Let's Make a Perzine

One year and three months later, I’ve made another issue of SÜLLBERGLAND MAGAZIN. Magazines are regularly published periodicals. I regularly publish mine irregularly. Here it is, page by page, along with a video of me reading the whole thing:

I hand-drew the artwork and colored it in Photoshop. I have been enjoying drawing on really crappy printer paper lately because it lowers the stakes down to zero which helps me loosen up and have fun with things. Thank you Neighbor Friend Aubree for letting me use your hole punch.

I cranked this zine out within an hour or so, inspired by my friend Carolee who makes entire zines within the time constraint of a single day with her friend. You knowwwwww I love rapidly working so that my brain doesn’t have time to question what my hands are doing. Here’s a video I made of myself flipping through the hand-drawn artwork struggling to read my own writing. The song in the background is Prodigal Weep by Koki Nakano and it adds some nice drama.

Can you tell I get nervous reading things aloud to people heh. I got over it because I get so excited when my favorite artists posts videos of themselves sharing or talking about their work so I understand that it’s an important thing to do. I thought it would be helpful to make a video because the zine is really supposed to be held in your hands so that you can turn the page around to read the spiraling text. The zine was made quickly and intuitively, so it doesn’t make perfect sense, but neither does intuition, so in that way it does make perfect sense?!

You’d think it was either tropical fruit named by a French colonizer or a Canadian potato dish, but a perzine is a personal zine. According to Jessie Lymn, perzines “discuss the author’s ‘person’ – relationships, health, progress, and so on and often provide a journal-like reading experience of the author’s life.”

There’s something to be said for working fast and loose here. It’s easy to overthink—what do I want to write about? What do I think about? What’s happening in my life? What do I want to say? But you already know and feel all of these things. Working fast, or automatically, allows one to access the subconscious.

1. Gather supplies: a stack of paper, glue, tape, drawing utensils, collage materials, nature stuff, scissors. The crappier the paper the better, it reduces pressure and encourages experimentation and exploration.

2. Grab a small stack of paper and fold it in half. Boom! You’ve gotta little book.

3. Name your perzine something personal (i.e. a play on your name, something you love, your AIM screen name from 2005).

4. Turn off your brain. Seriously. Stop thinking. Start drawing or writing. Tell yourself that this is just a warmup. Your subconscious brain and your hands will do the work. Once you’ve got some stuff on the page, that’s when you can turn your brain back on and start connecting ideas and making sense of it all.

Thanks for reading The Museum of Small and Important Things! My name is Allie Sullberg and I’m an artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, a huge way to support my work is by liking, commenting, sharing, and of course subscribing!
My website | My Instagram