The topic for my Zine is about Peanut Butter Blossoms (the cookies). These cookies are one of my favorites to make and, of course, to eat. So I just had to look up a recipe and, of course, a little background information to gather all the necessary information that I wanted to include in my Zine. I am not the most artistic, as you can see in this rough draft, as the thing at the bottom is supposed to be chocolate… Yeah, it will be better for the final draft. But I also feel like it is missing something and need to figure out what it is missing. Once I correct the look of everything and figure out what it is missing I feel I will be in a better position.

For my Zine, I decided to focus on guinea pigs, mostly because people really don’t understand how much goes into taking care of them. Everyone acts like they are super easy pets, but they actually need a lot of attention, the right setup, and daily care. There is so much misinformation out there, so I wanted my Zine to be more on the informational side, something that teaches people the things they actually need to know before getting a guinea pig, and how to take care of one the right way.

Since I already have my own guinea pig, I’m not starting from the bottom. I know their little sounds, their personalities, and how dramatic they can be when they want food. I know how easily they get stressed, what veggies they like, and how important it is to pay attention to their behavior. But for my Zine, I want to make sure everything is accurate, not just based on what I’ve learned from experience. So I’m planning to use information from small animal vets and animal organizations, especially about things like proper diet, cage size, safe vs. unsafe foods, and everything people don’t think about until they already have one.

For my cover, I wanted it to be cute but still make it obvious that it has real information inside. I started by doodling a few ideas in my notes, playing around with different titles and little guinea pig drawings. Then I sketched a draft that felt simple, kind of matching the vibe guinea pigs give off. After that, I made my draft cover using the colors I liked.

Making the cover actually helped me lock in the whole vision for the Zine. Now that I can see it, I feel more excited and clear about what I want to include.