2024 Denver Zine Fest

@curtismadethis

Curtis (they/them) has been making zines since 2015. They are a designer and artist who enjoys teaching about small press and publishing. They also help plan Zine Fest, Small Press Fest and other events.

Aayjah Royston

Aayjah is an artist living in Denver and studying art history. In their free time they enjoy reading, watering plants, and snuggling their cat, Pearl.

Adán De La Garza

Adán De La Garza is an artist, co-conspirator, curator/programmer, and recovering academic. Usually in that order, depending on what job he’s applying for. Adán is your favorite local artists acquaintance. Maybe. Adán has shown all over the place and shook some hands.

Adán is the sole member of the anonymous video screening series Collective Misnomer (2016 – present), smashes a lot of buttons putting on video game exhibitions with Dizzy Spell (2018 – present), and recently co founded the city wide video art biennial Denver Month Of Video (2023-present). Originally from Tucson Arizona, Adán is currently based in Denver, Colorado, where he hates writing in the third person.

Andi Newberry

Andi is a printmaker and multimedia artist who also enjoys making zines. Her long-standing practice of collage journaling and writing poetry has found another home in zine-format. She first made a zine with a film seminar class at CU Boulder, where she is pursuing her MFA, and the shared experience of making a collective zine with her classmates was foundational to her enjoyment of the medium.

Benschop Books

Benschop Books makes handmade photography books and zines in Denver, CO

Blake A. Chamness Comics

Blake is a cartoonist, painter, and teacher living in Westminster, CO. His current comics series are “Sentience,” a robot adventure story, and “Distortion,” a solo anthology that includes autobio, strips, fiction, illustration, and poetry.

By Tony Grat

A multidisciplinary artist and writer mixing the esoteric and avante garde with whimsy and charm.

ChanChannel

Hey y’all! I’m a zinester from Austin, Texas, and my art combines all things cute, pink, and creepy into something I hope you’ll find as fun as I do!

Comics by AJ

I’m AJ and I like comics. I’ve been drawing and writing original stories for as long as I can remember. I focus on original comics with an emphasis on fantastical stories and characters.

Conner Herbison

Conner Herbison is a comic book artist and illustrator based out of Fort Collins, Colorado. When his cat allows, he often draws space ladies and other such nonsense.

Czege & Son Game Zines and Comics

Paul Czege is an award-winning designer of roleplaying and storytelling games. Lately he’s consumed by playing, making, and writing about immersive journaling games. He’s tabling at Denver Zine Fest with his twelve-year-old son and they will have his journaling games, zines about playing them, and the comics they make together.

Dang It Teagan

Dang It Teagan (she/they) is a Denver zine maker, artist, and archivist. They care about reading stories, writing them, and other people putting themselves onto pages. Art is for everyone, all the time.

Denver Zine Library

The Denver Zine Library is a non profit organization founded in 2003 whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote the culture of zines and self published original work through archival collection, workshops and events. The Denver Zine Library currently houses one of the largest zine collections in North America with a preserved collection of over 20,000 independent and alternative zines. The organization is entirely volunteer run, and the public can access the full library and archives during open hours.

dweeb draws

dweeb brings a unique blend of humor and heart to her work. Specializing in playful illustrations that explore coping with depression, foul-mouthed worms, and delightful bingo cards to turn a stroll in nature, a city park, or any place in between into an adventure. With a knack for making the serious feel light and the mundane feel magical, dweeb’s art is a comforting companion for anyone navigating life’s ups and downs.

Dylan Edwards

Dylan Edwards is an award-winning queer & trans comic artist, best known as the creator of TRANSPOSES and VALLEY OF THE SILK SKY. His work has been published in anthologies from Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, and Oni Press, and has been featured on The Nib, PEN America, and The Comics Journal. He also creates a monthly comic on queer and trans topics for OUT FRONT Magazine. You can find more of his work at http://www.studiondr.com/

Evan Hicks

Evan is the cartoonist behind Fickle Bean Comics, a short humor one-person comic anthology. The first two issues of Fickle Bean painted a colorful portrait of four capricious capers in full CMYK. The third issue is on the way!

