ZINEFEST 2026

2026 Exhibitors

Alex Clark

Portfolio/Social:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tN1WPqJ3grW7H58j6ZCqZc-GQG5SJT-S?utm_source=gemini

Bio:  Alex Clark is a young professional whose comics are inspired by his attempts at connecting with the people he sees most often.

Recent Project(s):  Earnings report Q1, Earnings report Q2, drawing horses

@whenuwerelittle (Justin Castaneda)

Portfolio/Social: https://whenuwerelittle.art

Bio:  Justin Castaneda is a Filipino American comic artist and children’s author from Chicago’s south side. He is best known for his children’s book, HEART. Justin is also the co-creator and illustrator for the hit all-ages indie comic, Wonder Care Presents: The Kinder Guardians.

Recent Project(s): The Buddy Cops zine series, Terrible Comics / Wonderful Daughter, Second Sunday

/mæn-ʌs/ A Chicago Art Zine (Kovas Palubinskas)T

Portfolio/Social: menasgallerychicago.com

Bio:  /mæn-ʌs/ A Chicago Art Zine was first published in October 2025 and is now on its 5th issue. It is a quarterly zine focused on Chicago art, artists, and art history.

Recent Project:  /mæn-ʌs/ A Chicago Art Zine

Amanda Speciale

Portfolio/Social:  Instagram: @theshoparoundthecornercollect

Bio: I am a multimedia artist from Chicago, born and raised. I am fairly new at zines, but I love that I can use my photography and film background to express my passions into different zine formats.

Recent Project(s):  Wanna get Taco bell after this?, Conan o Brien saved my life a fan zine, Big Ang is my spirit animal

angrymads (Mads Moll)

Portfolio/Social:  http://angryillo.com/

Bio:  Mads is a 20something illustrator, comic artist, and bird mom based in Chicago, IL. Their work is largely figurative and draws from their experiences with addiction, love, and solitude, among other stories.

Recent Project(s):  No one is coming to save you, Trauma camp comics, Finsta, Sketchbook zine

Anna Reishus & Matt Griffin
Table #24

Portfolio/Social: annareishus.com

Bio:  Anna and Matt are a married comic creator duo from Chicago who make fun, heartfelt, and absurd comics for all ages. They create stories with a range of traditional illustration and digital collage. All their publications must pass the rigorous standards of their editor, Spooky the dog.

Recent Project(s):  Pumpkin and the Patch, Academia James, Transliminal: Spirits & Thieves, Life With a Puppy

Art of Pill (Pill Concepcion)

Portfolio/Social:  https://www.artofpill.com/

Bio: Pill (any/all pronouns) is a QPOC illustrator and storyteller creating at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. His works include contemplative and introspective pieces that create a bittersweet read.

Recent Project(s): "Hi Hello Yes I Am Still In Love With You And I Miss You", "Okay I'm Ready Now", "This is How to Perfectly Make A Paper Star Every Single Time."

BEE LB (twinbrights)

Portfolio/Social:  https://twinbrights.itch.io/

Bio: BEE LB is an array of letters, bound to impulse; a creator of delicate connections. They explore themes of personhood, interiority, nonlinear time, and un/belonging in their zines, frequently using mediums of collage, film photography, poetry, and found text/image.

Recent Projects:  A large variety of half/quarter-size zines, "zine rx"s, and a 24-page ultra-minizine.

Carol "Beetle" Osada

Portfolio/Social: https://www.instagram.com/whateverelias

Bio: Carol "Beetle" Osada is an artist and zinester born in Chicago and now living in Lake Bluff. She has been self-publishing newsletters and zines for several decades. Carol's zines include pen and ink neuro art, positive affirmations, meditation, nature, word play, creative writing, abstract color collages, perzines, fanzines, and more.

Recent Project(s): Dozens of titles including Even The Worst Haircut Will Eventually Grow Out, A Dead End Is A Good Place To Turn Around, Applause, Fortune Cookies, About Face, Patterns In Nature, Word Salad, and more.

