Inspired by many other artists who are going back to the 1990's era links pages, I have brought a ton of useful links that I love and put them here! Enjoy!

Compiled by Orion Fern. No A.I. or algorithms used here. All organic human picks!

If you're looking for activism, political, and mutual aid related links,
please check the TAKE ACTION page for further info!

Reputable Trans-Led News Sources

• Erin Reed's 'Erin in the Morning' Substack
• Katelyn Burns @transcribed Freelance Journalism contributing to Them and independently writing on Patreon.
• Them.us
• The 19th News
• Assigned Media
• Pro Publica
• The Advocate

Anatomy / Pose References

• Animal Photo Art Ref Using Skull Tool
• Bodies In Motion (dot) Photo
• AdorkaStock (Free Stuff + Sets to Purchase)
• TrueRef (Free + Sets)

Free or Cheap Stock Media

• Pexels (all free, community contributed photo and video)
• FreeSound.org (all free, community contributed audio SFX and music)
• Vecteezy (not all free, but some great free stuff when you can find it)
• Pond5 (SOME free, a lot are inexpensive $5 or so for a great song for animations or video work. They are my go-to resource for really good and affordable music for my demo reels over the last few years. You can search by instrument, which helps me a lot personally.)

Vending Resources + Display

• General Tips from Ovaettr Art after 2+ years experience vending! Will keep updated as i learn and grow.
• Vetted list of Denton TX Vending Opportunities for artists.
• Super Awesome ZINE DISPLAY RACKS! - I went with the 18" rack, plenty of space! Added a cardboard bottom to the last shelf, for mini zines. Mini zines fall through normally.
• Wire Cube Grid Display Unit - these are easy and customizable depending on market, product, and table space. I use about half of the set to create a "U" shape two-tier grid unit to hang mini prints and keychains on, placing my sticker displays within the inner part of the U facing customers.
• 3pc Large 6' Grid Walls for Hanging Prints, I ziptied mine together at top and bottom to make it into a 3 part self-standing unit i can make a zigzag or go straight with.
• Tiered Display for Stickers, actually a nail polish storage / display unit! Works perfect for stickers.

Cool Art Tools

• Make colour palettes at color.adobe.com
• How to make colour-blind friendly palette choices for your designs
• PhotoPea free online photo and image editor. Basically a free Photoshop alternative you can download or use in-browser!

Artist Groups & Organizations

• The Cartoonist's Co-Op (Hands down my favourite people!!! JOIN US!)
• Authors Against Book Bans
• Character Design References (dot) com
  (So much reference and animation art, you can also join the Character Design Challenge monthly and compete!)
• The Sequential Artists Workshop (Free Friday Workshop & community)
• Drawing Hive with Visual Arts Passage (Free live drawing meet-up every Thursday night at 6PM CST, recorded episodes for any other time)
• Stephen Silver's Drawing Academy (Incredible resources and events from the character designer of Kim Possible and more fantastic notable work with Disney and beyond)
• Wiggle Bird Mailing Club - collect zines all year long! One new cutting edge queer zine for $6 MONTHLY! Highly recommend! :3

Local Organizations I Support

• The Denton Water Project - in need of volunteers and donors!
• Denton Basic Services Center
• The PETAL Project
• Spiderweb Salon
  
• DFW Anti-War Committee
• OUTreach Denton
• Pridenton
• Community Hunger Initiative
• Denton For Diversity @denton4diversity
  
• DFW Mask Bloc - in need of volunteers!
• North Texas Risk Redux - rural queer led resistance and harm reduction group giving out free supplies to anyone in need no judgment
• North Texas IWW - my union!
  
• The Greater Denton Arts Council - Supported The Fox Who Became A Girl by awarding it a microgrant for the first print run in 2023!! We love GDAC!
• The UNT CoLAB
• The Denton Universalist Unitarian Fellowship (DUUF)
• The Denton Covenant of Universalist Unitarian Pagans (CUUPS)
• The Art Room (Denton, TX)
• Community Arts Therapy
  (Austin, TX and remote)
• The Artists Enclave of Denton County
• Our Daily Bread Denton

Comic Art Education

• Comic Devices Library a monumental effort for comics education accepting contributions to help fill it out. Honestly one of the BEST websites ON the web right now.
• How To Make A Comic basics guide for kids!
• Comics-Making Glossary of Terms - unfinished but had great articles on what she did cover.
• "Adults need comics education more than kids"
• How to Layout Your Comic/Manga using Panel Flow (CSP)
• Read 'Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art' by Scott McCloud
• Read 'Making Comics' by Scott McCloud
• Read 'The Lexicon of Comicana' by Mort Walker, artist of 'Beetle Bailey'
• Learn about making comics with Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, an oldschool 2000's era book and accompanying educational website for eager artists that I learned from and personally taught using years later. The book is incredible and still in print!

Zine Education & Templates

• Whitworth Library's Zine Collection: Making Zines (all types)
• Ellen Mueller's Zine Foundations 101
• Fantastic 101 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute on zinemaking including links to examples.
• How to Lead A Zine Workshop for Librarians and Anyone at Tiny Zine Swap Shop for those who want to positively impact the mental health of youth with zine activities.
• Zines as Rebellion Against the Cultural Dominance of Digital Self-Publishing
• THE ELECTRIC ZINE MAKER

8 Page Minis

• How to Fold an 8 Page Mini Zine VIDEO example (fantastic for unraveling the mystery of it)
• Lin Condega's 8 or 16 page Mini Zine Template and Guide (my personal fav instruction manual type image for folding it)
• 8 Page Mini Zine Template w/ PSD File Download
• Templates for 1 Pagers (8 pg minis), including single page templates for making pages in original format before imposition.

Half Pagers

• Half Page (5.5" x 8.5") Zine How-To Guide by Matthew Gravelyn

Quarter Pagers

• Quarter Page Zine Template and Guide by Matthew Gravelyn

Virtual Libraries & Free Reading

• Zine Libraries dot info - ALL ABOUT ZINE CULTURE AND BEST PRACTICES!
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Digital Zine Archives
• Queer Archive Work Library (digital and physical location)
• Papercut Virtual Zine Library (PZL)
• QZAP - Queer Zine Archive Project
• Keke Magazine Zine Library
• The Peoples Graphic Design Archive
• Getty Publications Virtual Library
• MORE zine libraries list from Library of Virginia! Check it out!
• The Libby.app website and app is a great place for ebooks and access to audio books. I use the Libby app and access the following two libraries along with the North Texas Consortium:
  • Queer Liberation Library
  • Houston Public Library will provide any Texan with a free virtual card and access to their digital library.
• Libro.fm, a better alternative to Audible and part of your purchases can benefit independent bookshops in your town!

The Following are available to me through my local libraries, and might be available for you too!...

• Freading - lots of great audio books especially.
• Hoopla Digital - all media, including some of the best COMICS selection I've ever seen!
• Lightbox Learning - interactive ebook media that is educational for kids!
• Open Library App - an app for your phone that can let you read ebooks if you sign up with your library card (not all participate but a lot do!)