Hello everyone! It’s good to be posting and to be alive, I’m grateful to connect with y’all as we look ahead to a very daunting new year of challenges. Happy New Years Eve!

2024 has been a LONG and exhausting year!
For me it was a year of many huge firsts, greatly needed changes and many ups and downs.

In my professional life, 2024 served as The Year of The Fox Who Became A Girl! I was deadset on bringing it to fruition with the support of The Greater Denton Arts Council’s microgrant for printing the first 100 books awarded in the Summer of 2023. It was a huge success, and I’m so grateful for everyone’s support over the course of the year! Thank you!!

So, as this year ends, here’s a brief review of what I was proud to accomplish in 2024! 🎆

JANUARY

I started penciling The Fox Who Became A Girl immediately upon taking off into the new year in January! Determined to finish the comic on time, I began my journey around Thanksgiving 2023 on making a comic from scratch based on my friend Chloe Bear’s story concept and script. I learned a lot in the process of bringing my thumbnails to life from November – December 2023. In 2024 I continued on to produce clean penciled pages translating what I thumbnailed out into legible story. Each page came with deliberate decision-making required to communicate as best as possible the story Chloe and I wanted to tell. This was my first time taking my comics seriously and doing something like this so I did my best to take my time. I had only done brief one-off comics prior to buckling down for The Fox Who Became A Girl.

For those new to comics terminology, penciling is when you take the thumbnail-sized planning sketches and bring them to full final size on the final paper you plan to ink and colour the artwork on in the end. Pencils are our final sketches and the final artwork to be used. See below how the thumbnailing process can look messy and be more concerned with placement in composition and flow over looking correct. The pencils bring that story idea and plan to life, and is where you implement the final correct character design for your characters present.

Read-A-Long for Palestine

Later in January commemorating the general strike week for Palestine that took place worldwide, I did a stream which featured me doing a live-reading of ‘Power Born of Dreams’ by Mohammad Sabaaneh, a cartoonist. It was a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking story of real lived experiences of his incarceration by the Israeli apartheid state. It is a miracle we have this story told by Mohammad and that he lived to tell it. Please pick it up when you can, it really grounds you in understanding what is actually happening to innocent Palestinian lives in the past and still today as the genocide continues. We must uplift Palestinian voices always.

If you want to help the Palestinian community survive genocide,
please check out my How to Help Palestine MegaPost.

The end of January saw me celebrating life by seeing Moon Hooch, my ticket being a holiday gift from my partner! Moon Hooch is my FAVOURITE band and I will link one of their songs here that I first heard by them a few years ago. They are constantly on my speakers as a comfort band. Incredible live show, I plan to go in 2025 too on January 29th.

FEBRUARY

Finishing the Pencils of The Fox Who Became A Girl came around mid-month! Being able to behold the entire story all together on paper really felt amazing. It was a feeling unlike anything else I had experienced before. I highly recommend making something, anything with a story to know this feeling! I had such a joyful time deciding poses, ways to draw things, expressions, etc for each part of the comic.

The Senseless Transphobic Murder of Nex Benedict (RIP)

In late February the news broke of an incident that took place on February 8th, 2024. Nex Benedict, a young indigenous nonbinary trans boy was deliberately murdered by transphobic youth in an Oklahoman school system that then continued to cover it up as a false “suicide” in cooperation with the police department. The cover-up and skirting of responsibility ensued due to the fact Nex died later after the incident at home, after taking medication for pain. What happened to them was nothing short of horrifying and a purposeful destruction of a trans queer youth’s life. We cannot allow the current American anti-trans genocidal rhetoric continue taking lives like this. Collaborators with the far right wing effort to annihilate us must be stopped! No queer person deserves this kind of ending via hate crime. Nex deserved to get to grow up into a nonbinary trans man. As a nonbinary trans man myself, it hit home to read about this news just one state away here in Texas. I illustrated a memorial piece for him, of Nex and all their favourite things, cats, Minecraft, plants, nature. May we always remember them and his soul as a light in this world. May his spirit continue to live on through all of us fighting for a better future for trans youth and all trans people, all queer people, all people.

You can support queer and trans youth directly impacted by the murder of Nex Benedict by donating to Freedom Oklahoma, one of the few organizations fighting for trans and queer liberation in Oklahoma. You can also connect to Freedom Oklahoma through their LinkTree to see what is happening.

