An invented land, half each, joined at the middle spread8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a compass pointing two ways. Middle spread: the border where your two halves meet.
A polka dot that visits six patterns and joins each one8 pages. Cover: the dot as a period after the title. Middle spread: the dot hiding among stripes, then among checks.
One of you hides a tiny star on each page; the other hunts8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a magnifying glass on the title. Middle spread: the busiest scene, the star well hidden.
Six birds at one feeder, a page for each8 pages. Cover: the empty feeder with the title on its roof. Middle spread: the two boldest birds, beak to beak.
Six buttons from the button jar, each with a made-up past8 pages. Cover: the jar, title on its label. Middle spread: the two fanciest buttons with their stories.
Six chairs and how each one feels to sit in8 pages. Cover: a chair seen from behind, title on its back. Middle spread: the hardest chair across from the softest.
Six clouds, each drawn beside the thing it resembled8 pages. Cover: a plain cloud with the title in it. Middle spread: one long cloud over the fold, a guess on each side.
Six keys and the odd things each one unlocks8 pages. Cover: a key ring, title on its tag. Middle spread: the oddest key and the thing it opens.
Six leaves from six trees, drawn at actual size8 pages. Cover: one leaf outline with the title inside it. Middle spread: the largest leaf laid across both pages.
Six lunch boxes and what each one is hiding8 pages. Cover: one closed lunch box, title on its lid. Middle spread: the neatest lunch facing the wildest.
Six odd socks and where their partners might be8 pages. Cover: a sock on a clothesline holding the title. Middle spread: a map of the made-up places they went.
Six sandwiches, each one layer taller than the last8 pages. Cover: two plain slices with the title between. Middle spread: sandwiches three and four, starting to lean.
Six silhouettes and the six odd objects they belong to8 pages. Cover: a lamp with the title in its beam. Middle spread: a silhouette on one page, its object opposite.
Six small creatures found under one garden stone8 pages. Cover: the stone, shut. Middle spread: the stone lifted, with all six seen at once before their own pages.
Six teacups that do not match, and who drinks from each8 pages. Cover: a stack of saucers with the title on top. Middle spread: the chipped cup facing the fancy one.
How-to and field guides 12
A collector's guide to pebbles, sorted by pocket8 pages. Cover: a hand holding one pebble. Middle spread: a coat laid flat, pebbles drawn where each pocket is.
A field guide to the dust bunnies under one bed8 pages. Cover: the dark gap under a bed, two eyes. Middle spread: a size chart, smallest to largest.
A field guide to the friendly monsters in one closet8 pages. Cover: a closet door open a crack. Middle spread: the shyest monster on one page, its favorite snack opposite.
A guide to six kinds of rain, named by you8 pages. Cover: an umbrella with the title on it. Middle spread: the lightest rain facing the heaviest.
A spotter's guide to puddles, by size and splash8 pages. Cover: one boot above a puddle. Middle spread: the biggest puddle crossing the fold, a score beside it.
An invented guide to what a cat's tail is saying8 pages. Cover: a tail shaped like a question mark. Middle spread: two tail shapes with your own guesses beside them.
How to draw a cat using only six shapes8 pages. Cover: the six shapes in a row. Middle spread: the shapes half assembled, with the cat starting to show.
How to look after a houseplant that has opinions8 pages. Cover: the plant in its pot, arms folded. Middle spread: what it likes on one page, what it refuses opposite.
How to make toast, explained far too seriously8 pages. Cover: a toaster drawn like a monument. Middle spread: a diagram of one slice with every part labeled.
How to tie a shoelace, from the lace's point of view8 pages. Cover: a lace curled into the title. Middle spread: the loop and the pull, each filling a page.
How to whistle, in six steps that almost work8 pages. Cover: a mouth and one small note. Middle spread: step three, where it goes wrong, drawn big.
How to wrap a present, one step to a page8 pages. Cover: the finished parcel and its bow. Middle spread: the trickiest corner, drawn large with arrows.
A day or a place 12
A beach from high tide to low tide in six pictures8 pages. Cover: a tide line of shells spelling the title. Middle spread: the water halfway out, tide pools appearing.