Faith Lyons

Faith Lyons is a Denver-based zine artist and crafter. They work in digital drawing, colored pencil, paint, crochet, polymer clay, and the occasional found object. Their zines center on themes of home, sentimentality, and anxiety. They love sudoku, talking about zines, and their cat Greg.

Faux Human

Zoe LeDonne, creator of Faux Human, specializes in illustration and narration that centers around human/animal hybrids, demon stories, and her dog, Rune. Her work explores the softer side of creatures traditionally characterized in more black and white terms. She is currently working on her ongoing series, “Dysfunctionally Immortal”, the first chapter of which has been recently released digitally and in print.

Femme Salée

Femme Salée (F&S) is a digital, intersectional arts platform that publishes, curates, facilitates, & exchanges accessible conversations & artworks for all by feminist, queer, BIPOC, poor, & (dis)abled/crip bodymind creatives. Our goal is to provide intimate & equitable space for collective visibility & agency through a biannual zine, an annual art journal, & an ongoing salon.

fina paca

“fina paca” means “fancy as fuck” in portuguese. Laura is a brazilian biologist with too many hobbies based in Denver, CO and Tempe, AZ. Her latest obsessions include (but are not limited to) Gocco printing, Tombow markers, and typewriters.

Gabrielle Makes Zines

Gabrielle is an artist and educator making zines centering advocacy, fandom, and poetry.

Get On Boardman/Hi-Fi Anxiety Zine

Jason Boardman is the person behind Hi-Fi Anxiety and many other zines as well. Also the creative force behind Anti Trust Skateboards

Ghost Romero

ghost is a twenty something year old creature chronicling their experiences growing up in a cult as a queer undiagnosed autistic individual through zines, poetry and art.

Grixly Comix

Comic artist from Pittsburgh, recently relocated to four corners. Many mini comics spanning myriad genres, but mostly . . . Autobio.

Ha Pham

My name is Ha Pham is a graphic designer and I specialize in print and layout designs based in Denver, CO. In an age where perfection is often pursued at the expense of authenticity, my work as a graphic designer thrives on embracing unconventionality and the beauty of amateurity. To me, design is not just about polished aesthetics or adhering to strict guidelines; it’s about breaking free from traditional norms and finding genuine connections within the community. I believe that there is profound value in the beginner’s perspective – a fresh, unfiltered view that often gets lost in the pursuit of technical mastery. This ideal is reflected in all of my designs from handmade zines, comic strips, to my most “polished” work: Girl Pervert Magazine. This approach allows me to create work that is accessible and relatable, bridging the gap between the designer and the audience.

Hemlock and Sorrel

Ash is a queer and trans herbalist in Denver. They have been working to combine their love of plants, nature, storytelling & community.

How Jude Rolls

Jude is a 26 year old non binary person living in Denver. They are a wheelchair user and disability activist. They parent 2 cats Abra and Pumpkin. They believe in liberation for all oppressed people!

Inga Wittgraf

Inga Wittgraf is an American artist, cake and cookie baker/decorator living in Denver, CO. Her art comes in many forms: traditional drawing and painting, cake and cookie decorating, crafting, sewing and more. She loves everything cute, cool, zany, and strange. Things that inspire her work include: music, Dr. Seuss, kawaii culture, her Scandinavian roots, cool stuff, dad jokes, dancing, and having fun! She is a strong believer in enjoying the small things, and her work aims bring a smile to someones day.

is PRESS

is PRESS is the Denver publishing press and studio space of Peter Miles Bergman and Heather Link-Bergman. The “is” in is PRESS is an acronym for The Institute of Sociometry – a 27 year running culture jamming, art activist and “pranktivist” collective. (Archive available at sociometry.com.)

is PRESS publishes short run DIY art books and zines on the theme of “individuals and their relationship to groups” deploying art pranks and conceptual art that explores the nexus of art and everyday life. Our publications deploy accessible narratives with a DIY edge while maintaining a sophisticated design aesthetic and high quality printing – often featuring letterpress printed covers.

