technique is using a copier or scanner to make a collage zine. Whatever you decide to do I hope that this brings you a little joy and distraction during this trying time!
