Got inspired at a zine swap in Austin last spring

I went to this tiny zine swap at a coffee shop off South Congress, maybe 30 people there. Some kid handed me a one-page zine about fixing bike chains that was literally just photocopied hand drawings and it blew my mind. Now I keep all my zines under 8 pages and I draw everything by hand before scanning. Anyone else find their style after seeing something super raw like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew77d ago

Respectfully, I gotta disagree a little bit here. The raw hand drawn stuff is cool but I think the magic of zines is more about the content than the style. I've seen way too many zines that look like a 5 year old drew them but have nothing interesting to say, and I'd rather read something typed up with messy layout but real heart. The bike chain zine probably stuck with you because it was useful and someone cared enough to put it together, not because it was photocopied hand drawings. That kind of rough presentation can actually be a crutch if you're not careful.

hollym127d ago

You're totally right. Worked in a kitchen with a guy who made a zine of his own hot sauce recipes. Hand drawn labels, terrible spelling, but the dude tested every batch. Way more useful than some artsy zine I picked up at a show that was just abstract scribbles about "consumerism." The bike chain one was good because it solved a problem I actually had, not because of the art style.