Today we’d like to introduce you to Bre Upton.
Hi Bre, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started making zine back in 2017 after getting rejected from numerous literary magazines in college. I was studying English at California State University Long Beach and was struggling so hard to get my writing published — so I turned to zines to publish myself. My start was very slow, as I didn’t know much about zine culture and unfortunately the people I sought help from didn’t give me the information I needed. Because of the weird gatekeeping I experience, I had to do a lot of research on my own and made so many mistakes!
However, that was the push I needed to really encourage myself to keep going. Now I make a new zine every week and share them with my supporters on Patreon, Instagram, and TikTok. Because of my rocky start to making zines, I use my platforms to share as much information about them as I can. Zine are all about expression and accessibility, so I make it a priority to allow the people around me to express themselves freely (even if I don’t agree). I also love to share where I get my zine supplies, how to make them, and where they can sell or distribute their zines.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all, and I still struggle! But this is something that I’ve found allows me to grow. If you have no struggles, I think you lack perspective so I make sure to take my L’s with grace and try to walk away with new information about myself. The obstacles allow me to grow not only as an artist but as an individual in the world.
One of my biggest struggles when I was first starting out was that my parents didn’t support my pursuit of a life in the arts. As a first-generation college student, I knew that college was very important to my family but I had this strong urge to make art and nothing else. The relationship I had with my parents began to deteriorate because I fought them for so many years about what I wanted to do with my life.
Fortunately, and after many fights, my parents and I get along a lot better now. I was able to finish college but I also pursued art really hard afterward, which helped my parents understand me better. And looking back on all the fights, I completely understand their wishes. They just wanted me to be ok in life and they didn’t think life in the arts could provide me that, because they’ve never seen that in their lifetime. I was able to show them.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m most known for my zines, which I share online as much as I can. Zine are self-published booklets that can be about anything you want and mainly focus on expression over profit. Unlike traditional magazines, zines are extremely accessible and can help strengthen the community you share them with. I love finding new ways and methods of presenting my zines and just get so giddy when it’s received well by people online.
My favorite thing to do is share, not only my zines but how to make them! I see online that a lot of people have come across gatekeeping when it comes to creating zines, and because that happened to me when I first started I make it a point to be as transparent as I can be about my process.
I’m super proud of the zines I make because I don’t see many Polynesian zine makers out there and I hope to give that side of me some representation in the zine community! I am also Black, and see that many zine makers of color struggle to see themselves validated in the zine world. I’m hoping that the more I share my work, other BIPOC creators feel encouraged to share their too because their work matters!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I am autistic so I grew up with a personality that was often misunderstood. I take everything literally, am sensitive to certain things that other people may not be sensitive to like lights and loud noises, and I can have a very dry facial expression. Because I often felt misunderstood as a kid, I became quite reclusive and spent hours writing in my room. I was hyper-focused on writing stories and would do things like make lists or circle words in the dictionary as a way of play.
It sounds so funny to me now to think about how boring I must have been to my siblings, but I really enjoyed just sitting on the floor and writing words or sentences over and over again on a sheet of paper. Breaking down words and their meanings was such a fascinating thing to me!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.brestinyprintshop.com
- Instagram: brattyxbre_
