Simply D.L.

Starting on Zines and Minicomics

Uh huh. I see I need to clean up some tumbleweeds around here. Or maybe put up a mailbox to show that this blog is still beating its tiny little magnet-pulsive heart?

I have a plan for this spring 2009, or that is when my academic spring quarter begins. I hope I could maintain the discipline of producing photocopied zines with a minicomic emphasis. And it will be also named “Simply D.L.: Comics and Such.”

I have been meaning to do this, as in have it launch in beginning of 2009, but wasn’t sure how to get one started. So yesterday night, I was at the college library randomly searching for stuff related to graphic design and I decided to just type in ‘mini comic.’ Just to see if something like that exists with that in its title.

I was surprised to find out about Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine? by Esther Watson and Mark Todd. It’s cool that the library has a juvenile section that this book was availible for checkout. Seems like young adult, but anybody regardless of age interested in publishing their own stuff, in paper and ink mind you. Something worth checking out if you are interested in creating a zine/minicomic.

I think one great example is John Porcellino. His work is the first minicomic I came across a year or two ago. He has a selection of his minicomics published by Drawn & Quarterly with the name Kingcat Comics.

Express Yourself

It’s simple, and inexpensive. And not to mention refreshing.

No need to purchase quill pens, jars of acrylic paint, and such.

Go to the nearest store and purchase a blank notebook, a pencil, and an eraser. And on your first page, go all out. Compose a poem, a ridiculous fantasy tale, your reason for being angry at your teacher who embarrassed you in front of class by forcing you to wear a polka dot jacket. Go ahead and write about the strange spaceman hiding in the closet or anything that comes to mind. And feel free to sketch a few drawings and comics. And don’t let the critical censurer in your head stop you.

And if you are feeling quite visual (and need a blank white page without the blue lines), get yourself a sketchbook…and draw what comes to mind.

Personally, I write the date and time each journal entry I start on. So in that way, I remember when it was written and if I wrote it in the daytime or nighttime. But that’s just me. It’s nice to see how my writings changes over time.

But at the least, grab a pencil and paper,
and let the words and images free you.