Inspire your little ones or pupils to develop stronger writing and drawing skills by making a super easy and inexpensive ComicZine – a mini comic magazine!
The world of zine-making is endless. So, if you're just getting started, our writing templates contain illustrations to help you out and to engage kids' imaginations!
Have fun and don't forget to let us know how you get on.
1. Decide what your zine is going to be about
Your zine doesn’t have to be the most brilliant publication ever, or even the piece of work you’re proudest of. Just make something that reflects how you’re feeling or what you’re thinking about at the moment. Zines can take a while to make, so make sure you pick a topic that you can get enthused by! – A favourite of mine's always FOOD!
I created a short comicZine that introduces the characters from our brand new book, When Alice Sleeps: Treasure Map . Download all the resources here! Your Zine can be absolutely anything – just make sure it's about something you enjoy sharing (this makes it easier to write and more fun to illustrate! :)
2. Remember to format your pages correctly
If you’re creating a physical master copy of your zine, remember that each folded piece of paper is four different pages of your Zine — and they are not all consecutive! The first page will be on the same piece of paper as the last page, for instance. (See the illustration below.) For that reason, all folded zines must have a page count that’s divisible by four. After you’ve decided the number of pages your booklet will have, fold your Zine and number the pages and mark upward arrows to help you to keep track of what direction the text and images should be in. That way, you won’t get confused.
If you’re working digitally (like I did with my Pirate ComicZine), you can create each page individually and save as a normal PDF. Your pages should each be 74 x 105 mm (portrait) – I made mine using an A4 sheet.
Create copies of your ComicZine.
After you finish the artwork of your comicZine, you may decide that you’d like to have more than one copy! To begin to photocopy your comicZine, fold out the zine into a flat page, then place this page on a scanner. You may want to make one test copy to make sure that the zine is copying correctly before you print several copies. After you have finished printing and making copies of your zines, go out and distribute them!
Share your comicZines with neighbours and friends, family and the world! — or just keep it for yourself and feel proud that you made your own tiny book, out of your own big ideas.
Be Your Own Storyteller
Remember, this is not meant to be a stressful work project, it’s something for you to enjoy, delve into something you'll enjoy and be proud of and show the world!
✨ Did you have fun playing our game and activities? Tag us @whenalicesleeps and use #whenalicesleeps for a chance to be featured. It always makes our day seeing how your little one gets on with our activities! ✨
Activity worksheets designed by Cindy Cheung