Zines!

Recently I was introduced to zines at the “Grand Rapids Zinefest.” And, honestly, walking into the event I had no idea what to expect. Yet by the time I left I was dying to make a zine. In fact, I was ready to mass produce and offer ’em up for $0.25 a piece. Unfortunately, various projects blocked those efforts and I’m still waiting to take a proper swing at it.

So until time permits I’m offering the following piece. Which amounts to ,well, an inside joke. One between a certain amazing artist :) and myself. Anyhow, the piece below was drawn directly onto a single, folded, letter-size piece of paper and illustrated with a brush pen. Plus alil’ Copic action. Otherwise that’s it. Enjoy.

Wanna make your own? Well here’s folding instructions for a tiny 8-pager like the one above.

So feel free to download the instructions shown above (“8-Page Zine Folding Instructions” / 1MB .jpg) or go digital with the templates below.

» InDesign CC “8-page mini zine template“ (480KB – compressed .ind)
» Illustrator CC “8-page mini zine template” (473KB – compressed .ai)
» DWG “8-page mini zine template” (22KB – compressed .dwg)
» PDF “8-page mini zine template” (55KB .pdf)

Happy zining!

rharlow

Most Outstanding!
DMiles

you are a genius!,
matala

fantastic,
but please could you add the template file even in a open format?
for example in inkscape or gimp or openoffice …
In my school we do not have adobe software and now we can not open the template.
thanks
Little Lulu

Thanks for this!
dhlawrencexvii

How about instructions on how to orient the 8 pages, both in direction and in procession?
LindseyKnows

When I did it, I numbered the pages and opened it back up. It looks like this…
dhlawrencexvii

Beautiful! Thank you, Lindsey!
Kevin White

Hey, Matala. I just added a DWG . Thanks for the suggestion! And while it may be handy to have a template I actually find LindseyKnows’ approach, who commented above, to be a bit more handy. :)
Enjoy regardless.
Kevin White

My pleasure.
Kevin White

-Nice, Lindsey!
Paul Wilson

.ai files can be opened with Adobe PDF Reader which is free and on many school PC systems
matala

In my school we have linux and evince instead of adobe reader. With evince i see only a blank page… :-)
matala

Thanks :-)
rohith

I’ve downloaded the templates and tried to open them with Adobe PDF reader and all I get is blank page.Please help.
Thanks..!
Kevin White

Weeeeeelll, Adobe PDF Reader definitely doesn’t like to be feed .ind, .ai or .dwg files. So you’ll need a PDF. Which I just added. S’enjoy!
Michael

That’s a great idea! But none of the templates are usable. Illustrator CS 5.1 and Affinity Designer show the .ai as blank page and the PDF has no content, too. (I don’t have the apps to open .dwg and .ind)
Kevin White

Hey, Michael. So sorry about that! Talk about not being at the top of my game. After downloading the file directly from here, as you did, I realized the Illustrator version had been used to create the PDF. Normally that’s totally fine. However is this case it wasn’t due to do the Layer settings in AI. All that to say it’s been fixed and you can now download a reliable PDF.

Thanks for the heads up on that! Much appreciated.
nathan

Hi, your guide to making an 8 page zine is awesome! Very clear and understandable. I was researching to do a similar thing for the Radio Times Zine for 4ZZZ Community Radio in Brisbane, Australia. Do you think we could use yours instead? With full credits of course.
Kevin White

You’re totally welcome to, Nathan! Have fun + happy creat’n!
nathan

Thanks Kevin, it’s very much appreciated!
Clemsy

Super! Your post is very useful and your “8-page mini zine” with InDesign perfect for a beginner like myself. Thank you!

https://clemsyxue.wordpress.com/
Kevin White

Thanks, Clemsy! Great to hear it’s helpful and thanks for sharing your work. You have some awesome talent.
Emily Miller

Could I use the jpg of your instructions in a teaching resource that I am making? I have created my own mini-books for teachers to print and use, and have been looking for a good set of picture directions for the cutting and folding.

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