Practitioners - Craig Atkinson Lecture

After an Essay-based break from the Zine, I have returned to the project with more progress into the general workings of the product we aim to produce as a result of the Unit X project. 

Recently, Various working practitioners came to speak to us about  their work, and how they have progressed in their field. 

Craig Atkinson - Cafe Royal

Cafe Royal (Click Here)

A graduate of Leeds Metropolitan in 1999, after studying Fine Art, Atkinson has become a publisher / editor /contributor of his  art book publisher, Cafe Royal as of 2005. 

He visited us and gave a talk on various tips, and how he generally progressed into starting his venture into creating his publisher, speaking of how it became available worldwide, and the kinds of work he created in previous years, to get where he is today. 

Taken from my notes on the lecture: 

Key Points: 

• Began making large abstract works to expand knowledge and gain experience 
• Decided to move away from standard painting 
• Began an early website to advertise presence, and took a larger interest into drawing 
• Spent a few years as a commercial illustrator 
• "Heads for a Fiver" project became somewhat interesting 
• Looked into character design 
• Worked with Galleries 
• Started Cafe Royal, focusing on it 100% 
• Works as an artist, illustrator, publisher and Lecturer, with some photography too. 

Looking into the Cafe royal books, I feel inspired by the general way he talked about breaking into the industry after his degree, and how he actually progressed in terms of publishing, and the content he produced. He also gave some handy tips during the talk: 

Tips: 

• Plan your future 
• Have a supporting job 
• Take Work head on 
• Find and problem and find a solution 
• Work 100% 
• "Publisher - Book Maker" 
• "Maker - not a publisher as such" 
• "Distributor - dissemination for £'s" 
• "Copyright- Them and me" 
• "Legal deposit - Obligations etc" 
• "Commission - Sale/return 40/60%?" 
• "Selectivity - What's published?" 

Overall, his published works show a variety of artists and their work, allowing them to use his setup as a playground for their ideas. 

I think this creative playground idea is the best way to fully express any thoughts or works, without too much restriction on specific traits. 

Another Handy Zine Guide - The 12 steps

(Kudos to fellow Zine'r Caitlin Gillian for the Facebook link!) 

This super handy guide was linked to our group the other day, and contains some really straightforward tips to creating a Zine. 

12 Steps:

1. Figure out your style/language
2. Brainstorm
3. Selection of subject matter
4. Begin processing content
5. Continue to produce, multi-tasking if possible 
6. If writing, get writing, and explore possibilities 
7. Remember to be descriptive 
8. Proof read material 
9. Be open to critiques 
10. Adjust it if need be, so that its visually appealing 
11. Make the cover, last job
12. Create something you would enjoy! and get it completed!

Click Here!

Back from Easter Break - Brainstorming

Return to work

The break gave me some thinking space while away, to unwind and and mostly relax.

During this time, I thought that it might be more sensible to look into the more simplistic ideas of creating a zine; something that doesn't seem overly complicated but still an effective idea at the same time.

Then again, joining a group was also something that needed thought about. Currently, my plan was to brainstorm and branch out at the tutorials to see what other groups had in mind, and see if my own ideas linked in with them, if it was possible.

Before doing so, I thought it best to do a word association style brainstorm, just to get some ideas out atleast. 

Examples of the Inital Ideas:

 Overveiw

Monsters, folk, supernatural, cults, all being inital random points to maybe start with?

 Initally selecting "Keyword" as a starting point, some random words sprung off the side

Maybe a particular setting or era could also provide various points of interest? Underground cultural movements, springing off the random words theme came to mind, like the ever growing steampunk genre. Possible Zine to expand on this area?

More ideas to follow from here... 

"Silent Army" an Inspiring Insight

After exploring the web for Zine inspiration from far and wide, and also after hearing about these guys in a tutorial, "Silent Army" seems like an inspiring collective to look into the works of. 

Silent Army (Click) 

Born in 2002, as a group for the more experimental comic book artists of Australia, as a creative community to collaborate with and share ideas over a large radius. 

