Download this free Fold+Cut zine (PDF) in A4 or Letter format. Scroll down for more information.
HELLO
During the pandemic I joined a few zine groups, and saw how popular this classic Fold+Cut format is. These zines are easy and fun to make, and they come out really special when you manage to express some personal quirk in a fresh way.
So I made this Gothic Comic zine and tah-dah, you can have a copy too.
PROCESS
This zine was made with a free word processor software, I joined a few shapes to make the illustrations, then copied and pasted these for the different panels.
I really like the charming chaos of the cut and paste approach, but I'm not good at getting messy. I can doodle a bit, but without consistency, and I have attention issues. Using this word processor software works well for me. The result has a raw feel, yet I can undo mistakes along the way. Try it, you might enjoy it too.
My sincere apologies though to graphic designer friends who might be irked by the lack of grids, misalignment, inconsistencies, etc. Heh.
HUMOR + HORROR
Inspiration A = I found a copy of the book Making Comics (by cartoonist Lynda Barry) at home, there's a section on how to quickly draw characters with just a head, body and basic lines for limbs. The book says this was adapted from an exercise by Ivan Brunetti (another cartoonist).
Inspiration B = Since childhood I've been fascinated by gothic comic strips with old horror elements. I also enjoy stuff by Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, Alfred Hitchcock, etc.
A + B = basically what I'm trying to explore here, using simple shapes to create a gothic comic strip. This zine is a tribute to that whole tradition.
There are 3 very short stories in this zine: One Night at the Graveyard, A Vampire Watches and Creepy Mansion. I tried using a 3-panel format at first, but I couldn't seem to generate much story momentum. This 5-panel setup worked better. There's a quick setup, a bit of plot development, followed by a twist ending, all with deadpan humor.
https://austinkleon.com/2020/03/04/how-to-make-a-zine-from-a-single-sheet-of-paper/
As part of the production process I also tried printing this with a crappy printer, and made adjustments so that it's more likely to print okay whatever device you're using. Do let me know if you have problems, I'm happy to make further changes.
Feel free to produce extra copies and share them, maybe for a classroom session, or in a Halloween bag.
Hope this gives you some amusement, and maybe encourages you to create a similar zine. Remember what makes you smile, and turn that into 8 pages of foldable fun.
ABOVE: Here's a guided tour of Gothic Comic, by the FANzine Live YouTube channel. Includes a very helpful assembly demo.
— Dee