Zine Art

Fanart is an important element in print zines. Fanart can be incorporated into the cover design, illustrate a specific story, showcase the work of an artist, or just be delicious eye-candy.
Comments and LoCs about fanart in zines are relatively scarce when compared to the number that discuss fanfiction. While the reasons for this lack of fannish comment vary, one common reason is that fans often remarked they did not know enough about art and/or its vocabulary to make educated and interesting comments.
In 2008, a fanartist referred to the "pride and gratitude" she felt "when someone takes a few minutes to tell me they enjoyed one of my photo manipulations. Yes, I prefer a detailed explanation of why the picture appeals to them, that they appreciate the clarity, the color, the way the guys are posed. But not everyone can express their appreciation in such a way -- it is very difficult for me to review art because I don't know why I like it, it, I just know that it makes me feel good inside. So, let me tell you that if all you can say is "Wow!" or that made me feel good," that will be just fine with me." from The K/S Press #139
==The Challenges of Reproduction==
In 2007, a number of fanartists answered this question: "Were you conscious of the difficulties of reproduction which choosing a medium?"
==The Cover==
Cover art for fanzines is considered by some editors to be one of the more crucial factors in selling zines. Some zine covers are designed to entice the reader into buying. Others are there to inform the reader of the zine's contents. And some covers are whatever the zine publisher could put their hands on when the zine went to press.
Even the contents of a zine cover vary. Usually (but not always) zine covers will contain the title of the zine. Usually (but not always) the zine cover features a character or some aspect from the fandoms that are represented in a zine. Usually (but not always) the zine covers contain art - although many zine covers consist of nothing but the title. And some zines have neither titles nor art on their covers. One fanzine publisher attempted to use cover art to push the value of the first print runs by replacing the full cover art in subsequent printings with silhouetted plain line drawings of the original. See: First Time.
Some fans and publishers created very unique physical covers. See Unique Bindings. Also see Custom Zine.
The importance of cover art has long been reflected in the numerous fan art awards with cover art having its own category separate from interior art. And, to some fans, the inclusion of art on a zine cover elevates the artwork (or at least signals an increased desirability). Numerous talented and well-respected fan artists have never appeared on fanzine covers.
Some fans buy zines solely for the cover art. In 1996, Charlotte Hill discussed the various ways in which cover art influenced her decisions to buy fanzines:
Another fan writes: A number of fans admit they were not "into the fandom" but bought a zine because of the art.See Cold Fish and Stale Chips #8. "Okay, okay, I bought this for Suzi Lovett's art. It's gorgeous... The story's okay; it was serialized on the circuit, so it doesn't build the way a novel should. but each chapter is a solid short story on its own, and each one has a climax to itself. Highly recommended if anyone ever decides to part with it." from a fan's top five favorite zine list in Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine? #4
Having a zine with an excellent cover, like the fan above mentions, can also be a disappointment to fans if the rest of the zine doesn't live up to fannish expectations. Some fans also resent having to pay more money for a zine with an expensive cover when they discovered that the fiction within was not of the same standards:
From a fan in 1994: 
On whether art and fic quality go hand-in-hand: 
From a fan in 2010: 
==Examples of Cover Art==
Over 8,000 fanzines have been listed Fanlore and it is impossible to offer even a small representative sample of the styles of cover art. However, you can see many examples of Star Trek slash zine covers and Beauty and the Beast novel zine covers.
File:whisperofakill.jpg|Whisper of a Kill cover discussed above. The cover inspired many fans to buy two copies - one to read and one to cut out the wrap around art. "Dualities" by Suzan Lovett. Fandom: The Professionals
File:Harlequinairs-1-.jpg|Cover of Harlequin Airs discussed above. Artist: Suzan Lovett. Fandom: The Professionals
File:Masteroftherevels.jpg|Cover of Master of the Revels discussed above. Artist: Suzan Lovett. Fandom: The Professionals
File:River.jpg|Caren Parnes cover for A River That Runs Both Ways inspired one fan to rush into the dealers' room and buy the zine, just for the art. Fandom: Wiseguy
==Art Parts of Zines: The Interior and Its Importance==
Interior art generally falls into one of several caetgories
* Border art
* Centerfolds and Foldouts
* Frontpieces
* Illos (Illustrations)
* Cartoons
* Doodles
Early fanzines (1970s-1980s) contained extensive interior art. Most art was black and white due to limitations of fanzine production methods. Line art was most popular as it was easier to reproduce, but in early fanzines pencil art, with its more subtle shadings, can also be found. On a rare occasion, two-toned art was included, something that was widely advertised in zine flyers as this made the zine more desirable and more expensive. In the 1980s, advances in small press publishing allowed some zine publishers to include full interior color plates.