Jaromir Stoll

Jaromir Stoll (they) is a queer / nonbinary / ace comics creator, illustrator, and fiber artist whose visual storytelling weaves together ecological and personal loss in order to illustrate the ineffable in life. Their most recent work infuses history, social science, and ecology into memoir comics and poetry zines like Someone Left, a comics poem on the immediacy of grief, “Morphing Memory” a 5-page comic on queer readings of the X-men’s shapeshifter, and The End of Your World, a collection of poems about environmental harms and personal grief. They are also a comics scholar whose research focuses on comics in and of India – with a forthcoming edited volume of comics essays and visual research, Turn the Page: Illustrating India’s Comics Scenes (with Shreyas Krishnan, Vidyun Sabhaney, and Mara Thacker).

Jay Edelson

Jay Edelson (he/him) is a neuroqueer writer and cartoonist from Colorado Springs. His other interests include tarot, puzzles, and narrative video games.

Jeff Washenberger Art

I work in the library by day, and make art by night (and by day). I like to take pictures, ride my bike, and draw cute things. I hope I can use my powers to spread peace and happiness.

JESHAKA

JESHAKA is a rocky mountain hotdog artist with an array of silly art & swag to share

Jovieinks

Thea Hunt is a Illustrator raised on the east coast and locally active in Lakewood Colorado. Organic flowing landscapes, portraits, and fantasy stories are a major focus in her artwork.

Juno J. Heo

Hey, I’m Juno J. Heo! I’m a non-binary Korean-American designer and my work focuses on the metaphysical properties of humanity through the lens of everyday, mundane experiences. Paired with my love for punchy colors and subtle texture, I combine serious and lighthearted tones to relate with my audience.

Kari Elizabeth

Throughout her life, Kari Elizabeth has developed a knack for observation, analysis, and realistic optimism. Her career in arts education and nonprofit leadership has helped her practice these skills, while her art practice has pushed her to constantly question all of the above. She allows her intuition to lead her work allowing for moments of mindfulness and humor as she expresses the chaotic simplicity of life. Kari Elizabeth’s ultimate goal is to find joy and lead with love. She invites viewers to play along with her.

Karl Christian Krumpholz

Originally from a city on the East Coast, cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz’s work has appeared in many different formats, publications and even animated in a documentary. He is the author of several comics series set in The City including IN THE CITY, IT’S OOLA, THE LIGHTHOUSE IN THE CITY, and QUEEN CITY. Karl continues to live in a city, though a different one now, and seems to own way too many hats. He can always be found at: karlchristiankrumpholz.com

madalyn drewno

Madalyn Drewno is a Denver illustrator and visual storyteller. Through methods like visual journalism, Madalyn creates art to connect with the community and amplify stories that challenge dominant narratives.

Magick+Mind

Monai (they/she) is an energy feeler, Afro-futurist, and devoted explorer of curiosity. Grounded in the belief that reflection, healing, and divination can lead to new and liberated ways of existence, Monai’s practice invites everyone to embody these transformative principles. As a former educator, they enjoy helping others infuse their lives with softness, discover their natural gifts, and engage in radical imagination to shape the realities they wish to create.

I create virtual/online zines called Magick+Mind: The Minis that share experiences, thoughts, and suggestions about how to kick capitalism in the face and how to live as a liberated human being. Example topics include anti-capitalism, divination, introversion, magick, ancestral work, and experiences that can make life feel really rough.

My work is at Patreon under Magick and Mind

Mara Gervais

Mara Gervais is amskapi pikuni & fil-am, queer, gender-fluid non-binary, and from Davis, California. They make zines, stickers, and prints – all their work is self-published. They’re obsessed with reading comics, skateboarding, and eating spaghetti!

Marsh & Mellow

Hello! We’re Marsh & Mellow, an art duo from Fort Collins, CO. We illustrate on both digital and traditional styles with a love for fun animal facts, storytelling, and more!

Meadows Madsen

Meadows Madsen, of Good In All Forms Clay, is a ceramicist and illustrator based out of Colorado with a fire for creativity. Meadows spends most of their time teaching classes and workshops in many mediums to help distribute access to the arts. Eventually, one of their goals is to have an ongoing literary zine that is a part of their creative process and allows many people the opportunity to publish work.

Meca’Ayo

I’m a queer poetry-centric multi-genre writer and artist who currently lives in Denver Colorado. My writing and photography are featured in literary magazines, art exhibits, journals, anthologies, and other venues and publications. My first book, an identity polyptych, a multi-part, multi-genre work, explores familial estrangement, identity as a mixed-race Black person, and movement towards reconciliation. It debuted from The Elephants on the Salish Sea Fall 2021.

