Hello, zine creator! Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi! I somehow became known as DEDA online. I am organizing this zine.
How long have you been in the TF2 fandom, and how were you introduced to it?
I’ve been in the TF2 fandom since it first came out with the “Meet The… ” SFMS so … 2007? And I was introduced to it by the SFMs going viral on youtube/4chan.
Though I’ve been out of the fandom since 2009 or 2010, I came back into it in 2018
You’ve been out of the fandom for a while. What got you back into it?
My very good enemies-to-friends-to-lovers-to-enemies Shane wanted to play a free Steam game to test our internet speed. TF2 was the first free one that popped into my head. And immediately I went back to binging the SFMs and overexplaining the character dynamics to Shane.
What made you want to run a TF2 zine? Why gore?
I wanted to run a TF2 zine, specifically gore, because I kept seeing community zines that failed/scammed their artists, and because I found that most zines had very milquetoast subject matter. I wanted to prove that even I could run a zine better than these large community figureheads. And I wanted to show off artists that drew gore/eroguro because the internet has not been very kind to artists who draw things that are not family friendly.
Did you accomplish what you set out to do with this project?
I certainly accomplished all my goals! First goal was to financially break even and compensate the artists+writers with books, goodies, and even a lil dosh. Second goal was to gather together a bunch of like-minded artists and see what they could come up with in a given theme, with 99% artistic freedom. And third goal was to make a physical book that I could be proud to show off as both one of my projects and for the art that the many different artists+writers came up with!
What roadblocks did you run into during the making of the zine?
The roadblock which immediately comes to mind is the various medical problems which came up during 2020. Of course there was the ‘rona, but also Shane’s hospitalization and my own wisdom tooth surgery (lol). I don’t recover very quickly from health problems, mostly from the mental stress it causes. Another roadblock was re-re-learning my vague knowledge of indesign, and learning the basics besides dragging in pngs. Also doing graphic design for the zine promotions and materials LOL. I’m a drawing artist, not particularly suited for abstract compositions…
Did you run into any push back from the TF2 fandom?
I have not received any pushback while doing the zine! The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, at least from the messages I receive of viewer excitement. No weird messages, just a nice feeling of participating in an art community.
Have you noticed the TF2 fandom change from when you first entered until now? What is your hope for fandom and artistic communities in the future?
When I first entered the TF2 fandom, it was a wild lawless land. There was no canon from the comics, so people were free to come up with whatever headcanons and characters suited their interests. Youtube and TF2chan were the main hubs of activities, and you get most of the classic memes and headcanons like Tentaspy and ‘nope’ from there. The community atmosphere was probably just as hostile as it is in the ‘modern’ fandom, but it was more obviously people being bigots and assholes cuz everything sprung from chan culture. It seems that the ‘modern’ fandom on tumblr from 2011-2018 formed around the comics rather than the games or SFMs, so people held on REALLY tight to the canon of the comics which sometimes led to discouraging creativity because of the strange need to adhere to ‘canon’. Also, because Tumblr was seen as an “all-ages” website, you’d see people clash over SFW vs NSFW art very often. Shipping was seen as less ‘cringy’ on Tumblr than the chans, but that was simply because anything related to queerness was seen as cringy on the chans.
It’s pretty incredible to see how different the fandoms are, especially because I came at the beginning, and came back at the very end when Tumblr went kaput. I don’t think TF2 has a hub right now for fans to communicate, except for maybe youtube videos which are overwhelmingly dominated by gameplay and competitive videos, which are not the transformative character-based content that I’m primarily attracted to. Twitter is no place for an artistic community to flourish. I hope web moves away from social media as hubs of ALL activities, and dedicated art sites and discussion forums (or at least aspects of those) regain popularity.
Do you have any tips for future zine runners?
For future zine runners: devote all your energy and interest into at most one or two zines. Don’t take on more than you can handle, especially if you have school and/or work on top of art obligations. Take care of finances and design by yourself or with someone you REALLY TRUST. Don’t request a stranger to do these very important things for you for free and expect them to be done. Don’t take on too many contributors and over-inflate the work you need to do and the costs of the zine. Try to cultivate relationships with the contributors you take on, and make the experience a lil more than accepting an artist, taking their art, and leaving. Make a budget of how much the zine will cost. Think about if you REALLY need fancy ‘merch’ like acrylic charms and pins. Communicate with your artists/writers, especially if you’re going to be late on things or cancel the zine. Don’t leave people hanging. Don’t scam people. Learn how to pack and ship items domestically and internationally. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND CUSTOMERS EVEN IF IT’S BAD NEWS!!!
Also, a personal preference, but I LOVE when a zine has non-fiction writing in addition to art and fic. I LOVE to read about artists’ and writers’ intents! I love for there to be a purpose! I encourage more people to make zines and books about things they truly deeply care about, and want to infodump about!
Some more personal questions for you now~ How do you describe your art? Who are what inspires/influences you?
I would describe my own art as wavering between a complete mess of shaky heavy black cartoon linework, and my desire to draw sensitive thin quavering corpses. So, dank yaoi. My inspirations are the artists I surround myself with and admire, such as everyone on this zine. Sounds corny, but what could inspire me to draw more than my own peers? I love seeing an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and desires manifest through words and drawings! That’s all I want to do with my art. Our peers are making the art we crave, not some faceless corporation…
What’s your creative process like?
My creative process is:
1. receiving the prompt. That means either a commissioner contacts me, I receive a request, or I’m awake at 3am and suddenly brainstorm the dankest dopest idea i NEED to draw or I’ll never sleep.
2. I find time to draw. For quicky ideas I like to go straight with pen to paper, just to save time and capture the moment ASAP.
3. Refinement… very rarely do I get to this stage, but it’s the final 10% of a drawing that takes the longest to get it to a “complete” stage. This means inking a sketch, coloring a drawing, or going over inks with white/colored lineart. I think with my typical heavy black lineart, there’s a nice texture and clarity I can get with a thin lighter line on top. Plus it makes my drawing look like that Janet Jackson album cover.
I keep myself motivated by going as fast as possible and pooping all my current ideas out at the same time, so I don’t forget. I have attention and memory issues, so I work the best personally when I can do as much as possible at once, then cool down for the next brain blast.
Lastly, what are you working on right now? Anything you’d like to plug or advertise?
Right now I’m working on cooling off my brain from this zine, and just drawing for myself for a while. Also prolly doing commissions for a bit to take care of finances. Remember to message me if you want your anime waifu and husbando drawn! And also look out for more community zines I’ll run cuz this one was so much fun. Girl scouts? Tentaspys? General kink? Yaoi dynamix?!?
Thank you for your creating this zine and thank you for answering my questions!
No problem!
I love you! The END
twitter: @skumsuck ig: @skumsuck store and website: scumsuck.com
Deflectric