Queer southerners deserve to be safe attending school or any public facility! Stand up against hate!

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The Immolation of Aaron Bushnell (RIP)

Late February, the grief from the onslaught of genocide in Palestine hit a breaking point with the self-immolation protest of Aaron Bushnell. The event of his sacrifice ended with a message of urgency for the fight towards liberation of Palestinians. Aaron – along with millions of Americans – can no longer be complicit in this genocide, and want to see a free Palestine, freeing them of the scourge of war and illegal occupation brought down upon them by the Israeli military and apartheid state. We cannot ignore these actions, we must resist the urge to dismiss this as “crazy” or “too much.” The genocide in Palestine IS what is too much. Aaron’s sacrifice, to him, and to those who understand his message, know that his self-immolation is only a fraction of what all Palestinians have faced since October 7th 2023. Taking any life is wrong, but resistance is justified when oppression and displacement of indigenous peoples through colonization has gone on for over 50 years. Genocide and ethnic cleansing is NOT “self-defense” – it is genocide. Change must happen and a permanent ceasefire must be enacted by the USA. The deaths must stop!

I processed my emotions thereafter through this artwork below. May Aaron Bushnell’s sacrifice never be forgotten.

Other than my Megapost mentioned earlier, you can find ways to help Palestine on my Take Action page of ovaettr.gay, frequently updated.

MARCH

March 2nd I came down with a, what doctors told me, was an “unknown respiratory virus” that infected me due to the lack of masking my roommates commit to as they have told me they “will not live in fear” regarding COVID and the many new nameless mystery illnesses popping up that are similar yet not COVID-19. So, I implore you, please mask up, you don’t know whose life you are impacting by carelessly bringing disease wherever you go mask-less at. If you suffer allergies, which a lot of people brush off real sickness as “allergies” in the modern day, you will also suffer LESS allergies through masking while outdoors / in public spaces especially indoor shared spaces with lots of people. There is countless benefits to masking, and if we want to survive the apocalypse we need to commit to taking care of each other properly first.

After recovering from my respiratory virus with 2 weeks worth of prescription cough syrup, we continued inking The Fox Who Became A Girl. Becoming closer to bringing it to fruition… I honestly was not sure if I could pull it all off in time when I was at this point. But every day I kept doing more, and sometimes would take breaks because of life, but continued doing one or two pages a day and eventually saw myself through to the end. Once inking was done on March 24th, I was eager to celebrate by showing all the pages on my Instagram!

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Interfaith Ministries of Denton // Energy Saving Tips Zine Commission

This zine is given out by IFM at their events! It makes a great educational tool for kiddos and families alike. We even had a zine-folding party where I taught them how to construct the zines and it was a blast! Thank you to IFM for having me! This was my very first zine commission to do, so I cherish this memory a lot! <3

Check out Interfaith Ministries of Denton’s work where they help connect community members with support and the funding they need for bills, get backpacks to students in struggling families, as well as providing diapers and other general life necessities and basics for families in need in Denton, TX. Donate to their cause to help your local community quite literally keep their lights on!

APRIL – MAY

I began painting The Fox Who Became A Girl in April and finished by May 25th!

It was such a wonderful journey to paint her story. It took a long time as watercolor painting requires a lot of patience. Here’s an Art VS Artist that I made featuring The Fox Who Became A Girl panels fully coloured!

And here is a look at the inks versus the final paints, versus the final edits after digital touchups and fixes.

JUNE – Pride Month!

My largest month of the year, JUNE! Pride month was a blast this year! I attended four fantastic pride events that I vended at all within Denton, TX:

• Pridenton’s Night OUT on the Square! My biggest event of the year!
• DAPC’s Pride Party outside The Bearded Monk!
• Delta 8 Denton’s LGBTQ Clothing Exchange + Local Legends Drag Show
• Graveyard Shift’s Pride of Frankenstein Goth Night at the Vinyl Lounge!

All were a blast, so thankful to have attended! I was very thankful for everyone’s support!

Releasing The Fox Who Became A Girl – DIGITALLY!

On the last day of Pride month I was able to put together a release of The Fox Who Became A Girl in digital! I released through itch.io (including community copies for free) and through my shop with downloadable PDFs. It felt amazing to get it out there and start hearing what people thought of the comic!!

