Hello! I've always wanted to make a mini zine, a little book. I have in the past made small coloring books, but I wanted to make a little artwork book in full color. I've been searching for inspiration for a while. Finally, I had an idea!! My family and I enjoy going to antique and
thrift stores, and shopping for vintage items online too. The idea– I would take photographs of dolls and figures from my
personal collection, and combine them with my drawings to create scenes that would evoke individual stories for each artwork.
The process, my preliminary sketches.
It was a month's worth of glorious fun (aka work)!
First, I decided
which vintage items to include and photographed them. Then, I took inspiration from the vintage items to create settings for each of them. I sketched out the settings in pencil and scanned them into the
computer. Next, I made some minor changes to the vintage item photos, placed the photos in my drawing program along with the pencil
sketches, and drew the scenes. And finally, I created a one page layout for the book that could be printed and easily folded and cut into a little paper book. After printing many proofs, and making adjustments, it was
complete. I've titled the mini zine “Cutie Patooties”
because it is a phrase from the 1920’s and 30’s and I thought it
described and went well with the vintage items. The book features seven artworks and a table of contents listing the titles of each piece.
Doll head that inspired "Tasha Dreams".
The doll head I
used in the artwork “Tasha Dreams” I’ve had since I was little. The
body disappeared years ago, in fact I can’t even remember what it looked
like or why it’s gone (a mishap probably when we moved from SC to NC).
All that remains is this cute little head. I could never part with it.
It was just too adorable! And now, at last, I understand why. It was
meant to be included in this little book! It reminds me of my daughter
with her jet black hair so I named the artwork it inspired “Tasha
Dreams” after her. Tasha can always tell when a drawing is based on her
because I always include a swirl of hair at the hairline like the one at
the top of her forehead.
So I hope you will hop on over to my shop and check it out. I've listed the mini zine printable in both
my dot com and my Etsy shop as a file to download and print yourself. I
even have a step by step video of how to fold and cut it into a book (please see below).
