The Making Of Too Far Out - A Space Age Zine

Kai Denton
Sep 19, 2024
10 min read

Towards the beginning of this year, I announced the funding plan for my first ever zine project, titled Too Far Out. To my absolute astonishment, I received an outpour of support and encouragement from not only friends, family, local artists and collectives, but even people whom I had never spoken to before. I started the goal at $150 to pay for font uses, scanning, and printing, however it wasn't long before I had to extend it. We ended up getting $290 and more support than I could have ever imagined. That was the start of something big and beautiful, and a project I'm still proud of and eager to expand, but it wasn't necessarily the beginning. For that, we'll have to go a bit farther back to October of 2023.

Where It Started:

Too Far Out was a big project that began as a very small idea. Local artist Matthew Castellano was talking about organizing a zine night and artist market. I had a very little table at the last one and really enjoyed getting to meet folks and share my work, but I only had prints, and I soon started kicking myself for not making a zine. I was so inspired by everybody else's work and the community around zine production and distribution and, with Matthew's encouragement, I set about making one. That begged the question: So what was I gonna make? I didn't really have anything to say, but my mind immediately went to a series of characters and a world I started developing when I was thirteen. The name of the zine came first. There was absolutely no deliberation. It was gonna be called Too Far Out, a name I first thought of back in 2017. The abbreviation would be 2FO, like UFO (get it, cause they're aliens?) Yeah I thought I was real clever for that. Conveniently enough, I had just recently finished my first painting inspired by it. It was years in the making, and it would become the essence and cover of the zine.

Pluto's Diner 2023

Last summer (2023) I set about making my first illustration inspired by the concept. I was officially obsessed with it again, having began writing bits of scripts and putting together mini soundtracks. I was ready to geek out over it and to give people a visual of the concept and what I loved about it. Some of it had changed since I was a teenager, and some of it was exactly the same. It strengthened my love of Sci-Fi and introduced me to retro-futurism, a style I think is severely neglected in a lot of media, and something I quickly became obsessed with. The painting itself was incredibly new and ambitious for me, and it's how I first discovered a lot of the techniques that have become a staple in my process. I'm still incredibly proud of this painting, and it's the first one I show to inquiring people. The start of something amazing and a pivotal turning point in my art and what I thought was possible. Since then, I don't think I've painted a natural skin tone, regular eyes or non-pointed ears in months.

The VERY Beginning:

Like I said, I first began drawing these characters back in 2017 when I was thirteen. They were just little alien people that were infinitely customizable and fun to draw, and I went absolutely wild. I was in the phase we've all been through as young artists where character creation was all I was interested in. The designs were pretty basic and in some cases repetitive, but I loved exploring all the possibilities. As time went on and my focuses shifted elsewhere and into prioritizing 'finished' illustration and less so into my sketchbooks, they went on the back burner. However, in 2020 when I was stuck at home and honestly relishing in drawing time, I did something I still often do; I pulled out an old sketchbook and found something to re-draw. It was a fun exercise to re-visit ideas and see my progress, but more importantly, it kickstarted my intrigue and love of the characters and, the more I drew, the more I began thinking of them and their world in a way I hadn't before.

The Start of The Process: Page by Page

One of the first aspects of the zine was a collage I made for the cover of a 2FO concept book, a place where I could write down random ideas and plot points. I took a bunch of magazine clippings, (How we have so many I don't know, they just show up at my door sometimes) and smushed them together with the addition of colored skin and black eyes. It was a quick little thing I did before the Idea of a zine even crossed my mind. It ended up being something I use in other promotional stuff or as filler, as well as the zine's gratitude page to thank the project's supporters. It's the first thing you see upon opening it.

From there, I messed around with the idea of editing 35mm pictures I've taken of friends and various places, as well as making parodies of concert flyers and movie posters. They ended up being pretty bland and uninspired, but I kept them among the other pages as inspiration until the time came to start funding and finishing the zine. I'll get back to that later.

Pages 1, 2 and 3 - The Action Figure Pages:

October 4th started the idea and process of the next series of pages. I took cut-outs of pictures of action figures and adjusted the colors, shapes, and warped them into place to create custom action figures of the three main characters. These were some of my favorite pages to make! If you know action figures you might recognize some pieces, like the fact that the ears are from a 70s Yoda figure, Cosmo's hair is from Han Solo, multiple assets were used from a more modern Bon Jovi figure for Andy, and Fonzie for Johnny. They also all come with the same uniform ... wonder what that could be about. I also couldn't help myself with the logo parody. If only you could see how many layers each of these files had!

Pages 4 and 5: The Ads

Remember how I said I had some altered images of friends that I didn't know what to do with? Ok this is where those come in! It was coming up on the final projects for the zines, and up until this point I had done almost everything digitally or took stuff from things I had already made. I knew I wanted more pages and things made specifically with the zines in mind, and I finally looked back on those edited pictures. Using them as references, I made a series of illustrations in acrylic gouache to be used as the base of advertisements. The first was based off of a picture of some friends and I dressed up for a new wave event. It was taken in the Vino's parking lot with someone's phone propped up against my car. It was a killer picture, and started my love of doing flat acrylic illustrations. The one on the right was a picture of my friends when we went to an arcade for my birthday. It was the day I got my first Kodak film camera which absolutely changed my life. Its still one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken to this day. I'm sorry for giving you a mullet, Jimmy.

Pages 6 and 7 - The Centerfold:

In January of 2024 I began my next 2FO painting, Video Fever. It was a headache of a painting to complete (Thats another blog post entirely) , but I knew it would make for the perfect centerfold, debuting a new painting and first zine all in one go. I'll save its process for another time, but I feel like its little easter eggs and elements of retro media really capture what I love about this world and how it reflects ours. Even on an alien planet in a world that mimics our own, galaxies away, they still love music and movies and video games. They still wear baseball tees and Casio watches.