I’ve made zines for a long while, but made it a more serious practice during Covid isolations as a way to connect and collaborate with people in ways that were possible. I intermittently also have a poetry postcard practice towards these same aims, and I create work that is tangible instead of solely online, where a lot of our thoughts and images click down a social media feed into oblivion. My zines focus around identity, nature, interconnectedness, sometimes feature poetry, prose and pretty much always my cellphone photography.

Zines are a fun way for my introverted self to connect and collaborate and create. I enjoyed my time at my first zine fest in 2023, and am looking forward to tabling again and connecting again.

Mo Giberson

Mo Giberson (they/them) is a tattoo artist, astrologer and poet.

moon wittstruck creations

I’m a 21 yr old film photographer, collages, and zine creator. I specialize in all thing print media.

Mortis Press

Mark Andrew Swan is a local author, radio news and voice talent, and producer. In 2023, He started Mortis Press to publish the magic and spiritualism focused zine, The Mortis Society. Last summer, he partnered with Lucyfer DeVille to publish Securing the Gig, an accessible zine focused on helping new musicians, drag artists, and other performers to getting a foothold into the entertainment industry.

Mutiny Information Cafe

Mutiny’s location is home to one of Denver’s oldest used bookstores – and offers much more from a coffee bar, comic books, zines, pinball machines, and local events! Mutiny will be moving to downtown Englewood, so make sure to check out their new location starting October 4th.

Nan Cran

They/them

Denver based spooky gay illustrator making queer horror comics. A fan of horror, medical illustrations, chonky cats, and making spooky art with positive LGBTQ+ representation.

Nico Wilkinson

Nico Wilkinson (they/he) is a poet, teaching artist, and printer based out of Colorado Springs, CO. Their work is a celebration of identity, resilience, and joy, and through their poetry, printing, and zinemaking workshops they seek to inspire the joy of creation in others.

They are the organizer of Keep Colorado Springs Queer, an award-winning open mic by and for the queer community of Colorado Springs. In January 2017 he and Idris Goodwin released the book “Inauguration,” winner of the Pikes Peak Arts Council 2017 award for Best Publication, which celebrated resilience in the midst of the current political climate. In summer of 2017 he competed and won Capturing Fire, the national queer slam tournament. Their debut poetry collection, The Weeds Grow Anyway, is set to release in Fall 2024.

Nicolas Comics

Nicolas Comics is Denver’s favorite mail-order comics distributor since 2018, owned and operated by master cartoonist Nicolas Sequeira. This will be Nicolas Comics’ second year tabling at Denver Zine Fest, and we’ll have a wide variety of exciting new releases and classic favorites for purchase!

Nina Judson

Nina is an illustrator, urban sketcher, paper doll maker and a sequential artist. Her mediums encompass ink with dip quill and watercolor pencil. She’s been enjoying exploring zine making for several years, lately with a preference for accordion/concertina zines.

Olivia h./Intersections Zine

she/they

A Black queer femme feminist writer/storyteller. Both in their personal and professional life, Olivia is dedicated to disrupting systems of oppression while centering pleasure and healing. She is currently a doctoral student engaged in community-centered research with the intention of developing liberatory theoretical and practice frameworks. Intersections Zine provides a creative avenue for Olivia to connect with herself and others

Intersections Zine
a brave, identity affirming space centering the ideas and work of creatives actively defining and redefining possibilities at the intersections. It is a portal opening For Us, By Us communal space for sharing ourselves and our narratives as we journey, celebrate, heal, love, and dream ourselves into liberated futures.

Renee Olga | Some Art By Me LLC

Renee Olga (he/they) is an artist, fashion designer, and community activist based in the Denver area. As a queer, disabled, Palestinian artist, his work is focused on expressing queer joy and normalizing diverse representation in art. Written works by Renée are centered around the intersection of community need and educational interests, which can range from public health topics to sewing and fashion to art and general education.

Rorried

Rory Pedersen is a queer and trans artist who works a variety of different mediums such as painting, animation, and game design. His work is based on creating intimate spaces and referencing the natural world. He grew up in Austin, Texas and started making art from a young age. They are deeply inspired by nature, fantasy, and horror. Outside of making art, Rory enjoys playing video games and reading and often finds themselves inspired by these as well.

