Hey Let's Go!
A My Neighbour Totoro Fanzine
About
This is an idea for a zine focused on portraying Studio Ghibli’s ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ movie. A zine is a mini magazine comprised of fan-made art and writing.We will be showcasing art, writing, and merchandise of the characters, locations, and plot of the movie.This will be a SFW, G-rated zine, allowing canon-typical content such as fear and illness.
Zine Specs
- This zine will feature artists, writers, and merch artists all creating content about My Neighbor Totoro.- We are creating both physical and digital forms of this zine.- This zine will be for charity. Project profits will be donated to a charity to be decided when we have a full mod team.
Moderators
Mod Hawk — they/them — Head Mod & Writer Mod
Mod Hawk (@VeloxVoid) has been participating in zines since March 2020, and frequently contributes to their beloved fandom in zines, fandom events, and through writing fanfiction. Studio Ghibli is a beloved film studio to them, with My Neighbor Totoro holding a very special place in their heart. It would be an honour to create a Totoro zine for other fans to enjoy!Hawk will be overseeing general organisation, and will be available as a beta reader for writing contributors.Hawk has mod experience from working on:
“Our Greatest Treasure” — Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (Head Mod & Writer Mod)
“Adventure Log” — Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Zine (Head Mod & Writer Mod)
“Trans-cendent” — Fire Emblem 3 Houses Trans Zine (Head Mod & Writer Mod)
… and others!They also have experience writing for the zines:
“Winds of Hoenn” — Pokémon Hoenn Zine (Writer)
“And the Shadows Look Back” — FE3H Gothic Horror Zine (Guest)
“Nook Cookbook” — Animal Crossing Cookbook (Chef)
… and more!For a full list of their zine experience, check here.
You can find them on Twitter and AO3!---------Mod Revy — they/them — Co-Head & Artist Mod
Mod Revy (@HereticSaint) is currently going through an intense addiction to making brushbug emotes. Outside of that they clawed their way into zines in 2022 through Fire Emblem and now plan to keep the ball rolling. They are particularly infamous for hoarding OCs. They first watched Totoro when they were 11 and it's still their favourite Ghibli film to this day. Seeing it on stage last Christmas only further reignited that love. If they could, they would keep a pet soot sprite.Revy will be providing feedback to art contributors and redlining if requested.Revy has mod experience from:
“Yokohama Ladies Night” — BSD Women Zine (Head and Organisation Mod)
“Adventure Log” — Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Zine (Co-Head and Art Mod)
“Revolutionary Guardians of Fodlan” — FE3H Magical Girls Zine (Art Mod)They also have art experience from:
“Counting Sheep” — Hades Game: Hypnos (Page Artist)
“Love Letter” — FE3H Monica Zine (Writer)
“Eye of the Serpent” — FE3H TWSITD Zine (Page Artist)
“Painted Picture” — FE3H Character Zine (Page Artist)You can find a list of the fandoms they haunt here or stalk their Twitter or Tumblr.
Want to instantly be their friend? Send them brushbugs.---------Mod Arill — ze/he — Social Media Mod
Mod Arill (@arillb r) is an artist and sometimes writer with a love for zines and merch. Ze only got into fandom events and such last year but is already going full force, mostly active in the Ace Attorney, Pokémon and One Piece fandoms. Arill didn’t grow up with Ghibli, but he’s slowly getting into their fantastic movies. Ze thinks My Neighbour Totoro is a really sweet movie everyone should watch.Arill will be handling the zine’s Social Media and communications.Arill has mod experience from working on:
“The Adventures of the Great Trial” — TGAA Spring Zine (Art, Graphics and Formatting Mod)
“Our Greatest Treasure” - Scarlet and Violet Zine (Social Media Mod)
“Surgeon of Death” - One Piece Trafalgar Law Zine (Head and Graphics Mod)
…And more!He also has experience contributing for the zines:
“Blossoming Love” — TGAA Susato Mikotoba Shipping Zine (Merch Artist)
…And hopefully more soon!For a full list of zyr zine experience, check here!
You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram!---------Mod Rain — they/them — Merch ModMod Rain (@CaramelComics) is an artist, crafter, and zine enthusiast. They received their BFA in Drawing in 2015, and then they began running their solo illustration studio, Caramel Comics. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films are some of their first and biggest art inspirations. My Neighbor Totoro is one of their favorites and they are so excited to be sharing the magic of the movie through this zine.Rain will be in charge of deciding what merchandise will go into production, and also overseeing the design work of the merch team.Rain has mod experience from working on:
“Ring Fit Kitchen” — Ring Fit Adventure Cookbook (Cover Artist, Art Mod, and Merch Mod)
creating and ordering merchandise for their small business, Caramel ComicsThey also have contributor experience from the zines:
“A Taste of the Valley” — Stardew Valley 'Unofficial' Cookbook (Merch Artist)
“Block by Block” — Minecraft fanzine (Merch Artist)
“PokéCrossing Zine” — Animal Crossing and Pokémon crossover zine (Page Artist)
… and many more!For a full list of their zine experience, check here.
