Silent Hill 2 Fanzine//

My process of creation, and why you should make a fanzine of your own/

The world of Silent Hill… it really drew me in during a hectic time in my life. Actually, the first time I played Silent Hill 2 was during my first ever exhibition ‘Outside the Mass’, and I only decided to play it because I already loved the soundtrack so much. And I was hooked. The story, the sound design, Masahiro Ito’s character and monster design, and most importantly the FMVs. The original Silent Hill 2 utilises heavy shadowing in its cutscenes to create an uncanny ambience, and it works to great effect; this is exactly the reason I created this Fanzine, to pay homage to Team Silent’s craft.

Process//

Step 1/ Reference and Sketching

I didn't think too hard making this zine (As is the case with all of my work), and I chose references based on story sequences that I enjoy in the game. Instead of using screenshots, I took photos using a thermal print camera of my screen with the game on it, knowing that the prints would emphasize shadows to a greater effect.

I then did SOME sketching. I decided to work in ink with a brush, and I knew I could freehand a lot of this without a sketch. But I'm not ashamed that I had to create a base for some of the illustrations, to ensure that everything was in frame.

Step 2/ Inking

I then used a Chinese calligraphy brush and some India ink, blocking out heavy shadow to build up form. This was a quick process, as the longer you linger with a brush, the more likely you are to mess up. You have to be fluid, and flick your wrist a little as you work! If I sketched underneath an image, I erase the lines once dry for a graphic effect. To increase speed, I made 2 illustrations per 1 A4 landscape piece of paper, as you can see above. Again, I didn't think hard, I just painted with passion.

I knew that not all of the illustrations were going to make it into the zine either, but I always know to create more than I think I'm going to need when making a zine!

Step 3/ Layout

Once I had an assortment of illustrations, I chopped them up and started to lay them out. I decided that the zine would be stapled, and that it would use 5 sheets of A4 to do this, with images on both sides. This would mean I need 20 images total.

I realised when laying out, that I made illustrations from throughout the game, detailing some key moments in the story, so I decided to lay the pages out to reflect the flow of the narrative.

I stuck them images into order, ensuring that I have cut enough of a border. This is because I will reproduce this zine with a photocopier, and they always print with a dumb border, so to ensure important parts of the image don't get chopped, I leave leeway.

At this stage I needed a few extra images, so I made note of this and created those later. I also added text using letter stamps, giving the work a grungy look that reflected silent hill's atmosphere!

Step 4/ Copying and folding

It's as it sounds! I took the master copy to my local library, and photocopied the pages. I prefer to photocopy rather than scan and print, because a photocopy is more likely to be flawed, to have unique inconsistencies- and I love that.

Once the zine was printed and folded, I stapled it into place.

Step 5/ Tear it up

As I mentioned before, a photocopier always leaves a border, and this is pretty unsightly. Instead of trimming the edges like a boring person, I decided to rip them. I felt that it would fit the energy of the zine to a T, and honestly I love it.

This was such a fun project. So why should you make a Fanzine? Because you can pour your energy into it. To make a physical representation of why your favourite media has such an impact on you as a person.

I will be selling the zines for the first time next week at an art fair, so wish me luck. If there is any demand, maybe I will sell them online too? Let me know if this is interesting at all!