JULY

July brought my birthday on the 24th (I turned 33) and I spent most of the month moving 30 minutes away from my previous home, staying within North Texas.

I was also busy getting ready to send off The Fox Who Became A Girl to the printer at KENESS! I succeeded in finishing designing the book pages for The Fox outside of the 25 pages of actual story by the deadline to get it in time for my zinefest event in Grand Rapids, MI. It took a bit of back and forth working with the printer’s expertise and advice to get it working out right. We ended up swapping places of some pages to make our numbers land on the right side of the pages in print and with Ken Loyd’s assistance the book came out beautifully! I highly recommend KENESS.com for all your printing needs. I chose them as we receive a discount for being a Cartoonist Co-Op member, another org I recommend joining if you’re a creator of comics whether drawing or writing. They helped uplift my book through a support campaign, which helped me learn the ropes of handling a release and requesting reviews, interviews, and more! I couldn’t have done it without them!

AUGUST

Before leaving to Michigan for the zinefest, I had some participation in an exhibit at home in Denton!

The square-d 2 Community Art Exhibit at UNT CoLAB (7/5 – 8/31)

This year I was very thankful to again participate in the Square-D 2 (squared) exhibit benefiting the UNT Food Pantry with sales of the art. Each piece could be whatever we wanted fitting within the 6″ x 6″ square canvas provided with our sign-up. The exhibit ran from 7/5 to 8/31.

My piece for this year’s, I could not break away from how clouded my life has been as the ongoing genocide of Gaza continues seemingly endless.

My piece is directly inspired by the parallel realities of mothers in America, and mothers in Palestine. They both love their children all the same, and like all parents, want their children to survive and thrive. Many Palestinians I help promote the GoFundMe fundraisers of (to pay enough to pass the border to Egypt and escape war), are mothers or fathers and their one hope is getting their child out of Gaza even if they cannot survive as parents. The gut-wrenching reality is what I chose to reflect in my piece.

Titled as a poem:
“As We Laugh, They Cry
As We Live, They Die
Parallel Love; Her And I”

The original canvas piece sold, benefiting the pantry.
Prints will be made soon that will 100% go to Palestinian fundraisers in 2025.
May we never forget what we fight for: love, freedom, liberation.

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The Grand Rapids Zine Fest Trip

Later in August, The Grand Rapids Zine Fest came quick mid-month on the 17th. It was the big day to release The Fox Who Became A Girl and debut it at GRZF! I flew to Michigan and was only able to thanks to the generosity of my friend Kathryn and her flight club points! She facilitated the trip with me and drove me from the airport and everything! Shoutout to Kat!!!! She is the best!

I was able to meet my long-distance partner Duke / Sam (they/she) in person for the first time while in Michigan! It was an amazing experience. Getting to see Grand Rapids was also wonderful. It felt amazing to take a trip for the purpose of my art, comic, and zines!

We vended together at The Grand Rapids Zine Fest and got to meet some great people who ran the event. We debuted The Fox Who Became A Girl in print here!

I got to meet lots of cool zine makers too and brought a ton of fun stuff home in my haul. I loved my experience in Grand Rapids, Michigan and look forward to returning next year in 2025!!!

Find more photos and see my blogging of the entire event at my tumblr page’s ‘Travel Journal’ tag.

SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER

My second exhibit of the year I was lucky to be a part of took place in September and was based around the Denton Comic Arts Expo happening on Saturday, September 28th. The exhibit ran from 9/6 to 9/28.

The Nerd Adjacent Art Show ( 9/6 – 9/28 )

My entries were a diptych titled ‘Genderfluid Zelda’ and ‘Genderfluid Sheik‘. The pieces were done in ink and coloured pencil on provided paper with panels already inked out. I painted over top with paint pens to make the characters pop out of the frames too. This diptych expresses my personal take on the very obviously queerest character of one of my favourite games from childhood: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Many queer people I know experienced seeing their first transmasculine / nonbinary character in Sheik’s appearance in the story. Especially when finding out they were Zelda later, it had impact on our little queer brains as a kid in the 90’s. I’ll be getting prints together of this diptych in 2025.

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A New Job!