Chaos and Conviviality (Heb Braggs)

Portfolio/Social: chaos-and-conviviality.ghost.io

Bio: C&C is like if the New Yorker was an upstart Black/Indigenous/Queer/Trans/Radical/Disabled zine distro. It's dedicated to creating arts, humanities, culture criticism, and investigation for the sake of aiding social change and class struggle, from a broadly libertarian socialist angle.

Recent Projects: Egoism and Cooperation, Degrowth or Doom, An Ecology of Liberatory Movements, Ending GBV

Citizen Christensen (GG Christensen)

Portfolio/Social: ggcreatesart.com

Bio: GG Christensen is a documentarian of play, drawing materials from truths, lies, and conversations of unknown origins. Their work explores shared human experiences through a lens that is equal parts sincere and pretend. Currently, GG is finding play in utility poles, oatmeal, politics, and their pet frog, Gibby.

Recent Project(s): Gibby (the collection, hardcover), Buddy, God's mom, Shrimp Fried Rice, Magic Fridge, Responsibilidad, and more.

Crazy as Junebug (Lexi Hearn)

Portfolio/Social: https://www.instagram.com/crazyasjunebug/?utm_source=gemini

Bio: Lexi is the person behind Crazy as Junebug, making autobiographical zines about nursing, grief, mental health, everyday life, and the small moments that stick with us. Her zines combine personal essays, comics, and hand-drawn illustrations.

Recent Project(s): Crazy as Junebug (monthly perzine), "I carry you to the shore", "southern haikus", and more.

Curvy Girl Comics (Jamie Kadas)

Portfolio/Social: jamiekadas.com

Bio: Jamie is an artist and teacher from the South Side of Chicago. She creates zines that focus on body image, anxiety, and womanhood. Each book includes helpful tips, original illustrations, and lessons learned with the goal of helping others. She also loves creating fat pin-ups that reimagine pop culture in a more inclusive light.

Recent Project(s): Bodies on the Page 1 & 2, Fat Chick series, Talking to Ghosts, This Song's for Angry Women, Enjoy the Cake, Coffee Cult

Dammit Media Group (Christopher Intz)

Portfolio/Social: dammitmedia.group

Bio: Dammit Media Group was founded by CJ Intz. DMG is primarily focused on creating zines featuring multiple artists and disciplines, with release events accompanied by music.

Recent Project(s): DMG Zine Issue 1: Preservation

Demidemon (SA Arnold)

Portfolio/Social: https://www.demidemon.net/comics

Bio: Demidemon is a Chicago-based artist who likes to tell stories and share their art based on whatever interest they like: comics, movies, animation, etc.

Recent Project(s): HALLOWTOWN THE WEEKLY, SLASHER, IT CAME FROM HALLOWZINE, AGITATOR COMICS 6, A DEMON’S GUIDE TO MERTYL BEACH

Duress Press (Sloane Cutflower Allen & Anna Wagner)

Portfolio/Social: https://duresspress.org

Bio: We are two queer, Chicago-based printmakers that together comprise Duress Press. Through our press, we disseminate visual art and writing that interrogate midwestern working-class identity while documenting species loss and ecological precarity through slow, manual processes.

Recent Project(s): Rosehill the Beautiful, Follow Me, Dog Book, The Lake Called God, The Warm Illusion

Elias Gonzalez

Portfolio/Social: Instagram: @whateverelias

Bio: Elias is a cartoonist from the suburbs of Chicago. He makes “funny” comics for “mature” readers.

Recent Projects: SHAPESHIFTER, creature, Linework Zero, Baron Von Brainbuster Is For The Children

Healing Narratives (Maja Milkowska-Shibata)

Portfolio/Social: majamilkowska-shibata.com

Bio: Maja Milkowska-Shibata is a visual storyteller and the founder of Healing Narratives. She creates autobiographical comics, primarily in the field of graphic medicine, exploring themes of physical and mental health. In her work, she combines mixed media, collage, and digital tools to tell personal stories.