A day in the life of a bus seat8 pages. Cover: the seat, empty, first thing. Middle spread: the busiest hour, drawn as knees and bags only.
A made-up bakery from midnight to opening time8 pages. Cover: one lit window on a dark street. Middle spread: trays of rolls going in on one page, out on the other.
A made-up fairground from the first truck to the last light8 pages. Cover: an empty field and one truck. Middle spread: the big wheel at full height, lights across both pages.
A market stall from setting up to packing away8 pages. Cover: the folded stall at dawn. Middle spread: the stall at its fullest, crates across both pages.
A tour of a town small enough to fit on a tabletop8 pages. Cover: the town from above, a teacup for scale. Middle spread: the main street running across the fold.
A trip to the moon and back before dinner8 pages. Cover: a cardboard rocket in a yard. Middle spread: the moon across both pages, one small flag.
A walk around an invented island, one stop to a page8 pages. Cover: the whole island from the sea. Middle spread: the view from its highest point, coast on both sides.
One day told in six meals and snacks8 pages. Cover: an empty table set for breakfast. Middle spread: lunch across both pages, seen from above.
One rainy afternoon indoors, hour by hour8 pages. Cover: a window with drops, the title in the fogged glass. Middle spread: the blanket fort, inside and out.
Six rooms of an imaginary museum8 pages. Cover: the front steps and a banner with the title. Middle spread: the biggest room, one exhibit over the fold.
Six views from the same park bench, morning to dark8 pages. Cover: the empty bench. Middle spread: noon and afternoon, the same tree throwing a different shadow.
Tiny comics and stories 12
A dragon looks for a quiet place to nap8 pages. Cover: a yawning dragon. Middle spread: the dragon wedged in a spot that is far too small.
A dropped glove makes its own way home in six panels8 pages. Cover: the glove alone on a path. Middle spread: the glove hitching a ride on a dog's tail.
A ghost tries six ways to say hello8 pages. Cover: a small ghost behind a curtain. Middle spread: the try that almost works, and the reaction to it.
A gust of wind takes one piece of laundry on every page8 pages. Cover: a full clothesline. Middle spread: a shirt in mid-air on one page, its owner running opposite.
A paper cup floats down a gutter and out to sea8 pages. Cover: the cup at the curb in the rain. Middle spread: the river, the cup tiny on a very wide page.
A robot learns to make a sandwich, badly, six times8 pages. Cover: the robot holding one slice of bread. Middle spread: attempts three and four, each worse.
A snail crosses the whole zine, a little farther each page8 pages. Cover: the snail at the left edge. Middle spread: the snail exactly on the fold, its trail behind it.
A story told only in the footprints left behind8 pages. Cover: one bare footprint. Middle spread: where a second, much larger set of prints joins in.
An acorn and a kid grow up on facing pages8 pages. Cover: a hand planting the acorn. Middle spread: kid and tree the same height, back to back across the fold.
The moon rides along outside a train window all night8 pages. Cover: a train window with the moon in it. Middle spread: the track curving over the fold, the moon keeping up.
One lost hat, six owners, one windy afternoon8 pages. Cover: the hat in mid-air. Middle spread: the hat blown from the third owner to the fourth, over the fold.
Two pencils argue about who gets to draw the last page8 pages. Cover: both pencils holding the title. Middle spread: each scribbles over the other's page.
One color or one shape 12
A black and white zine with one yellow dot that moves8 pages. Cover: the dot as the O in the title. Middle spread: the dot sitting right on the fold as a setting sun.
A polka dot that visits six patterns and joins each one8 pages. Cover: the dot as a period after the title. Middle spread: the dot hiding among stripes, then among checks.
A zine drawn with nothing but circles8 pages. Cover: one circle with the title around it. Middle spread: the most circles you can fit, overlapping the fold.
A zine in two colors that swap places at the middle8 pages. Cover: color one on color two. Middle spread: the swap, half and half down the fold.
A zine of orange things, from a carrot to a traffic cone8 pages. Cover: an orange square with the title in white. Middle spread: the palest orange thing facing the brightest.
