#zine guide

30 days to start making zines / a list of quick daily tasks to get into zine making

Metropolis Article: A Guide to Zines in Tokyo

Here is my latest article for Metropolis, on my favorite topic in the whole world! For a week, I visited different big and small bookstores, galleries, and shops in search for the best places to buy zines. If you're interested in getting to know more about them and where to find self-published works in Tokyo, please have a look.

"In an era with high demand for digital content, it may seem contradictory to invest in print work. But these two worlds aren’t mutually exclusive. Thanks to social media, zines have boomed in Japan in the last ten years. In a country where self-publishing is more accessible than in the US or Europe and customers have a deep appreciation for craftsmanship, the zine community has thrived and continues to expand.

It can also be argued that the increase in the number of hours we spend online, whether for work or entertainment, has led some of us to search for offline forms of spending our free time. Zines are not only a medium of self-expression but also a way to connect with our inner selves and others in a creative way. Anything on paper tends to stay with us much longer than on a screen.

Here are the guidelines containing everything you’ll need to know for the zine coming up! Check out this link and read up on it! There will be things you need to know for the application later, so look closely!

I get it. We’ve all been there. Zines are a beautiful, strange thing and we just get so pumped to participate. Maybe you’ve just got wind of what a zine even is. Maybe you’ve been watching them develop from a long time, even buying some. Maybe you’ve already applied to some before. Maybe you’ve been rejected.

So, you want to apply. But...

I don’t think my art is good enough

This is a valid concern we all go through. There’s just so many pretty, popular art and fic going around and sometimes we just feel frustrated. 

But, what as the artist you may see as ‘’boring’’ or ‘’nothing special’’, as a spectator we may be extremely moved. There’s so many skilled artists and writers I’ve heard saying their creations weren’t good enough. It shakes me. 

What you think it’s not good enough, it’s usually you being very hard of yourself. Of freaking course there’s always room for improvement! And a big part of that frustration you feel with your art comes from that part of you that knows you are capable of so much more! and YOU ARE! You are a human being with the amazing skill of creation! You have the space to grow and develop as big as you want to!

But, my golden advice? Give yourself the time and patience for that growth. Don’t stop trying, don’t stop practising but also be kind with yourself. A great chunk of the artistic cycle is having blocks and resting, living experiences that will eventually help you grow as an artist and a human being. 

You are already being the best artist version of yourself that you can be at the moment.

I’m going to get rejected/ I’ve already tried in so many zines and I always get rejected 

Are you sure, though? Are you sure? Do you have physic powers? Can you see what I’m going to do next month? If you are already looking there, by the way, can you please peek and tell me if I’m going to have a gf by then?

I’d advice not giving up based on previous experiences. We are not those other zines, we are not those other mods. Hell, you are not even the same artist! You’ve grown! This is a whole different situation and experience. 

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: You may get rejected. Or you may not. You don’t know that, I don’t know that.

What I do know is that there are 0% chances of getting in if you don’t apply.

You ask for a submission of two of my best pieces. I don’t know which of my works are my best

I always have this doubt when applying for zines. It’s nerve wrecking! I feel like I get one shot and I have to do it right! 

Well, in our case, you have 2 shots. So, if you are in between 2 options, you can post both ;D 

Apart from that, I always ask a server/a friend/a pal from somewhere which one they think it’s more impressive. If it’s a fandom friend, I explain it’s for a zine. If it’s an irl person, I’m just asking their opinion for something bussiness-related.

In the case you don’t have the option of consulting someone, I reccomend you take a few days without looking or thinking about it. Then, go back and watch/read your stuff with fresh eyes. 

A few criteria to self evaluate your pieces...

Art: Think of the use of lighting/shadows, characterization, anatomy, color use. The most important question is, though... ‘’do I like this?’’ ‘’am i happy i did this?’’ . If you like it, it will work <3

Writing: Think of it being clearly redacted, of the emotion it conveys (if it fits whatchu wanted it to convey). Again, the most important question is ‘’do i like this?’’ ‘’am i happy i did this?’’’ If you like it, it will work <3

You ask for a submission of a previous Hunk+Pidge piece. I don’t have any.

We ask an example of your work depicting Hunk and Pidge for two very simple reasons. 

1) We want to see the characters through your eyes, we want to know what you bring to the table.

2) We want to rule out any possibilities of whitewashing Hunk, making him overly skinny or oversexualizing Pidge. Y’know, we just want to see beforehand you respect basic character traits like Hunk being fat and dark skinned and Pidge being a human being without anime-like titties. I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m not saying this to police you. We just want to avoid any uncomfy conversations in the future!

Apart from that? GO WILD WITH YOUR TAKE ON THEM! Add a beard on Hunk, give Pidge green hair, give everyone 80s clothes! As long as we can still see the characters we love, we are okay with you going off the mold. Hell, we encourage you to!

If you are a writer, a simple drabble with the two of them interacting would do. If you are an artist, a simple colored drawing it’s okay by us!

I’ve never been in a zine before

And if you let us be your first, that’d be our honor! It’s my first time modding a zine too!

We are not looking at your resume. So, to us, it’s not a problem. It’s okay to be scared or nervous, specially if this is your first zine! But remember: you won’t be alone! Us mods are here to guide you and help you! And you’d have the rest of the participants too! We are all new in something, this is a chance for each of us to grow and learn!

I’m not a popular artist/writer

*motions around* ...and this is not a popular team of characters... 

We are not popular ourselves. We are not looking for popular people. We are not looking at your follower count, the number of reblogs you have or the comments your fic gets. We are looking at what you offer us, at those submissions you deem your best, at your take on Hunk and Pidge, at what you can bring to the table.

Will I squeal if I recognize your name? Yes, because I’m happy someone I already know is here. Will I holler and yodelei around bc of your submission piece and see how much you bring into the table? HELL YEAH DUDE.

The application form scares me/ I haven’t even looked at it.

Oof. Filling forms for me is scary. But that’s when you know you’ve got stuff to lose! This? This is for FUN! 

An advice? Look at the form first and write down in a piece of paper what you will need. I swear, until you submit, all the times you look at the form won’t be decisive. 

I swear the more you look at it, the less scary it gets. To break it down, we ask for very basic stuff: examples of your work, examples of your work featuring Hunk and Pidge and a profile where we can peek at more of your stuff. Oh, and a mail where we can contact you. That’s the important stuff. The rest are questions to know what’s in your mind, who are we interacting with. We’d like you to fill it but if you don’t know what to answer, say just that. It’s okay <3

So, it’s okay! It’s for fun! YOU CAN DO THIS :D

You don’t want me to apply :(

There’s nothing more i want in this world right now that u filling that damned application form, boi.

IM STAYING UP TILL 4 AM TO WRITE THIS !!!!! :))))

I can’t find the application form

There you go ;)

A zine is not an élite art gallery. We do have a selection stage but we are also that space where you can practise, interact with other creators and make the best of yourself! We are just looking for passionate creators!!! Applying is the first step to get there. If you don’t apply and you want to, you are not even giving yourself the chance to participate!

As my dad says: you put the effort, the other evaluates it. You can only just control the effort and love you put in so invest your time and energy worrying about that, not about the result.

WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!! WE WANT YOU TO APPLY!!!!!!

love,

There’s been a huuuugee influx of friends and friendly strangers asking me about how to run a zine -- so under the cut is my spiel! 

Carrier Pigeon Quarterly / Summer 2025