Samantha Puc

Samantha Puc (she/they) is a fat, disabled, lesbian writer, editor, and streamer whose work focuses primarily on LGBTQ+ and fat representation in pop culture. Their writing has been featured on Autostraddle, Polygon, The Mary Sue, Refinery29, Bitch Media, them., and elsewhere. Samantha is the Community Voices Blog Editor at NAAFA, the co-creator of Fatventure Mag, and a contributor to the award-winning Fat and Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives. They are an original cast member of Death2Divinity and they are pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction at The New School. When Samantha is not working or writing, she loves spending time with her cats, reading, and perfecting her grilled cheese recipe.

Scablands Press

Slade (he/him) is a multi-award-nominated author of tabletop roleplaying games.

scaredlittlebug

Aspen scaredlittlebug (it/he) is an agender bug enthusiast and maximalist whose zines can take years to finish. In the decade after moving to so-called Denver, it’s been drawing, collaging, and hanging out around ponds. What’s new with bug since tabling its first zinefest last year? It made some wild spiral zines and it finally got a cat!

Sean Leftwich

Sean Leftwich is an interdisciplinary artist working in Boulder, CO. Through repeated, automatic marks, and forms oscillating between familiar and opaque, he charts and transmutes everyday imagery, working out the Paleolithic urge to interpret one’s environment and the modern urge to change it. In addition to drawing and zine-making, Sean has made art games, video work, and curated a group exhibition at the World’s Largest Laundromat.

Seth Karp

Seth Karp is an experimental zinester and comic artist interested in content written from a non-human perspective. Publications incorporate writing and drawing, as well as photography, sculpture, and handknit sweaters. In his recent work, he’s strived to strike a delicate balance between the absurd and the heartfelt, writing about issues that matter to him without compromising on humor.

Skate or DIY Collective

Sk8 or DIY is a skate and art collective that seeks to foster community and healing through art, art-making and skating, and to increase access to skating as a sphere and sport for beginner/queer/marginalized skaters through collaborative community and grassroots events.

Sloth.chan

A forever sleepy science nerd who makes educational zines about animals and things. Dabbling in illustration work she also sells greeting cards and post cards.

Slutidarity for and by your fav local Sluts

SlutWalk Denver is a local grassroots community of self-titled Sluts, survivors, and sex workers building consent-culture and fighting for the autonomy of all bodies since 2011. The Sluts have had an annual zine (plus several mini editions) since 2020 where community members can submit their artwork to be featured. This year our zine’s theme is focused on “Sluts Against Apartheid & Genocide” as we stand in solidarity with those experiencing the effects of occupation and imperialism worldwide.

Specimen Zine

Specimen Zine is about the transformative power of attention, whether it be trained on a new city or a seed pod. It is the project of Erin Greenhalgh, a writer and multimedia artist from Denver.

Sweet Malarkey

Sweet Malarkey is a Risograph print studio located in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Our mission is to encourage and support the power of creative storytelling, design, and shared information through physical printed matter. We believe in the dynamic potential of creative visions to change lives and contribute to the overall health of communities.

We specialize in creating artist prints, posters, zines, comics, and other printed matter with a focus on small-run, independent, and creative processes using the digital duplicator printing process.

The Hoptimist Press

Denver Alliance for Street Health Response (DASHR) was created in 2018 to bring groups and individuals together who were interested in creating a new emergency response method as an alternative to policing and jail. This was informed by models across the country as well as local work that embodied components of a new model for Denver. As we began to create the vision for this effort, we started to identify additional ways to create alternative responses and methods of navigating conflict and crisis that were worth investing our time and energy into as well as other ongoing work that was worth lifting up.

The World Through Our Eyes Zines

The World Through Our Eyes is a zine filled with alternative art and writing. Our purpose with this zine is to give people the opportunity to come together and share stories, experiences, and feelings with each other free of judgment. A place where others can finally see the world through our eyes.

tkhstudios

Hi! I am Taylor Hammett, designer and illustrator for tkhstudios. I am a BIPOC, neuro-divergent artist from Phoenix, Arizona. I make a lot of zines and art revolving around topics of science, space, biology, and ambiguity. Here in Phoenix I have interned with Wasted Ink Zine Distro, helped/help organize Phoenix Zine Fest and travel to different zine fests when possible. I have been running my press for 2.5 years and have published over 20+ zines, as well as some sparse merch. I do a majority of my own printing and binding, using local riso printers when available.

