Something special
Feeling rather proud of myself!
Hello! I’ve just published something I’m rather proud of…
It’s my 10th zine! A second collection of my sketches made in Tenby!
Let me go back in time for a moment. It was 2021 and the last module of the MA1 I had just spent the summer doing a #100dayproject where I drew for 100 days every day for 100 days (does what it says on the tin!) and I had spent two weeks of those 100 days in Tenby. When I got back I decided it would be a fun idea to package them up into a zine.
If you don’t know what a zine is, they’re something that originate from hand-made fanzines - small circulation, often self-published work. Artists, writers, students, creatives have made them for years, collecting together stuff they’ve made, often by a theme or as a small project, and in the old days, they might have run them through a photocopier and sold for 10p each at school! More recently they have become a way for an artist/illustrator/writer to publish their work without a publisher. A passion project, if you will, and have become commonly known as zines (pronounced zeens). I’d seen and bought them at art fairs and indie bookshops over the years and thought it would be fun to create my own.
So I followed that first Tenby zine with more. Sketches made locally (in my garden, by the river and in and around Cambridge), sketches on holiday in Italy, Croatia, Portugal. I even made a collection of my people sketches, as I love to go out and sketch people when I can. It became a brilliant win-win thing. I got to do my favourite thing - drawing and painting on location, and at the same time create a collection of self published zines.
Fast forward to summer 2024 and I went back to Tenby for the first time since 2021 and of course I sketched and painted my way through the holiday. I wasn’t doing a project for the MA this time. Sketching on location is my way of relaxing and unwinding, always. Have you ever heard the expression “a Busman’s Holiday”? (I ask because I only heard it about 10 years ago!) It means, literally, a bus driver going on holiday by bus, meaning as a metaphor, that your holiday replicates your job so much, it’s not actually a holiday. So… you could say that sketching on holiday is a Busman’s Holiday for me, because my day job as an illustrator is drawing and painting, BUT actually when I go on holiday, all I want to do is draw MORE!! No Busman’s Holidays for ME!
Celebrating 10 zines!!
And here they are!! When I realised this was my tenth zine, I started looking at some other stats too, so get ready for some numbers - I have now published TEN zines, TWO of my garden sketches, TWO of sketches made by the River, FIVE from holiday sketches, I’ve published them over THREE years, 160 pages of sketches and paintings, and….wait for it…
over 1000 copies sold!!
Do you know what? I feel pretty proud of that! And to celebrate, I am offering 20% off all my zines - that includes even if you buy just one zine - until the end of September! This is on top of the discount I already offer on my zines when you buy more than one (15% off three or more, 20% off 5 or more, 30% off if you buy all 10!) Just use the code TENZINES at checkout!
So, I will finish this by saying a HUGE thank you to anyone who has supported me by buying my zines in the past, and if you would like to buy some more, I would be so proud and grateful for your support!
Until next time!
Ella xx
Masters in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art
That’s fantastic Ella! Love your zines so much 😍
They’re gorgeous Ella! I was in Tenby a couple of weeks ago. While I was there looking at the pretty town and beach I couldn’t help thinking of your lovely illustrations!x