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// cut. paste. copy. repeat.

A zine collective's blog about photocopiers, glue sticks, and the scrappy little publications people staple together at midnight. How-tos, rants, and interviews from the back of the print shop.

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Inking a Four-Panel Strip in Real Time

Comics · · by · 1 min read · Updated · folding, process

Inking a Four-Panel Strip in Real Time

We filmed an inking session for the workshop, then realized the footage was mostly a hand and a lot of hesitation. Here is the trailer we play instead.

Mini-comics are the best place to learn pacing because you cannot hide anything. Eight pages, four panels a page, and every panel has to earn its spot.

Photocopying flattens everything, so push your blacks darker than feels right and leave more white space around the lettering than you think you need.

We keep a guest book by the door. Some people write their name, some write a poem, and one person drew the entire floor plan of the shop from memory. It is the best zine we have never printed.

If something here doesn't work for you, write in. Half of our how-tos have been corrected by readers, and the corrections are always better than the original.

If you are reading this at the collective, the good scissors are in the drawer marked "do not take the good scissors". Please do not take the good scissors.

Author

Dev Okafor

Draws mini-comics on the bus and letters them at the kitchen table. Believes every strip deserves a staple.

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TALK Comments 8 scrawls
  1. Aurelie Fontaine

    I have never thought about paper weight this much and now I can’t stop.

    Reply
    1. Dev OkaforAuthor

      Good question. We will add a note to the post.

      Reply
  2. Jonah Mbeki

    I laughed out loud at the part about the good scissors.

    Reply
  3. Pip Calloway

    Honestly this made me dig out a box of my own old zines.

    Reply
  4. Aurelie Fontaine

    Thank you for writing this down. It’s the kind of thing people only ever explain in person.

    Reply
  5. Rosa Lindqvist

    This is exactly the push I needed. Printing issue two this weekend.

    Reply
  6. Rosa Lindqvist

    Honestly this made me dig out a box of my own old zines.

    Reply
  7. Kit Moreno

    We tried this at our library print night and it worked first time.

    Reply

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