One line that never lifts, from the cover to the back8 pages. Cover: the line starting at the title's last letter. Middle spread: the line tied in its biggest knot.
One square a page: a window, a gift, a robot's head8 pages. Cover: the plain square. Middle spread: the square as a window on one page and as a gift on the other.
The same triangle as a hat, a roof, a slice and a sail8 pages. Cover: the bare triangle, title beneath. Middle spread: roof and sail, their tips meeting at the fold.
Six red things in order of size, from a berry to a barn8 pages. Cover: one red dot. Middle spread: the third thing small on its page, the fourth filling the next.
Six shades of green from one garden8 pages. Cover: a paint chart of six empty boxes. Middle spread: the lightest and darkest greens, a page each.
Six things that are gray on a rainy day, and one that is not8 pages. Cover: gray, with the title in the one bright color. Middle spread: the bright thing, alone.
Stripes only: six things that already have them8 pages. Cover: stripes with the title hidden in them. Middle spread: thin stripes facing the widest stripes.
Made with a friend 12
A friend draws six squiggles and you turn each into a thing8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: one squiggle, untouched. Middle spread: the hardest squiggle, before and after.
A made-up holiday: one of you plans the food, one the games8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a calendar page with the holiday's name. Middle spread: the feast facing the main game.
A monster that gains one feature from each of you in turn8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a plain blob. Middle spread: the monster with three features, about to get a fourth.
A race across six pages: your animal against a friend's8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: two animals at a start line. Middle spread: the lead changing right at the fold.
A story swapped every page, each of you adding one twist8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: both names of the made-up heroes. Middle spread: the twist neither of you saw coming.
An invented land, half each, joined at the middle spread8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a compass pointing two ways. Middle spread: the border where your two halves meet.
Each page outdoes the last: a tall hat, then a taller one8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: an ordinary hat. Middle spread: a hat so tall it bends across the fold.
Heads on your pages, bodies on a friend's, all mixed up8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a head with a question mark for a body. Middle spread: the best mismatch of the six.
One of you hides a tiny star on each page; the other hunts8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a magnifying glass on the title. Middle spread: the busiest scene, the star well hidden.
Portraits of each other as six different animals8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: two animal masks. Middle spread: the two portraits you each like best, facing.
Six questions for a friend, each answer drawn, not written8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: a question mark made of small ones. Middle spread: the silliest question and its answer.
Your favorite things on left pages, a friend's on right8 pages, drawn in turns. Cover: split down the middle, half each. Middle spread: the two favorites of all, side by side.
How it works
These art zine ideas are whole booklets, each sized for one sheet of paper folded into eight pages. Every idea says what goes on the cover and what goes on the middle spread.
Read the full guide
What a zine is
A zine is a small homemade publication, usually the work of one person or a very small group and often photocopied. The kind used here is made from a single sheet. All eight pages are drawn on one side of the paper, and folds and one short cut turn it into a booklet with no staples.
Eight pages, counted
Page one is the cover and page eight is the back, which leaves six pages inside. That is why the collections hold six things. Pages four and five face each other at the center: the middle spread. Each idea plans that spread and the cover, and the other pages are yours.
Fold a blank sheet first and number its pages in pencil. Some will be upside down when you unfold it.
Draw in black on white if the zine will be photocopied.
Questions and answers
What is an art zine?
An art zine is a small homemade booklet that is mostly pictures. Zines are usually made by one person or a very small group and are often photocopied. Each idea on this list is planned for eight small pages.
How do you make a zine from one sheet of paper?
Crease the sheet in half both ways, then crease the long side into quarters. Fold it in half and cut along the middle crease between the quarter folds. Fold it lengthwise, push the two ends toward each other, and wrap the pages around.
What should I put in a zine?
One small subject that fits eight pages: six birds at one feeder, a field guide to the dust bunnies under one bed, a day told in six meals, or a snail that crosses the whole zine.
What is a good zine to make with a friend?
Take turns, a page each. One of you hides a tiny star on each page and the other hunts for it, or a friend draws six squiggles and you turn each into a thing. Made with a friend holds the rest.