Centerfolds, which could be unfolded to be twice their original size (and in the case of Alternative: Continuing the Epilog to Orion, four times!), were printed on high-quality glossy paper. The better paper and the larger canvas size allowed artists to include more detail. Centerfolds could also tell a visual story - folded you can see only part of the image. Unfolded you see the full picture which tells a different story with multiple POVs. (See the Suzan Lovett centerfold from Night Music in B and D below as an example of this type of interior art). Like two-toned art, the inclusion of a centerfold could drive up cost of the zine and, even today, affects the collectability of a zine (more centerfold examples below).
Frontpieces is art located just inside the front cover a zine, often before or after the title page. Frontpieces are very much like a modified version of centerfolds (printed on high quality paper) except they are letter-sized to fit within the zine. Frontpieces can also be used to showcase nudes or other artforms considered too 'racy' for the zine cover (see examples below).
Fanzines that were mimeographed or professionally printed using offset printing could "embed' interior art into the text, much like today’s higher end book and magazine designs. Back then, however, unless you could afford to pay for a professional publisher, embedded art was manual (scissors and glue ) and required much patience, making it an editor’s labor of love.
The selection of interior art could be deliberate (for example art that served to illustrate events of the story) or haphazard (such as portraits of the characters with generic background settings). Some interior artists were never featured on the front or back covers of fanzines. As a result many talented and prolific interior artists remain relatively unknown and are subject to historical marginalization. Complicating matters is that some zine editors, even today, fail to credit artists for their interior artwork.
Even though art was a major draw it sometimes received short shrift by the publishers as it was almost always presented without formal titles, forcing fans to refer to it by page number. This was something that reduced the amount art feedback. A fan in 2002 commented on the zine Beyond Dreams: 
As word processing became more widely available, interior art continued to shift towards simpler line art which could be copy and pasted into word processing programs. In more recent years, fanzine interior art has dwindled with the majority being black and white photomanips.
Border art is most often found on pages with significant white space, such as poetry. It usually takes the form of graphic designs or calligraphy. Usually overlooked as background art, border art has, on occasion been called out in zine reviews: "Even the borders are a statement, done by the editor herself, they are refreshing and a change from what sometimes seems to be the same book half of all editors use for graphics." Review from As I Do Thee #4. Caro Hedge is an example of an artist who is well-known known for her border work in zines.
[insert something about cartoons]
[insert something about doodles and what was called filler art]
A brief note about documenting and preserving interior art: scanning interior art presents a challenge. While comb-bound or spiral zines can be laid flat onto scanners, perfect bound, taped or stapled zines cannot be easily opened for scanning. Centerfolds present special challenges because, due to their large size, they will not fit onto scanners and often must be photographed while being manually propped open. Some centerfolds are scanned in sections and then the photos are edited together. These technical difficulties limit not only the selection but also the amount and quality of interior art that can be documented.
Examples of zines with extensive interior art
* The Other Side of Paradise (Star Trek) (1976-1987)
* Zebra Three (Starsky & Hutch) (1977-1981)
* Mahko Root (Star Trek (1977-1978)
* Precessional (Star Trek) (1980)
* Vault of Tomorrow (Star Trek) (1981-1988)
* Alien Brothers (Star Trek) (1987)
* Who Says Paranoia Isn't "In" Anymore? (1984) [a gen sci-fi cartoon zine]
Gallery of examples of interior art still to add:
* art wrapped around text (would like one more example)
* silkscreened (Interphase)
* Black and white photomanips (would like one more example)
* Cartoons
* any post-1995 zines with extensive interior art
==Sample Gallery==
File:Zebra 3 issue 5 interior by paulie gilmore.jpeg|black and white line art from an early Starsky & Hutch zine Zebra Three. Because the zine was printed on construction paper, it has yellowed and faded over time. Artist: Paulie Gilmore.
File:Mahko Root 2 Mary Ann Emerson.jpeg|a rare example of two toned colored interior art from 1977 zine Mahko Root. Because the zine is perfect bound, the image is slightly warped on the side. Artist: Mary Ann Emerson
File:Ntm1art1.jpg|with the use professional printing services, some zine publishers could 'embed' art into text even in the 1970s. This art piece by Signe Landon is also an example of art that was drawn specially to illustrate the story. NTM Collected.
File:Mindmeld1art2.jpg|pencil art offered a more softer natural look and soon became a favorite choice for interior art when available. Drawing by Caren Parnes in Mind Meld #1 (1984).
File:Paradiseinsideart1.jpg|pencil art by Alice Jones who was well known for her work in the medium. From Paradise (Star Trek: TOS zine) (1978).
File:Alienbros gaylef.jpg|Alien Brothers, while much of early interior art was black and white, color art increased in the 1980s, Gayle F.