Recent Projects: Against the Odds, Where Frames Meet, Onsen for the Soul, The Quiet Farewell of the Crabapple Tree, Up Close and Personal with Typewriters

Illustrator Tom Kelly

Portfolio/Social: https://www.deviantart.com/tomkellyart/gallery/5357646/comic-book-pgs?

Bio: Tom Kelly is a comic book artist and illustrator who holds an M.F.A. in Sequential Art from SCAD. Tom is currently self-publishing his creator-owned book Foot Fist Frankenstein, a monster martial arts revenge series.

Recent Projects: Foot Fist Frankenstein and TMNTOBER

John Wenz / Dumb Art Press

Portfolio/Social:  https://art.johnwenz.com

Bio:  John is an illustrator, writer, and painter based in Chicago, where he lives with his wife and three beautiful cats. His work touches on metaphysics, reuse economies, mental health concerns, and more.

Recent Projects: The Mermaid, Cryptic!, Low Mediums, Nightmares and Other Concerns, Trash Man

Junk Drawer (Eric Bartholomew)

Portfolio/Social: http://junkdrawer.wixsite.com/junkdrawer

Bio: Eric Bartholomew does Junk Drawer, a zine and project inspired by ephemera and objects with stories to tell. Through fiction and nonfiction, photos, and comics, it's a place for all to find a place to belong.

Recent Projects: Deep Drawer Diving, Mystery Objects, Mask Zine, Haunted Junk Drawer (book), Estate Sale, A Flying Saucer Experience, and others.

Kai Greenberg

Portfolio/Social: https://www.instagram.com/thekai15/

Bio: Kai Greenberg is a local midwest artist primarily working in classical forms of illustration, collage, and integrated media. His work often incorporates themes of fantasy, surrealism, and cosmic horror.

Recent Projects: The Demon Named Billy Smiles, The Sun is a Fun Guy, Journey to Sideways City

King-Cat Comix / Spit and a Half Distro (John Porcellino)

Portfolio/Social: https://www.spitandahalf.com/?s=porcellino

Bio: John Porcellino was born in Chicago and lived his teenage years in Hoffman Estates, where he began making zines in 1983. Since 1989, he's self-published his autobiographical comix-zine, King-Cat; and since 1992, he's run the Spit and a Half Comix Distro.

Recent Projects: King-Cat Comics, plus lots of comics from the distro.

Layton Makes Art (Lauren Layton)

Portfolio/Social: https://www.instagram.com/laytonmakesart/

Bio: Lauren Layton is a cartoonist and writer living in Illinois. Her work centers on friendship, grief, community, love, and (of course) cats.

Recent Projects: The Full Moon Lodge, Empyrean, Sitting Pretty, Life With Leon, Loot Drop, Cool Guy, False Spring, Sketchbook Zine

Lee Onysko

Portfolio/Social:  https://lee-ony.carrd.co/#

Bio:  Lee Onysko is a storyboard and comic artist from Ohio, transplanted to Chicago. They love making funny and heartfelt stories with their friends. Self-proclaimed and friend-endorsed robot lover, cat person, and space nerd.

Recent Projects: Stages of Bald, Warranty Void, The Boy, My Cats, and various anthologies.

Light Press (Naomi Liechty)

Portfolio/Social: https://www.naomiliechty.com/zinesandmore

Bio: INaomi Liechty is the founder and working artist behind Light Press. Founded in 2025, Light Press showcases work that investigates our earthly experiences with light, nature, play, emotion, and pain.

