Article: Many zines have a central theme, which can range from a brief prompt like “man versus nature” or “typography” to a more specific topic, like a personal narrative or an analysis of a current event. Before you start to create art and text for your zine, decide whether you want your zine to be a mish-mosh of ideas and themes, or if you want to have a central focus.  Inspiration can come from almost anywhere. Read the news, revisit favorite books and movies, or look to other artists for inspiration. Sometimes a whole wealth of ideas can come from just one doodle or sentence. Try doodling or writing in a journal to start generating ideas. Many zines feature the work of several artists rather than just one, which gives the zine a range of different perspectives and styles. If the thought of having other people contribute to the zine appeals to you, recruit friends or family to contribute to one page of the zine. If you do decide to ask others to contribute to your zine, make sure that they are reliable! It may be a good idea to install a deadline for contributions so that you aren’t waiting on their pages indefinitely. You may find that it is easier to start to work on your zine when it is folded out flat, rather than in booklet form. If you do decide that you want to lay the zine out flat to work on it, number every page of the zine and use a pencil to draw a small arrow pointing upward on every page.  Upward arrows help you to keep track of what direction the text and images should be in. When you fold the zine out, you should see that the arrows on the sections of the paper are pointing down, meaning that you need to place your art upside down for it to appear right-side up when folded back into a booklet. If you plan on adding your art with the booklet folded, you can skip this step. The cover is an essential part of any publication, because it plays the dual roles of catching the eye of the reader using striking graphics and visuals, and also informing the reader of what they can expect to find inside. Come up with a name for your zine that you feel is fitting to its mood and theme.  Keep in mind that if you are planning on making your zine into a series, the title should be the same for each issue. Include the theme of the zine, if you have one, in a smaller font either above or below the title of the zine. Also try to incorporate a picture into the cover page. Pictures add visual interest, and do a good job of pulling the viewer in and making them want to read more. Figure out what order you want for the pages of your zine. For instance, if your zine has a linear storyline, it’s important to have the pages in order. Write down the order of your pages and the names of the artist who is doing the page (if you aren’t doing the zine alone) on a separate piece of paper before embarking on making it. Start to fill in your zine, adding artwork to each page. If you have folded out your zine, make sure to orient the artwork correctly, referring to the arrows you drew. You can use any kind of two-dimensional media to make your artwork, whether it be collage, paint, or pen and ink. You can even print text from the computer and paste it into your zine.  If you are having other people contribute to the zine, either lend the master copy of the zine to them so that they can fill in their pages, or give them the dimensions of the page. Then they can produce artwork at that size and either give the artwork to you in person or scan it and send it to you so that you can print it out and paste it inside the zine. Each page of the zine is made of a folded-over section of paper, rather than a single sheet like a regular book. Because of this, you can decide if you want to cover the inside of the zine with artwork as well. This artwork will be hidden unless the reader unfolds the zine into a sheet and flips it over. Keep in mind that if you are going to reproduce the zine, printing it in color is much more expensive than black and white. If you plan on reproducing in black and white, make sure that your text and images have high contrast between darks and lights. Things that contrast well in color often don’t have as much impact when converted to grayscale. Remember that if you are reproducing your zine, thin or spindly lines and text smaller than a standard 12 point font may be less defined and harder to see after being photocopied. Try to make your lines defined and your text at least 12 pt, and avoid small, intricate details that might be lost when reproduced. You can also create your zine on the computer, using a software like Adobe Photoshop or Indesign, or even Microsoft Word, which you can later print and fold yourself. If you choose to create your zine on the computer instead of working on your artwork on paper, it’s still useful to make a dummy, or physical mockup, of your zine.  Following the steps above to fold and cut a mockup of your zine will give you the dimensions of each zine page. Use these dimensions to correctly set up your computer document. To create a zine on the computer, create a document that is the size of the zine paper you will be printing on. Then divide the document into a grid, with each section representing one page of your zine. Work on your artwork and text on the computer, fitting them into each page and orienting them in the right direction. Then print the page and use the same steps to cut and fold it as you did for your dummy.

What is a summary?
Come up with a concept. Find other contributors. Mark the pages of your zine with arrows. Put the name, issue, artist names, and theme on the cover. Decide on the order and layout of the zine. Add artwork to each page. Use contrasting tones in your pictures and text. Avoid using thin lines or small text. Set up a document on the computer if you are working digitally.