Pages 8 and 9 - The Note Pages

These pages are fun, and the ones I sort of cringe at when people stop to read everything... I thought it would be fun to show some of the characters' dialogue and personalities while using some old concept drawings; How their relationships are unique, how they connect, and little hints that something is going on that we aren't in on. Well I am cause I made it but you aren't so I laugh maniacally from my throne! ha ha ha ! Its messy and silly and actually reflects some of the banter from my own friendships. I guess we all talk like teenage boys passing notes around in class. The bowl cut drawing still kills me every time I look at it.

Pages 10 and 11 - The Process Pages:

I also wanted to use the zine as an opportunity to publish some tidbits about my painting process and the phases they go through. They aren't the most exciting by any means, but they became a favorite especially among fellow artists, and it became a wonderful opportunity to discuss and share techniques. I love seeing it all side by side, and I think it's cool to see some perspective on the various paintings seen in the zine.

Page 12 - The Mixtape:

This was entirely self-serving and I have no regrets about it. I mentioned before that I had a collection of music that has sort of acted as a soundtrack and inspiration for certain scenes, and I really wanted to somehow incorporate it into the zine. It felt incomplete to make something based around this concept and not include the music that is its foundation. So, I made a short list of some of my favorite songs that I feel best encapsulate Too Far Out. It also includes a scannable link to the Spotify playlist consisting of almost 10 hours of music, added over the course of a couple years and still expanding. I debated adding a link to a modern service as I was afraid it would effect the immersion of a retro style magazine, but it was just too damn cool. I love that anyone can listen to it and as I find music and the story expands it'll expand along with it, beyond the barriers of a piece of paper. This'll definitely have to be included in future issues.

While we're on the topic of music, I have to bring up this album: TIME (1981) - Electric Light Orchestra

Words can not express how this album shaped this project. I can't even remember the first time I heard it, I think I just happened to take a chance on a random recommended song on Spotify, and the world opened up around me. I had never found something that so perfectly encapsulated the feeling of what I was making. It was like they were specially made for each other.

I'll never shut up about it. I implore you to listen. I might not have so openly and quickly picked this project back up without it, and I genuinely feel as though it shaped it all for the better. This is sort of a cheesy tangent but I remember driving over the broadway bridge to the ACANSA Gallery for the Comic show, windows down and blasting the CD. Hold On Tight came on. ~ When you need a shoulder to cry on, When you get so sick of trying, Just hold on tight to your dream. When you get so down that you can't get up, And you want so much, But you're so out of luck. When you're so downhearted and misunderstood, Just over and over and over you go. ~

Page 13 - The Inside Cover:

The last of the film images I ended up using was one of the view from my grandparents backyard overlooking where I went to kindergarten, In my tiny hometown in Missouri, across the street from a home we used to live in. I'm sure you can see why it was special. We were having our usual Christmas Eve festivities of stuffing ourselves with pigs in a blanket and mac and cheese, and the sun was setting. There was snow on the ground and the sun barely kissed the tops of bare tree limbs and power poles. It was the perfect thing to close the zine with, and a piece of me. I still love this photo and the painting. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

The Back Cover:

Well, we're coming up on the end. This has been fun! If you've for some reason made it this far, thank you for listening to my hours of rambling and collecting images. I've been wanting to do this for a while now and I'm glad I finally committed.

This painting was incredibly fun to do. I hadn't done a self portrait in years. Both myself and my style of art had changed drastically, And I wanted to be able to show the person behind the project. I thought this was fitting. Funnily enough, a really short video I made painting the background of this painting went kinda crazy (well, by my standards) on instagram and brought some new attention to both the zine and the rest of my art! I'm lucky to have gotten some cool opportunities from that, namely being published in issue #13 of Infinite Worlds Magazine which was amazing. I still can't believe that.

As I write this, It's September of 2024, months after the zine's release. I can't begin to describe how its changed both me as an artist and as a person. I loved coming to work and sharing my progress day by day and the support I received was unreal. Getting to deliver the zines to donors and experience them seeing it for the first time is something that will continue to inspire and motivate me. Friends, artists, musicians, people who had never heard of me before all came to support this little project o' mine. It even lead to me meeting some very, very special people. :) I'm grateful for all of it and miss working on it every day. However, that might not be for long...

Next year will be my first solo exhibit, and I hope to have a second issue out by then thats bigger and better. I've got lots of ideas and I can't wait to do it all over again. I'm not even saying that with a glint of sarcasm, I mean it !!! Until then, zine's are still available to purchase and can also be found in the North Little Rock Public Library System's zine collection. Yeah, I was geeked about that too. I really hoped to make something comforting and inspiring and I can only hope I did that even a little bit. Some of my favorite memories came from leaving some test prints in the Vinos Zine Box. I told a friend they were there and she sprinted to go get one. Not long after that I received the message below. There was a show that night and they were gone by the next day.

Made. My. Night.

Before I sign off on this one, I want to thank everyone who supported the zine in ANY way. It meant and continues to mean so, so much to me. Thank you to Joe Darr at SRI for his endless patience and incredible work on printing and binding the zines. He made the process so fun, and I look forward to working with him on the next one. Thank you to my friends and family for always listening to my rambles about it. Thank you to Matthew Castellano for his abundance of support and advice and always being a welcoming presence in the community. Lastly, thank you for the wonderful folks at Art Outfitters for their support, advice, and enthusiasm for the project. Y'all are too far out. Rrrollll credits.