You can find them on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and CoHost!---------Mod Ara - she/they - Finance/Shipping ModMod Ara (@msarachnid) is always tired. They like spending their free time reading, hanging out with cats, and crafting, and often get wrangled into crafting and making things for other people. They’ve been involved as a contributor in zines since 2018 and have been modding since 2020. They’ve also been running and managing finances for a youth group since 2015! Their first Ghibli movie was Spirited Away (watched on Cartoon Network!), and since then have tried to find and watch as many as possible. She loves the vibe and atmosphere of them.Ara will keep track of zine finances and choose zine specs, receive physical items, and ship them out to buyersAra has experience from modding:
World Between Worlds- Star Wars (finance mod)
Spring Tides - Open-call Our Flag Means Death zine (finance/shipping mod)
Callsigns - Top Gun (finance/shipping)They also have experience from contributing to:
Bats n Fangs - Original Vampire Zine
Stars and Sakura - Ameripan Zine
Are You Scared Yet - Fan and Original Horror zineFor more experience, click here!---------Mod Fei — they/she — Formatting / Layout ModFei (@feiyu) is a mixed-media artist who has been involved with zines since 2016 but only became more involved in 2020. They're really excited to help bring to life a project around the movie that inspired them most as a child.Fei will be formatting the zine for print and digital distribution!Fei has mod experience from working on:
“GRANDEUR” — Camilla Fire Emblem Zine (Formatting/Layout Mod)
“Adventure Log” — Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Zine (Formatting/Layout Mod)
“Dracaena Somnolenta” — Kokomi Genshin Impact Zine (Graphics & Formatting Mod)
… and many others!They also have art experience from:
“Yumtendo” — Nintendo Cookbook (Page & Spot Artist)
“You" — Beiguang Genshin Impact Zine (Page Artist)
“Turnabout Tarot” — Ace Attorney Tarot Project (Card Artist)
“Our Greatest Treasure” — Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Zine (Page Artist)
… and many others!Their full zine credentials can be found here.They can also be found on Twitter (most frequently) as well as Instagram and Tumblr.---------Nottesilhouette — she/they — Finance ConsultantMod Notte (@nottesilhouette) has been watching Studio Ghibli movies since childhood and working on zines for nearly 5 years now. A lover of both words and numbers, they've enjoyed working on finances and writing short stories for zines, doing their best to make sure every contributor gets to hold their work in their hands at the end of the day.Notte will be helping the zine with finance and advertisement.Notte has mod experience from working on:
"The Quest Of Our Lives" — PJO Yearbook Zine (finance, co-production, & writing mod)
"Supernova" — Star Guardians Zine (finance & co-writing mod)
"2 Everything 2 Everywhere" — Everything Everywhere All At Once Zine (finance consultant)"Morte" — Nico Zine
"Camp Sappho" — PJO Sapphic Zine
"How To Not Die" — PJO Guidebook Zine
… and many more!You can find them on AO3 and Tumblr
Schedule
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Interest Check | 20th April - 5th June |
| Mod Applications | 10th June - 10th July |
| Mod Application Results | 15th July |
| Contributor Applications | 30th July - 10th September |
| Contributor Application Results | 15th September |
| Discord Entrance Deadline | 20th September |
| 1st Check-in (Concepts/Pitches) | 20th October |
| 2nd Check-in (30-50% done) | 20th November |
| 3rd Check-in (80-100% done) | 20th December |
| Final Submissions (Hard deadline) | 20th January |
| Preorder Period | 21st May - 1st July |
| Shipping | Once all physical items have arrived |
Application Guidelines
During the contributor application process, a few things will be asked of you. Please remember to provide all requested samples, and if using Google Drive to put link sharing on. If we cannot access your work or your samples are incomplete, we will have to disqualify your application, so please double check everything is completed on your form!Artists
We will be grading artist applications based on grasp of anatomy, use of colour, piece composition, and other artistic fundamentals.We will require of you:
- A link to your portfolio with at least 3 completed SFW pieces in it; this can be a Google Drive link, Twitter Moment, Instagram/Tumblr account, your own website, etc; as long as we have access to view what’s inside! Please do not submit NSFW-only portfolios.
- 3 SFW examples of your best work, ideally fully coloured with backgrounds, reflecting the standard of work you would like to contribute to this zine.
