Produce & Share a Zine Round III - Complete (Nov - April 21)

When can you NOT attend a proposed 7.30pm Zoom meeting of 40 minutes to chat about these Zines?


  • Total voters
    11
So how many do we have penciled in that are taking part?

I think it's about 15 or 16. My guess will be a baker's dozen when we ask for final numbers at the end of next month.
 
It's now at version 4 and has even less mass appeal!

Just been going through my images for my zine and I think I'll be joining you in the "less mass appeal" camp. Mine's more for the "WTF was he thinking?" camp.

Should be good anyway. Still got a few to redo. I must remember to get my orientation right. So many images binned because they are landscape when I wanted portrait... I wish there was a portable square camera out there. One that isn't a TLR or a Hassleblad. Maybe I should swap the RB67 for a Bronica.... I could potentially crop square, but then I'd need to remember that's what I was doing when I took the shot... Unless I go reshoot everything on the Automat... Hmm... That idea has merit.
 
Just been going through my images for my zine and I think I'll be joining you in the "less mass appeal" camp. Mine's more for the "WTF was he thinking?" camp.
Who said mine isn't in the same camp? :exit:

I've had to ditch my plan for a creative presentation though and am going back to an earlier (easier) implementation in one form or other. It'll still be 'different' though! o_O
 
It's looking like I'm going to go with images taken a couple of years ago. They're ones that I always wanted to put together as a collection someday, so now's as good a time as any.

Still plenty of time to change my mind though!
 
Are you doing a pop-up book? :)
No. No sheep either. :(

I think I've come up with a simpler way to do what I wanted. One thing's for sure, things have got increasingly minimal as I've worked through this zine. It might get more marks for concept than content though! :LOL:
 
It's going to depend on the thickness I guess. I've managed to squeeze mine into normal A5 envelopes in the past.

Dave did a post here with some links. I think I just went to eBay last time though and have some left over.

Edit to add - If you're doing unusual sizes, @Mr Perceptive is the one to ask. I seem to recall his packaging was quite posh!
 
Last edited:
after last times postage debacle, I'm going for A6 envelopes and you'll just have to iron them when they arrive :/
IFAIK A5 and slightly larger is a standard letter, it's the weight that is a killer so A6 won't help. I was finding that a zine in a cardboard backed envelope was more than 100g.
 
It's going to depend on the thickness I guess. I've managed to squeeze mine into normal A5 envelopes in the past.

Dave did a post here with some links. I think I just went to eBay last time though and have some left over.

Edit to add - If you're doing unusual sizes, @Mr Perceptive is the one to ask. I seem to recall his packaging was quite posh!

Yes, mine is a square size like David’s. I’ve been pricing up various stuff on eBay, so got a few options.
 
Side note: My post-script is written. Now I have to make the images live up to it.
 
I got my envelopes from Tesco. Just basic cardboard backed do not bend things. Was like 70p for 3.

You can get 10 for a fiver on fleabay.
 
Last edited:
Not sure if this is then best place to ask but since several people are using Affinity...

I have added a title to the front page of my zine using the Text Frame tool and it looks fine on screen but when printed, or print to PDF, the letters are squashed together. Google doesn't seem to know much about and I have tried changing the tracking, etc. but it makes no difference. Has anyone else had this happen and/or know of a fix?
 
Not sure if this is then best place to ask but since several people are using Affinity...

I have added a title to the front page of my zine using the Text Frame tool and it looks fine on screen but when printed, or print to PDF, the letters are squashed together. Google doesn't seem to know much about and I have tried changing the tracking, etc. but it makes no difference. Has anyone else had this happen and/or know of a fix?
I've not had that problem but two possible fixes:

Try using the artistic text tool instead of the text frame tool. That automatically scales the text as you resize the text box. It might help.

Or it might be something to do with the output settings - rasterisation or something.
 
First attempt at a flip through video on my phone

View: https://youtu.be/h6yXQihqdNY
Very good.

It reminded me I was going to do one of a on-off thing I got printed. So I did it. Then (I was bored) I thought expand it a bit to add screenshots and archive pictures, and a music intro and narration, and ... What a bloomin' rabbit hole I've gone down! :LOL:
 
Very good.

It reminded me I was going to do one of a on-off thing I got printed. So I did it. Then (I was bored) I thought expand it a bit to add screenshots and archive pictures, and a music intro and narration, and ... What a bloomin' rabbit hole I've gone down! :LOL:

That sounds too sophisticated for me! I used the video editor in windows, no idea if you can add sound to it. In fact I had to use three different picture slides to build up the intro slide as I’m either too thick to figure out a better way or it doesn’t have the functionality. Either way, I don’t intend joining you down the video rabbit hole just yet!
 
I've not had that problem but two possible fixes:

Try using the artistic text tool instead of the text frame tool. That automatically scales the text as you resize the text box. It might help.

