This is one of the major projects I’ve been working on this summer and so I’m happy to unveil to you my very first zine! This mini art zine, titled Roleplay (Issue #1), measures at approximately 2¾x2 inches with 32 illustrated pages. I’ve currently made 86 copies so far.

Using the same character for every zine, every issue, and on every page, my overall concept is to showcase the jolly exploration of multiple identities. Naivety and humor were major themes I wanted to display so I did the drawings in a very childish and simplistic style. This first Roleplay issue is supposed to poke fun at the world of fetishism and the outrageous roles people play just to tickle their jollies.

And if you don’t believe this zine is as deep, thought-provoking and down-right meaningful as I say it is, then just coo at the cute pictures. I don’t mind.

Behind the Scenes

I find whipping out my cutting board, ruler, and X-acto knife to meticulously slice small pieces of paper a fun and relaxing activity and spent many nights doing so while watching Conan O’Brien. Here is a taste of what kind of work went into creating my first zine.

Now these were the original ink drawings this zine was based off. They’re approximately the same scale as the ones you see in the zine. Since the zine was 32 pages, there are actually 5 costumes I had to omit -see if you can spot them! (click here for the answer)

I then scanned the drawings in, laid them out in Photoshop and printed them off as single-sided A4 pages. I went to the cheapest printing shop I could find and fired off 86 double-sided black & white copies.

To add a bit of color, I dotted each face with red cheeks using a 0.5 Prismacolor micropen (Fact: I have so far done 2666 pairs of cheeks). I then cut the page into the quarter sizes I needed, stapled them down the middle to pre-cut covers.

It took me a while to choose the right paper for the cover. I went to The Paper Place on Queen W. of Downtown Toronto and picked up a sheet of metallic gold tissue and the cutest patterned paper I could find.

Zines now freshly assembled, I then hand-labelled each one with their production number, issue number, year, and my website. I always find doing something by hand makes a zine a little more special.

Here’s a final look at all the finished zines: All 86 of them crammed in a small box.

I am still not ready for Canzine, but atleast I’ve got one thing in the bag.