- Works featuring Totoro/Ghibli characters are preferred, although not required.
- At least one pitch of what you would like to portray in the zine. The more detail the better!Writers
We will be grading writer applications based on story flow, characterisation, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.We will require of you:
- A link to your portfolio with at least 3 completed SFW pieces in it; this can be an AO3/Fanfiction.net account, Google Drive link, your own website, etc; as long as we have access to view what’s inside! Please do not submit NSFW-only portfolios.
- 3 SFW examples of your best work, reflecting the standard of work you would like to contribute to this zine. We ask that they are between 500 — 2,500 words for prose (about 100 words of ‘wiggle room’ are allowed).
- For other writing types, such as travelogues, diary entries, etc, we ask that pieces be between 100 — 1,500 words.
- At least one sample must be a complete piece of work in order to see how you can work with the zine’s assigned word count. Your second and third samples can be either excerpts or other complete works.
- Works featuring Totoro/Ghibli characters are preferred, although not required.
- At least one pitch of what you would like to portray in the zine. The more detail the better!Merch Artists
We will be grading merch artist applications based on suitability of your designs to the merch in question, grasp of anatomy where applicable, composition, and use of colour.We will require of you:
- A link to your portfolio with at least 3 completed SFW pieces in it; this can be a Google Drive link, Twitter Moment, Instagram/Tumblr account, your own website, etc; as long as we have access to view what’s inside! Please do not submit NSFW-only portfolios.
- 3 SFW examples of your best work, reflecting the merch style you would like to contribute. If you have photos of produced merch, feel free to show us, but initial designs are also welcome and will not affect your chances of being accepted.
- Showing examples of merch designs that you would like to make for this zine is recommended. E.g. if you would like to make a charm for the zine, including charm designs in your samples.
- Works featuring Totoro/Ghibli characters are preferred, although not required.
- At least one pitch of what you would like to portray as merch, as well as the types of merch you are interested in. The more detail the better!
Contributors
We ask our contributors to adhere to our schedule and work to the best of their ability! Of course, we understand that life happens, in which case we will be more than happy to grant you extensions should you ask in advance.We ask of you:General Expectations
- Be polite, kind, and considerate to your fellow contributors and the mods; no rude or inappropriate behaviour will be allowed and may result in your ejection from the project.
- Have a Discord account, or be willing to make one for all major communication.
- Keep us in the loop: turn in check-ins on time, or ask for extensions at least 24 hours in advance. If you ghost the project, we will have to forfeit your position in the zine.Artists
- Create one full piece (size yet to be decided) that adheres to your accepted prompt.
- Our Art Mod will provide feedback prior to the final submissions, but you are more than welcome to ask for feedback at any part of the process!Writers
- Contribute one full piece (word counts/writing type yet to be decided) that adheres to your accepted prompt.
- Mod Hawk will provide a full beta-read prior to the final submissions, but you are more than welcome to ask for feedback at any part of the process!Merch Artists
- Contribute your assigned pieces of merchandise that adhere to your accepted prompts/merch types.
- Our Merch Mod will provide feedback prior to the final submissions, but you are more than welcome to ask for feedback at any part of the process!
Frequestly Asked Question
Got a question for us that we haven’t answered? Please feel free to DM us on Twitter or email us, and we will be happy to respond to you!Will there be NSFW content?
No. This is a completely SFW zine; nothing explicit will be permitted.Are ships allowed?
Due to results of the interest check, we are not including shipping content in this zine — it will be more general-focussed!Will there be merch?
Yes! We are producing both physical and digital merchandise.Will this zine feature alternate media art?
We hope so! This will depend on the outcome of the contributor applications, but we are hoping to include artists of all kinds in this project.Will follower count matter in considering the applicants?
Not at all! We want to represent all kinds of creators in this zine. Follower count or amount of interactions on submitted samples will not be taken into consideration.How old are contributors required to be?
We ask that all contributors be above the age of 13, since this is a teen-rated zine.Will mods be able to contribute to the zine?
Yes, mods will be able to contribute to the zine if they wish! However, their pieces will not take any spots from our pool of applicants. The same applies to guests should they be invited.How will contributors be compensated?
At minimum, contributors will receive the digital zine/merch for free. Should we break even and profits allow, we aim to first provide free copies of the physical zine for contributors, then bundles with merch. Shipping costs will also depend on the results of our sales.If a merch artist works on a stretch goal which isn't met, will the mods make the contribution in any physical capacity? (For example: Making an unreached enamel pin into a sticker instead)
Yes! Unused stretch goals will be repurposed, as stickers or otherwise — this will be discussed with merch artists and with finances in mind so we can choose the best option.