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)
- QuickPoses (Free Nude Reference, Timer tool)
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 18+ 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
- 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