Hey I know you're a fantastic artist and honestly a legend so, how good does one have to be to contribute to a zine?
bfdfkjg im literally neither but ngl id say you shouldnt grade yourself by how “good” an artist you should be to get into a zine, there are bunch of factors involved 😅 i dont wanna sound like an asshole but ive been in zines with crazy good artists im literally afraid to talk to (most of the time those were invitation-based?) and others (usually based on open applications) that are of more mixed quality. id say just practice as much as you feel the need to--starting w smaller zines might help if youre self conscious and 1. wanna spend more time working on your portfolio and 2. feel like you might not get into a bigger project; smaller zines in my experience have been more lax and friendly lol
id say these are the best ways you can try to make a good impression as an artist if you wanna start contributing:
practice drawing. i think different zines have different expectations but if youre REALLY self conscious abt ur art to the point that youre thinking of not applying id say just keep producing pieces and youll improve regardless
have an organized portfolio. like if not a portfolio, a blog dedicated solely to your art or even just a link to a specific tag: i have an art blog but send my #art tag specifically cuz all i do is make text posts on my art blog lol
practice finishing pieces, mods generally dont like portfolios full of doodles, sketches, and static compositions or pieces that all look the same..
ive been rejected from 2 zines ive applied to and the 1st i now know for a fact was cuz my portfolio was WAY too old (latest pic i had posted was like..2 years old) and every zine from that mod ive applied to ever since, ive gotten into. the other zine uh..idk why i didnt get in but i was told that my art didnt fit the project and i was later informed that the mod was an anti anti. so yeah. anyways dont make too big a deal outta zines ngl there are a bunch of them out there and its more than likely that youll get rejected from at least one of them; theyre just for-fun fandom projects and if the idea of not applying gets stressful jus dont sweat it and keep practicing for yourself at least