Or it might be something to do with the output settings - rasterisation or something.
I tried various things and switching to a different font worked. I was using Gill Sans and I found something similar so I guess it's some problem with the font file or type.
 
That sounds too sophisticated for me! I used the video editor in windows, no idea if you can add sound to it. In fact I had to use three different picture slides to build up the intro slide as I’m either too thick to figure out a better way or it doesn’t have the functionality. Either way, I don’t intend joining you down the video rabbit hole just yet!
It's a bit much for me too! I use Davinci Resolve (free and far too complimacated for an old guy like me) but it's easy to record the video upside down on my compact using the flippy screen to see what I'm doing, then flip the video in Davinci.

I'm just going to try the narration now. I know the sound will be fine using my digital recorder. It's the northern monkey doing the speaking that will make it sound dire!
 
It's a bit much for me too! I use Davinci Resolve (free and far too complimacated for an old guy like me) but it's easy to record the video upside down on my compact using the flippy screen to see what I'm doing, then flip the video in Davinci.

I'm just going to try the narration now. I know the sound will be fine using my digital recorder. It's the northern monkey doing the speaking that will make it sound dire!

I have neither the time nor the inclination at the moment to learn more new software, my brains already hurting from learning Affinity Publisher. And I don’t think the world is ready to hear my Bolton / Chorley voice droning on for more than a few seconds.

Fantastic, nothing like setting the bar nice and high.

I may do one of those videos myself. [emoji106]

Thanks! They’re not too difficult, even for a video Luddite like me!
 
Thank god the batteries ran out in my recorder!!!

Still, as a proof of concept it worked. But I don't think I have a future as a vlogger. :LOL:
 
Still trying to get my brain around Affinity Publisher.
Cant be that hard to bung a few photos and odd line of text in a document.
Or can it, the terminology is the issue more than anything else.
 
Still trying to get my brain around Affinity Publisher.
Cant be that hard to bung a few photos and odd line of text in a document.
Or can it, the terminology is the issue more than anything else.

My method is still old fashioned as I have [still] not got to grips with Affinity. I make each single page in Photoshop.

1. Get all your curated images into a single location
2. Open a new Photoshop document. A5 sized (or whatever), white background (or whatever).
3. Open the folder with all your photos in it. Select them all and drag into the PS document. It'll probably only drag one across to begin with, you need to click the tick to accept the transformation (down to A5 size) and it will pull the next one in.

You're then left with a single doc with all your images. Click the eye icon to hide all but the 1st one. Position that how you want, add any text etc, then save as a pdf.

Hide that one, unhide the next one, reposition, change text. Save as pdf.

Rinse & repeat for all pages.

The handy thing here is that you can put all the images into a folder and apply layer effects (like a drop shadow, outline, or bevel) to the whole folder and just do it once rather than for every image. Same for text. I tend to save the whole photoshop doc when finished to I can easily re-edit a page if neccessary.

fEWwfe.png

Extra points if you label them like this because when you drop them into Mixam they will auto arrange properly. (They did last time I did this!)

The order is "front cover" (which is the front cover), then "inner front cover" (which is the other side to the front cover), then page 3 (in my head this is the first proper page), 4, 5 etc etc with the last page being "back cover" (which is the back cover). As they have to be in multiples of 4, I also have "blank" as a... blank page I can drop into the booklet anywhere. Just re-upload it as required.

I'd love to do double spreads like Andy illustrated but I think that would require Affinity and a "full book pdf in one go" upload.
 
Last edited:
My method is still old fashioned as I have [still] not got to grips with Affinity. I make each single page in Photoshop.

1. Get all your curated images into a single location
2. Open a new Photoshop document. A5 sized (or whatever), white background (or whatever).
3. Open the folder with all your photos in it. Select them all and drag into the PS document. It'll probably only drag one across to begin with, you need to click the tick to accept the transformation (down to A5 size) and it will pull the next one in.

You're then left with a single doc with all your images. Click the eye icon to hide all but the 1st one. Position that how you want, add any text etc, then save as a pdf.

Hide that one, unhide the next one, reposition, change text. Save as pdf.

Rinse & repeat for all pages.

The handy thing here is that you can put all the images into a folder and apply layer effects (like a drop shadow, outline, or bevel) to the whole folder and just do it once rather than for every image. Same for text. I tend to save the whole photoshop doc when finished to I can easily re-edit a page if neccessary.

View attachment 312345

Extra points if you label them like this because when you drop them into Mixam they will auto arrange properly. (They did last time I did this!)

The order is "front cover" (which is the front cover), then "inner front cover" (which is the other side to the front cover), then page 3 (in my head this is the first proper page), 4, 5 etc etc with the last page being "back cover" (which is the back cover). As they have to be in multiples of 4, I also have "blank" as a... blank page I can drop into the booklet anywhere. Just re-upload it as required.