Tori Holder

Tori Holder is a comic zinester based in Los Angeles. She loves making zines of comics poetry with unique forms.

Trevor Traynor

Trevor Traynor is a photographer, director, and visual explorer. He is an avid traveler known for his extensive range of subject matter and seamless ability to blur the lines between fine art and commercial photography. His work has been featured in Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, Financial Times, Hamburger Eyes, and All-American by Bruce Weber. He has won several awards including American Photography, PDN Annual, and the International Photography Awards. His photographs have been exhibited globally and featured at The Getty Center, The Grammy Museum, and Photoville NY.

In 2016 he flew with NASA on an operation IceBridge mission over Antartica alongside artist Zaria Forman.
In 2018 he founded Memoryscape, a full service production boutique based in Los Angeles.
In 2020 his work was selected as part of a new permanent polar art exhibit aboard the National Geographic Endurance.
In 2022 his project NEWSSTANDS was minted on the blockchain as a sold out collection of 100, 1/1 NFT’s.

TvxedoBvnny

Tuxedo (aka Adrien) is a Denver artist, writer, designer and micropress operator who makes comics about jewel thieves. Diamond emoji rabbit emoji.

Two-Fisted Library Stories

Matthew Murray 🦇 and Anna Ferri are academic librarians, co-hosts of Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcast, and creators of many zines! They’ve helped organize zine events at library conferences in the USA & Canada and their home is filled with books, comics, and games they haven’t gotten around to reading (or playing) yet.

Viewshed Studio

A collaboration between riso printer Viewshed Studio and INCITE Colorado, FANGIRL is a fan zine with a passion for the music scene in Colorado. Each issue focuses on one band and includes a 7″ flexi disc of music by the band. It’s everything you need to be an A+ FANGIRL

Vivificaarts

Karyn loves bugs, walks, and talking about nature she finds on those walks. She encourages you to stop and look at a flower to see all the life that hangs out there. She also is an artist who is writing and illustrating a book about bugs.

Walk Off Hot

Charly Fasano an illustrator, poet and filmmaker from Denver, Colorado. He is the owner and operator of Walk Off Hot and the now defunct Fast Geek Press.

Wig Shop

Wig Shop is a Denver based webstore specializing in comics, art books and zines from around the world. In 2023 Wig Shop inaugurated a publishing imprint.

Will Betke-Brunswick

Will Betke-Brunswick is a cartoonist and the author of A PROS AND CONS LIST FOR STRONG FEELINGS, available from Tin House.

A PROS AND CONS LIST FOR STRONG FEELINGS was a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Comics, the 2023 Colorado Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, and the 2023 High Plains Book Award for First Book.

Will exhibits their comics at zine fests around the country, most recently at Toronto Comic Arts Festival and Cartoon Crossroads Columbus.

Will Schreitz

I am a cartoonist who lives in the southwest. I draw surreal and humorous cartoons and short comic stories.

Wesbite

YAM House

YAM House is a multi-state collaboration between Mimi Shalf and Aparna Paul, born out of long-running joke and a new year’s eve existential crisis. We run GOOD SOUP Mag, your friendly neighborhood soup lovers’ monthly publication.
In their daily lives Mimi is a CU Boulder PhD student who enjoys drawing and weird art and Aparna is a chemical engineer who enjoys writing and weird poetry.

YellowDog

yellow jelly shoe press

Kath is a zine enthusiast bravely sharing her zines for the first time! She’s a queer, Gen X educator who likes to get into good trouble. She eats the same thing for breakfast everyday and loves libraries, afternoon naps, and cute stickers.

Zeromile Magazine

Zeromile magazine is published annually by students in the BFA Communication Design program in the Department of Art at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Zeromile focuses on thematic cultural, social, creative, and political issues. Issue 14’s theme is Fusion with articles as diverse as AI-Human Hybrids to Aztec Death Reverence.