The power of books Part 1: Assignment 1 Your Zine

Assignment 1

Using the work, I have produced so far on this unit, it has all contributed to this fanzine. I have used elements from every exercise and used research to accompany and inspire the content inside.

Firstly, I used a previous mock-up of a booklet and planned out what I was going to add on each page for this fanzine. I also used the mini booklet to as an experiment for layouts and compositions. For more ideas I looked though the DIY fanzine article to have a look at the style and designs some of the fanzines had. Referring to the brief I tried a Lo- Fi cut and paste which worked well for me as I am quite a fast and messy with my artwork most of the time but not in a bad way.

During the planning stage I struggles with filling the space over two pages, the number of pictures and writing I had to improvise by just playing around with printed pictures around the page until I liked the look of it or so the writing would look good beside them.

 

I chose to use my own writing to fit the ‘homemade’ style as well as adding some cut and paste letters for titles or words I wanted to draw attention too, or that fit the theme of the page (Creative process). When I started the actual fanzine, these things got a lot easier when I had written out all the information I needed and cut out all my pictures and things to dot about the pages. I think as soon as I’d placed where the title was going the composition was a lot easier to create.

At first, I was going to limit the colours but Using magazine books and newspapers they all had colour in and so the fanzine is a lot brighter.

At first for the front, It was just the cartoon and the writing but I thought it could do with a bit more character so I used a cutting blade and sliced some book pages up creating a cool design as if the cartoon is reading a book that’s seeping out of the pages. As for the title I wanted a catchy phrase, something that would represent what the assignment is about, and I think it captures it perfectly. I knew I was going to be using magazines and such for some collage, but I wanted to kick it off with some subtle pieces on the front (the eyes and book) It kind gives it a weird slightly funny look.

Before the actual pages I thought a contents page would be good for a reader and a good way to gage what each page will be about. Again, just as a spontaneous Idea I added some eyes.

For this page, I gave my opinion on what books meant to me. I focused on children’s books cause as an illustrator that is one of my goals, to create a children’s book preferably interactive/pop up. I kept the writing throughout black and in the same pens. Keeping this element consistent meant every page was clear and the writing would stand out. The pull-out boot tab on the right page I wanted to make movable, but I thought about how fanzines never had those features. But in the next pages I decided that’s because it is my own publication that I would add some interactive 3d parts cause that's my favourite part about the books for me.

This page was set around the title at the top, I do love to collage so this page was quick and fun for me to make. Having it spread across two pages including the text doesn’t look to tidy but that wasn’t the look I was going for; I like the cut and paste style which I aimed for in this page. The text just landed where I though suited it.

For this page, I wish I could have added more books and pictures, but my printer was not only running out of ink, but the pictures came out a bit big. I did manage to adapt however by layering the OLOGY books on the left into a little booklet and tried to recreate the pop up of the hungry caterpillar story between the pages.

This page I ended up leaving till last cause it required the most work and I didn’t have a clue how I was going set it out. I ended up drawing the earth in the centre and building around it like a mind map with the text following the shape of the globe. The books I chose were some of the ones I’m far more familiar with then the list of the most globally influential books I found which is why it’s a bit sparse. However, I do generally have a connection to these books instead of picking popular ones that I knew nothing about. This page is my least favourite out them all because of the way I’ve coloured it. I was just going to keep it a few coloured lines, but I got carried away and covered the whole page which does take away from the text. Nevertheless, I think the text is still readable.

This final 2 pages I referred back to exercise 1 the future of the book for the content and where I think the future of book is going as well as adding some quotes and a link to where I found them surround the subject. I also used exercise 4 Generating Ideas for how I creatively respond to the book related phrases, I picked bookworms because that was the most developed Idea I did. I also used another exercise to finish. I used lift lap and 3d pieces to fit the interactive theme and made sure there wasn’t too much empty spaces.

 As a last-minute thought, I thought the back pages looked a bit bland being just a conclusion and some worms so with some left over book pages I ripped them up and put them throughout the booklet just to fill some of the spaces as well as trying to match the theme of the front page which also had book pieces.

As a whole publication, I like how it turned out, I think I successfully followed the brief. My cut and paste approach meant that the pages are all pretty full and theres plenty of writing to back it up. As for it being a fanzine, having those extra 3d pieces arent a typical feature but I made it my own because its a path to book design that I am most passionate about.