Zine Resources
Zine Specific
Zine Idea Generator - Wicked cool source of inspiration for zine concepts
ZC MAG Zine Resources - Resources catered towards the creation of zines
Electric Zine Maker - “Quirky” zine making art toy
Bre's Zine Resources - Another list of zine specific resources (templates/zine archives/tutorials/etc.)
Tools
Tiny Tools - Huge list of small, free, and/or experimental tools for all kinds of projects
ACME Labelmaker - Fun labelmaker I like
Bookletizer - PDF booklet making tool to prepare for printing
Template Maker - Useful for making 3D paper templates (for boxes, envelopes, etc.)
Calligraphr - Font maker
Bit Font Maker 2 - Bitmap font maker
Stock / Assets
Artvee - Collection of largely public domain old art and illustration
Unsplash - Photo stock
Pexels - Photo stock
Graphics Fairy - Old illustration stock
Eve Harms' Open Archives - List of open archives for finding stock
Rawpixel - Stock site rapidly getting worse for free users, but still usable
Mostly Free Software You Can Use to Make Zines Digitally
Electric Zine Maker
Scribus
Photopea [browser based image editor]
Procreate [one time payment - iOS]
Canva
Gimp [image editor]
Krita [drawing program]
Affinity Publisher [one time payment]
Other Stuff I Use
Programs: Adobe Photoshop*, Adobe Indesign*, Adobe Illustrator*, Procreate, Electric Zine Maker
Printers: Epson ET-2800 & Canon Pixma iX6820
Papers: Hammerhill 24lb (white), Astrobrights 24lb (assorted color), & random packs I thrift
Misc Supplies: Bone folders, long-arm stapler, guillotine cutter, art supplies (so many) [some listed in this article], stamps, washi tape, stickers, scrapbooking paper
*I DO NOT recommend going out of your way to acquire/use these programs, I only use them because I have cheap access
General Notes on Supplies
** When printing your zines, the paper you use is very important! If you are printing doublesided you want paper that is a minimum weight of 24lb so as to prevent ghosting (images/text on one side of the paper visible on the other side in a distracting way). Zines requiring heavy amounts of ink should especially consider using thicker paper. Don't go too thick as you may have issues folding the paper (cardstock weights are not advised). You can get away with much thicker paper on the cover than the inner pages & it may be a good idea to take this approach if you are doing an ink heavy cover or want a sturdy design. Be mindful (if printing yourself) of what paper weights your printer can handle without jamming.
** Consider using colorful copy paper for covers & minizines. Especially if your zine uses only black ink, but you can print in color on color paper with interesting effects. Ensure that any paper you use is the right weight & meant for your specific printer (note if it is for inkjet or laser printers). I find that most pastel color papers are of consistently thinner weight than other colorful papers.
** If you plan to sell/trade your zines, keep track of paper & ink costs to ensure you are getting/offering fair value. Not all zines need to be printed on high quality printers with crisp colors or colors at all (I find that short of photography & certain art zines you don't really need to). My primary zine printer, Epson ET-2800, has lower quality images & less accurate colors, but the ink bottle refills allow for a looooot of pages to be printed before needing to buy more ink.
** If you are making your zine by hand with traditional materials, keep in mind your method of transfering the final piece into print. If you are using color, learn about scan settings as it pertains to color to ensure you aren't investing too much effort into colors/designs that won't translate. Be sure to scan at a high enough DPI (dots per inch resolution) to retain as much quality as possible. Always edit your scans to get the desired effect & limit the amount of ink wasted on backgrounds if the whitespace isn't properly reduced to white (paper colors often pick up as a light grey/beige when scanned).
** You can safely (non-heavy duty) staple through about 12 sheets of 24lb paper in my experience for zine binding without issue. Any more than that & you need a heavy duty stapler or to stitch the binding with thread.
Final Essential Tips
** Ensure your page count for multi-page zines is divisible by 4 for proper page arangement & printing. Create a mockup out of scrap paper of the same size to figure out the page order if you're having trouble or manually turning the zine into a printable booklet.
** Be careful about ensuring that the assets you use (stock images, fonts, textures, etc.) are free to use & what credit is required if any in the event that you sell your zines. Furthermore, be mindful of copyright/fair use to save yourself. It's unlikely anyone will go after you for your super small scale zine endeavors, but it doesn't hurt to be safe.
** Share your work! Find community with zinesters! You can share your work online, trade/table at zine fests in your area (I suggest searching extensively for lists of fests in your area so you can make a calendar of when the next events might be - especially if you want to apply to table). It helps to have a platform you can reference by name in your work so people can find you & see what you make next. Have a website, social media accounts, etc.
** Read a lot of zines for inspiration, but don't let pre-existing zines define what zines are or must be.
** Remember that zines aren't typically very profitable. Often even one who sells zines at zine fests or elsewhere makes just enough to cover supply costs & a little extra to funnel into more zine work (if it's not all spent on buying other people's zines). Trying to make money off zines isn't out of the realm of possibility, but it isn't entirely in the spirit of it or all that likely.
** When making digital zines: pay attention to size & resolution!! Ensure that the canvas you are working on is the exact size of your paper you will be printing on or otherwise fits (if you are going smaller than the paper you are printing on to account for full bleed (i.e. art that goes off the edge of tha page) you will need to make sure you can add crop marks so you know where to cut). Make extra sure you are using images of the right resolution so nothing turns out blurry. 300dpi is standard for printed work & most images for web use are somewhere in the realm of 72dpi to 96dpi. Color can also be off on different monitors & way off when printed depending on your printer's quality & the ink it uses. Red is often an issue for cheaper printers.
** Shipping zines for trades or sales is a weird mess & seems a lot more expensive than it actually is when you look into it online. As long as your zines are all paper (staples fine of course) & can lay flat, shipping should be relatively inexpensive. If you will be shipping enough zines at some point, get some rigid flat mailers of the right side & possibly plastic sleeves to prevent the zines from getting water damaged. There are sites you can use to find shipping deals, but going to your local post office at a non-busy time & asking for the cheapest method for your zines usually works. You may want to get a PO box for doing a lot of sales if you don't want to have your real address as your return address.