Zine Workshop!
Cathy G. Johnson
I was recently invited by the Grafton Public Library in Massachusetts to teach a Teen Zine Workshop. It was so much fun!
The original drawing pages from our collaborate monster zine!
Description of Workshop: Learn about the history of zines and then create your own! From political activism, fan comics, to punk rock and Star Trek, you can make a zine about almost anything! All skill levels welcome for this guided instructional workshop with comic artist and author, Cathy G. Johnson. All materials will be provided. Finished zines can be copied and put on display.
We made three whole zines together!
First, we started with learning what zines are, which are self-published magazines about whatever you want! We looked at a lot of cool examples from comic zines, to perzines (personal), to essays, to art zines.
Then we had a fun warm-up drawing activity, which resulted in our first zine! We voted on titling it “Untitled Monster Eye Zine.” We learned how to copy, fold, collate and staple completed zines.
One of the zines we made together!
After a discussion about the huge variety of zines that are possible, we tried out the no staples zine method, and each made a small story zine. We went around the table and shared the zines with each other.
Finally, we started working on a half-page perzine using the collaging method. Everyone made very creative zine pages about their favorite things!
A flier for the workshop that was hung around the library!
Inside our monster zine!
This zine workshop was very fun! Comics education is all about expressing yourself and being creative with self-publishing, so this zine workshop is a wonderful addition to the workshops I offer. If you are interesting in bringing me to your library, school or organization, learn more on my Visits page!
Thank you for having me, Grafton Public Library!