File:No holds 22 interior by shelly butler.jpeg|Frontspiece from No Holds Barred #22, Shelley Butler
File:Border.jpg|example of border art from Mirrors of Mind and Flesh. This art appeared on every page of the zine. Designed by Gayle F.
File:nottonight2borderexample.jpg|an example of some lovely border art by Caro Hedge from Not Tonight, Spock! #2
File:Other side 3 interior bev zuk 1.jpeg|Bev Zuk's centerfold from The Other Side of Paradise #3. Due to its size, the image had to be scanned in sections and the photos manually reassembled.
File:Bordercloseup.jpg|close-up of the border art from Mirrors of Mind and Flesh
Image:nightmusicbd.jpg| from Night Music in B and D: "Night Fever" foldout (winner of a Huggy Award) 
File:Precessart3.jpg|black and line interior art could include significant detail, even in zines from the 1980s. The bottom of the image from Precessional is slightly warped due to the challenges scanning interior art from a perfect bound zine. Art by Merle Decker.
File:Pure 5 interior by anja gruber.jpg|as desktop wordprocessing took over zine publishing, interior art reverted to simpler line art and also grew fewer in number. This portrait is from the Due South zine Pure Maple Syrup #5. Date: 1997. Artist: Anja Gruber.
File:Pros angel in the dark interior s lovett 2.jpeg|bucking the trend towards 1990s interior art minimalism, this art from the 1996 zine Angel in the Dark is by Suzan Lovett
File:LOTR for gondor interior001 small.jpg|most interior art in fanzines today are black and white photomanips. This is from the 2007 LOTR zine For Gondor!. Artist: Theban Band
==Trends in Art==
* hand-drawn
* photography
* collages
* photomanips
* silkscreen
* clip art
As new trends in art appeared, fans had plenty to say.
In 1998, one fan had this to say about clip art: "I don't like computer art, or clip art, or whatever it's called. It's distracting, silly, and gives the zines using it a decided amateurish look—in my humble opinion. FT47 [#47] has lovely covers and some good interior art so it hardly needs "artisic parsley". I can see perhaps having something garnish the titles, but that's it.... I resented the graphics which do not enlighten the story and only serve to waste space." from The K/S Press #24
In December 2000, a fan expressed her opinion about a new trend: "There is a manipulated computer photo on the page starting "The Hug Sonnets" series of poems. It is a B&W "photo" of Kirk lying in Spock's arms. There is a hazy effect to it as if it were an actual artwork. Part of me hesitates to call this art, but I know in some fandoms computerized photos are considered art so I am guessing that that might be true in K/S as well. I know HIGHLANDER, in particular, has computer photos as art. I was even at two Escapade cons where computer photo art sold for major bucks in the art auction. And I will confess (shame on me!) that I even own some BLAKE'S 7 computer art on canvas as well as B7 art just on plain glossy computer paper (you know the stuff that gets sticky and then discolors eventually with age). So if K/S as a fandom now accepts computer photos as art, this piece on p. 81 is K/S art. The one advantage to it is that the characters really do look like Kirk and Spock. This photo/artwork is nothing I would ever be tempted to buy a copy of, but it is pleasant to look at and does decorate the page." from a fan's comment in The K/S Press #52 (December 2000) about the art in T'hy'la #21
==Art Choice==
Zine eds chose the art for their zines in many ways.
Some printed everything they received as fan artists were far fewer than writers. Submission requests and letters in zines were filled with zine eds begging for artists' submissions.
Other zine eds were able to be more picky, printing finer art.
Fans sometimes mentioned in LoCs how they often preferred a zine with no art rather than one with poor art. Some fans also wrote that they preferred fiction to art, and that even "good" art took up valuable space.
Some zine eds made decisions on what they included in their zines based not only on the quality of what they had received, but also whether the art was appropriate to the zine's content. One fan comments: "You will notice that there is almost no artwork in this issue. The reason is simple -- editors are cheap. And when you have 120 pages of typing, before artwork, well, you just cut down drastically on the artwork. And then there are the problems with the artwork we did, and did not, include. Allan Asherman's beautiful illustration of Commodore Spock, you might notice, shows him with a full head of hair. He is supposed to have a receeding hairline. But one just does not tamper with an Asherman drawing." from the editorial in Kraith Collected #4
==The Scarcity of Artists==
Zine eds were often beating the bushes for fan artists, begging for art for their zines (need some example comments)
==No Frills Zines==
As early as 1981, some zine eds started to put out no frills zine, citing reduced cost, the inability to find artists, and, some fans felt that it was better to have no art at all than mediocre material. Susan Crites discusses the new no-frills trend in zines in "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Typewriter" a column in Datazine: "It's done as a way of holding down costs, but I can't help but think it also reflects the growing opinion that no art is better than printing mediocre stuff." from Datazine #12
One fan did not find a lack of zine art to be a bad thing. In a review of Cheap Thrills, she writes: "The zine is affordable ($7.75) and is devoid of the erotic art of greats such as Gayle F. In fact, it is the paucity of art that allows the zine to be so cheap. There are actually several advantages to this, other than price. One is that it allows the imagination to run free rein to picture K/S in many of the bizarre situations they have been thrust into this time around. Secondly, it makes the zine one of your best choices for a traveling companion. I read mine on a flight home from FebCon '81. If you've ever tried to read a Gayle F illoed zine in public, you know what I mean." from Datazine #11
Despite these no frills zines, fan art blossomed during most of the eighties, the Golden Age of fannish artistic feats.