Recent Projects: Proof of Shadow, Painscale, Painscale II, Great Lakes zine, Thick Postcards, All Things Must Pass, June zine, My Favorite Work, Naomi’s Ladder, Mini Perch

Lonely Writers Club NW (Jessicamarie Wermes)

Portfolio/Social: https://www.instagram.com/lonelywritersclubnw

Bio: We are a group of lonely writers and artists from the Chicago metro area that come together for what we call a “slamshop”: poetry slam, work critique, and zine publishing.

Recent Projects: Winter of Discontent, among others.

Longboard Wipeout Art

Portfolio/Social:  https://cara.app/longboardwipeoutart

Bio: Longboard Wipeout Art once tried longboarding. He wiped out on a hill… that’s how he brainstormed his artist name. His work is mixed media comic-style art.

Recent Works: Too Much Socializing!, How to Make a Pysanka, Wilderness Season

Lucy Rose Till-Campbell

Portfolio/Social:  https://lucyrosetillcampbell.com/

Bio: Heavily influenced by the landscape of her hometown in the Beskydy Mountains and by the illustrative tradition of Czech artists and animators, most of her current work revolves around a mythical land called Acorn Valley, where snacks and friendship abound.

Recent Works: Beach Day, Persimmon, Summer Days, Flowers for Bramble, Bramble and Persimmon Have a Picnic

melonfarm (Melody Yang)

Portfolio/Social:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wAPD_eHurm4XQcsdOQ1wTYaYc8fYQkFB

Bio: melonfarm is based in Chicago and makes zines about natural and unnatural life.

Recent Works: Digital Pet, Hemelytra, Extreme Deep Sea Underwater Daily Living, Salmon Run, Spin Cycle, Teeth Dreams

Miracle Brain (Bianca Perez)

Portfolio/Social:  https://www.miraclebrainstudio.com/

Bio: Bianca Perez is a Chicago-based queer Mexican-American cartoonist, writer, animator, and designer. Inspired by ’90s cartoons, horror, and satire, she explores the human condition and the absurdities of being alive through Miracle Brain.

Recent Works: The Gorgz, Skiz, Goyle, The Oaglies, Mind Critters

Moritz Junker

Portfolio/Social:  https://junkercomics.com/

Bio: Moritz has been making and self-publishing comics since High School. His work can be described as comedic tragedies (or tragic comedies) for, by, and starring the fringe, misanthropic, and underappreciated weirdos amongst us.

Recent Works: Ride the Red Funnel, Pole Postion, Jenny’s Show, Friend Francis, The Devil Draws at Dawn

Oneeyedsuperkid (Nadia Stodder)

Portfolio/Social:  https://oneeyedsuperkid.com

Bio: Nadia is an interdimensional traveler and creator of zines, comics and music. You can find her work being sold at indie book/comic stores all over Chicagoland.

Recent Works: The shadow Banshee, Bunny girl, the dreamwalker

Reid Zines (Reid Karsen)

Portfolio/Social:  https://www.reidzines.com/

Bio: Reid Karsen (aka Reid Zines) is a queer and trans mixed media artist from the north suburbs of Chicago. Their zines focus on life as a gender diverse person illustrated through handmade and digital collage work, poetry, essays, and more.

Recent Works: Heaven 4 Boygirls, Midwest Transsexuality, GenderBender Zine

Sarah Foley

Portfolio/Social:  https://readymag.website/u3320484419/5587114/3/

Bio: Sarah Foley is a comic artist and illustrator based in Arlington Heights. Through visual metaphors and narratives involving nature, they intertwine elements of the fantastical with reality to process emotion and explore personal identity.

Recent Works: Evergreen, All Furbys Go to Heaven, Beyond the Fence, Thimble, Hibernation, Propagation, You Will Bloom Again, How To Make a Mini-Zine

Schaumburg Township District Library (Bridgid O'Kane)

Portfolio/Social:  https://www.schaumburglibrary.org/

Bio: STDL is the second largest public library in Illinois, serving approximately 130,000 residents.

Recent Works: Small zines, buttons, and other fun zine stuff.