I'd love to do double spreads like Andy illustrated but I think that would require Affinity and a "full book pdf in one go" upload.

For anyone doing this, make sure you have changed the images to the correct CMYK profile if you are printing in colour!
 
My method is still old fashioned as I have [still] not got to grips with Affinity. I make each single page in Photoshop.

1. Get all your curated images into a single location
2. Open a new Photoshop document. A5 sized (or whatever), white background (or whatever).
3. Open the folder with all your photos in it. Select them all and drag into the PS document. It'll probably only drag one across to begin with, you need to click the tick to accept the transformation (down to A5 size) and it will pull the next one in.

You're then left with a single doc with all your images. Click the eye icon to hide all but the 1st one. Position that how you want, add any text etc, then save as a pdf.

Hide that one, unhide the next one, reposition, change text. Save as pdf.

Rinse & repeat for all pages.

The handy thing here is that you can put all the images into a folder and apply layer effects (like a drop shadow, outline, or bevel) to the whole folder and just do it once rather than for every image. Same for text. I tend to save the whole photoshop doc when finished to I can easily re-edit a page if neccessary.

View attachment 312345

Extra points if you label them like this because when you drop them into Mixam they will auto arrange properly. (They did last time I did this!)

The order is "front cover" (which is the front cover), then "inner front cover" (which is the other side to the front cover), then page 3 (in my head this is the first proper page), 4, 5 etc etc with the last page being "back cover" (which is the back cover). As they have to be in multiples of 4, I also have "blank" as a... blank page I can drop into the booklet anywhere. Just re-upload it as required.

I'd love to do double spreads like Andy illustrated but I think that would require Affinity and a "full book pdf in one go" upload.

Thanks Ian, but alas no photoshop, just Lightroom and other editing software that does not have these capabilities.
Afraid its zine or bust for me with Affinity Publisher.
 
My method is still old fashioned as I have [still] not got to grips with Affinity. I make each single page in Photoshop.

1. Get all your curated images into a single location
2. Open a new Photoshop document. A5 sized (or whatever), white background (or whatever).
3. Open the folder with all your photos in it. Select them all and drag into the PS document. It'll probably only drag one across to begin with, you need to click the tick to accept the transformation (down to A5 size) and it will pull the next one in.

You're then left with a single doc with all your images. Click the eye icon to hide all but the 1st one. Position that how you want, add any text etc, then save as a pdf.

Hide that one, unhide the next one, reposition, change text. Save as pdf.

Rinse & repeat for all pages.

The handy thing here is that you can put all the images into a folder and apply layer effects (like a drop shadow, outline, or bevel) to the whole folder and just do it once rather than for every image. Same for text. I tend to save the whole photoshop doc when finished to I can easily re-edit a page if neccessary.

View attachment 312345

Extra points if you label them like this because when you drop them into Mixam they will auto arrange properly. (They did last time I did this!)

The order is "front cover" (which is the front cover), then "inner front cover" (which is the other side to the front cover), then page 3 (in my head this is the first proper page), 4, 5 etc etc with the last page being "back cover" (which is the back cover). As they have to be in multiples of 4, I also have "blank" as a... blank page I can drop into the booklet anywhere. Just re-upload it as required.

I'd love to do double spreads like Andy illustrated but I think that would require Affinity and a "full book pdf in one go" upload.

That sounds too complicated for me!

The advantage of something like Publisher is that you get an idea of what the spreads look like as you work. Which I think is advantageous when sequencing. Well worth the money and the effort to learn if you're going to make lots of publications.

PS - Just had an email from Mixam saying they've dropped their prices. Checking them out now.
 
Last edited:
Booooooo! 20 A5 booklets is still the same price.
 
Still trying to get my brain around Affinity Publisher.
Cant be that hard to bung a few photos and odd line of text in a document.
Or can it, the terminology is the issue more than anything else.

It’s a bit of a learning curve, but worth persisting with. I’ve no background in graphic design so I had to start from scratch, although I have been faffing round with Photoshop for many years. There are quite a few videos on YouTube, I found watching those useful.
 
It’s a bit of a learning curve, but worth persisting with. I’ve no background in graphic design so I had to start from scratch, although I have been faffing round with Photoshop for many years. There are quite a few videos on YouTube, I found watching those useful.

I will have to persist, no alternative and I'm not keen on being beaten.
Found a few videos and ome in particular looks helpful.
Only need the basics, can't imagine using it for anything more than this.
 
Last edited:
Why does it happen ??? Visited a new to me (local) location yesterday, and reviewing the images, I have a new project (zine) idea - now do I go with this one (which will require a couple more visits) or run with the banker that I have. The banker although shot just doesn't have the appeal of these new images............................

And this always happens when I've got a a significant DIY project on at home (back garden) and so limits me time to go out and shoot images.......aaaaargh
 
Back
Top