==Zine Art: A Decline in Amount==
The amount of zine art started to diminish around the late 1980s and early 1990s. While zine eds had always constantly asked for fiction submissions, they often now begging for fan art, something that was always much scarcer than other fannish creations.
From the editor of a zine in 1992: "One thing you'll notice right away with this issue -- there is no interior art. The main reason for this is that it is just becoming too difficult to obtain illustrations. I had to ask our SH artists to work double duty this year anyway, for Distant Shores and Nightlight #2, so I didn't want to burden anyone for art for this Fix." from The Fix #11
In 1993, a fan wrote an LoC to a zine and said, "The explicit art surprised me a little, but then I'm not used to seeing it." The editor of the zine replied, "Actually, there used to be a lot more explicit K/S art. There is still great art in various convention art shows, the explicit art at 'slash' and K/S conventions in the past has been legion. Perhaps some art is never published, or published in obscure or out of print zines. That explains why so many fans these days haven't been exposed to it.... You really have to look around for art. It's out there. And it depicts anything you can imagine. I'd print more art if I could get it." from Charisma #17
One thing that may have coincided with the rise of word processing programs on early computers. With this new-fangled tool at their disposal, zine eds were able to add borders and other artistic embellishments themselves, including the dreaded clip art. They no longer needed to have a stable of artists and an important community was lost as artists moved on and away. "We also have illustrations this time which would not have been possible except for the great screen grabs of Carbook. They and a fun new photoshop plug- in kept April Valentine busy making some cool filler art." from The Fix #21
The rise of word processing programs is one reason for less art. But another one is image accessibility. Before the easy internet access to images, fans had been dependent on magazines, newspapers, and film clips to fill their visual curiosity and needs. Abundant fan art was part of this circle, giving fans plenty to feast on. The availability of images and photos on the internet starting around the mid-1990s also put a damper on zine art. No longer did fans need to ask each other for scarce photographs and images, something that had fed a hunger and created community and connection. There was part of a generation of fans that were not familiar with the custom of zine art, and did not feel a need to search it out or create it.
==Photo Manipulations==
When fans discovered photo manipulations, not all were enthusiastic about this new art form.
==Artistic Expression and Practicality==
In 1975, a fan artist complained about the restrictions placed upon her: In an article called "To Censor the Art Critic" by Merrie K. writes:
: "I am really quite angry at the directions given of what media should be used, how (size, layout, margins) it should be presented, and the general underlaying snide feeling that artists have no preference for themselves of what media lends itself best to the feeling wished to be engendered... No one [should] ever proscribe what, or how, a piece of artwork is to be born but the artist himself! Once made, it can be reduced or blown up to fit the format if need be. I would like to have seen the person who would have deigned to ask Picasso to produce so-and-so, in a certain ink, in a certain size, on a certain paper. Damn, that takes gall!... I resent limited schooled people, in the art field, making unqualified judgements about other people's work and publishing these comments as Godlike!!!")" from Spectrum #25, May 1976
She was reminded by other fans that there was no difference between fan artists and fan writers: both had to work hard to fit into the vision of the zine for which they were creating.
==Notes on the History of Fan Art==
==Buying Used Zines: Buyer Beware==
Be an alert consumer when buying used zines, especially those with art:. From a 2012 discussion: 
==Influential Print Zine Fan Artists==
Lorraine Brevig | Shelley Butler | Marilyn Cole | Gamin Davis | Merle Decker | Deeb | Enednoviel | Gayle F| Connie Faddis | Geli | Barbara P. Gordon | Hindman | Jean Kluge | Ruth Kurz | Vel Jaeger | J. Jones | KOZ | Signe Landon | Ann Larimer | Suzan Lovett | Gee Moaven | Chris Myers | Caren Parnes | Karen River | Romanse | Marty Siegrist | Chris Soto | Pat Stall | Gennie Summers | TACS | Zaquia Tarhuntassa | Deb Walsh | Carol Walske | K9
==References==
Category:Zine Fandom
Category:Visual Art