Now an outlet in Melbourne, the group takes on board the unique artists of australia, (especially those with comic based art) and takes part in the fanzine movement. 

It aims to produce and publish works at a reasonable price for upcoming and aspiring artists, also storing and collecting comics. 


Definitely worth a look, by any means! 

Making Simplistic Zines - Various Tutorials.

SamProof's 8-page handmade zine: 

A simplistic but "charming" way to make an 8 page zine, with an example of his work. A little dated, but an amusing watch. He also gives a small informal insight into how zine makers go about sharing work too. 

Tara Kurtz's brief Zine history and creation guide: 

Another amusing but very informative video on making zines with some added history. Gives a brief idea on where the whole idea may have originated from and how they featured in the music world, before moving onto a guide similar to the above. 

Zine - Classification?

Initially, when thinking of a Zine, I always used to think of a pamphlet of sorts, that would advertise a club or upcoming gigs. 

Then again, what is the difference between a pamphlet and a zine?  

Classification: 

• Zine - "...A small collection of original works and/or texts often reproduced by photocopy..." 
• Fanzine - "...a non-official and and non-professional publication which is reproduced, and made to support a cultural phenomenon..." 
• Magazine - "...A publication normally done on ink and paper to a high standard of quality, reproduced on mass, and normally fairly lengthy compared to that of a regular zine..." 
• Perzine - "...A personal zine, a publication that represents the personal opinions and/or works of the creator, commonly utilized in the revived zine movement today..." 

These seem to be the most popular of the current "zines" in the "movement" today. 

Zines may have lost some of their purpose as an everyday item, due to such inventions as the internet, however the revived underground movement has begun to bring a whole new light onto the publication itself. 

The Zine Library - Nexus Art Cafe

Inspiration: 

It's now time to actually start digging into the world of the Zine. 

After certain reccomendations made by the course leaders, a "Zine Library" at the Nexus art cafe on Dale street in Manchester, was suggested for inspiration, since it currently houses hundreds of interesting Zines, on a rather wide variety of topics. 

Here is a collection of some of the best they had to offer, the ones which particularly stood out from the crowd: 

Qi inspired Zine: 

This was most defiantly a big favourite out of the collection. Pages of hand drawn and hand written genuine and original quotes from Alan Davis and Stephen Fry, in "honour" of the show. Good for a laugh and well designed. 

The simplicity and general humour to the design, with the added varnish covers give a very attractive look to the publication. 

"Peaple Magazine" Zine (Possibly the worlds smallest Zine):

This unique work of art was the most simplistic Zine of the lot, but contained it's own miniature humour, and was hand crafted.  Overall it's genuine theme and aims at laughter  are what made it unique all by itself, which is defiantly a good aspect of any zine publication! 

"Soundwave" a zine about a drunken night out: 

 

A very well illustrated publication, based simply on one girl's drunken experience of thinking she was a sound wave. A fully illustrated, almost dance-like book of images, which is almost like reading the stills of an animation. Consisting of just pictorial content, (spare from the front and back cover), this zine is a great example of how the illustration world impacts zines, and visa versa, in terms of the zine culture. 

Milk Two Sugars Pocket Edition:

This particular zine simply encodes various illustrations, some with text,  other without. Falling under the banner of the  promoting of various illustrators, this particular publication by Bob Milner and Tom Senior  is a monthly A5 publication, and has been going since 2006. Some very interesting puns, and illustrative ideas in this particular zine. Almost like a playground, where artists are allowed free entry to do whatever they like. It's interesting to see the  results, especially on an inspirational level. 

 

Other Publications and interesting items: 

Overall, I feel that after browsing a great many zines, (some of which that were not all featured, I have a good idea of what the current modern day zine culture is about, and how illustrators, groups, clubs and more get their work across using this particular format. 

Many ideas spring to mind concerning the brief, and overall, I believe that the zine could be a new found favourite format of mine, next to the graphic novel and comic book. 

I do wonder if combining the two would be a good idea? hmm...