In other major news in September, I got a new full time job at a local print shop after hunting for work for the majority of the year behind the scenes. I started September 23rd. I really enjoyed everything I was able to do during the 2.5 months I was there! To save you some time, I ended up being laid off from this position December 2nd due to finances, sadly. I really learned a lot and hope to continue being able to help people in the print industry despite the loss of the position. I dedicated most of my time to this job as it was full time, I spent more time there than I did at home and even did off-the-clock deliveries on my way home sometimes. It was a cool job, but also very stressful and demanded perfection. I feel like I at least did my very best and can move forward with the experience gained as a graphic designer.

Other than employment for almost 3 months, I….

• Relaunched my Patreon in October 2024 with the aim of doing one small 5″ x 7″ print and some small stickers and one large sticker for a monthly theme. This was originally centered around having easy access to printing at my old print shop job, so I might be changing my Patreon up again due to the job loss. It was fun to get this going for the short time I could though!

• Election Day and Post-Election Depression really got to me, so I’ve started making more hopeful and politically important (to me) art pieces to cope. I want to cling to hope in the work that I do so others can stay afloat too. There is so much work to be done to survive the next 4+ years of fascism, many people like The Fascism Barometer podcast are estimating it will take 10 years – a whole decade – to rid this country of the bad influence of christofascism in our governing bodies. So, hope is all I can cling to right now, in shock still from the results of the 2024 election. As a trans queer person who is of mixed ancestry, I cling to hope for all of us in all marginalized communities.

11 x 17 Posters | 5 x 7 Mini Prints

• Held a Zine Workshop for Craft Night November 16th at The Secret Garden (part of Delta 8 Denton)

The people were really kind and into it! I was very happy to be able to help people find their creative spark that night. I also had a great time too! It was revitalizing to get back into community.

Everyone made fantastic little zines following my instructions, all of them as different and unique as each cool attendee I got to meet!

Here’s a glimpse at what they made:

• Transgender Day of Remembrance is always a tough day and night of mourning. This year I poured my emotions into a Double-Headed Trans Phoenix design for TDOR. I am still proud of it and people were really excited to be able to wear it and get stickers / prints of it. I was very happy that it resonated well with the community. I feel like symbols of rebirth, power, and agency are what we need right now as trans people face down many battles legislatively as politicians race to ban our healthcare access.

11 x 17 Poster | 5 x 7 Mini Print | 3” Holographic Sticker

• I also volunteered with The Denton Water Project and filled coolers around town. I made a small video encouraging others to donate to the project in either funds or time filling coolers and showing how easy it is! That video is viewable on my Instagram!

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Join the Denton Water Project today as a volunteer! You can check the pinned post at the top of the group to see the monthly schedule. Pink highlighted spots will be blank and in need of a volunteer. The volunteer work for the DWP only takes about 1 hour total, and you can do as little as one fill a week and one cooler. Usually we fill all four coolers in the downtown area per slot, they’re not too far from each other. The water is free (supported by the community donations) and stored for us at Gohlke Pools (1115 Duncan St., Denton, TX) making it easily able to be picked up during their business hours. If you cannot donate time, consider donating to the ongoing fundraiser for water for the community! You can also help us out by contacting Denton City Council and requesting they install water fountains around town to alleviate the need for this water project.

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And as December has rolled around it has been fairly dormant since the layoff. I am turning my focus to updating my portfolio and seeking out part-time employment opportunities in January 2025. I have high hopes that the wheel of fortune will turn my way again, so I’m letting the winds of change guide me towards 2025 with enthusiasm!

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🎆 2025 PROJECT PLANS 🎆

• Updating my portfolio with 3 projects done ASAP in January / February!!! Making smaller projects to show my skills!!! A mograph typography piece set to a spoken poem, a set of three animated 3D/2D hybrid pieces made in blender ( I AM LEARNING BLENDER THIS YEAR FINALLY >:3 ), and a new larger publication piece (the Nonbinary Index / “Bestiary” zine.) If I can complete the first two this year I’d be satisfied.
  
  
• Seeking part-time work by visiting places in person January 2nd!!!! Will also be applying for quieter jobs, like library assistant or some kind of art tutor or educator or working in a print shop again. If you hear of any job opportunities in Denton county TX send me an email at orion@ovaettr.gay please! THANK YOU! <3
  
  
• Succeed in finding people to move in with in July 2025 … somewhere that I can depend on everyone masking in public, using air purifiers in every room, testing frequently, creating a safer place for me to live and thrive in as an trans/queer disabled artist who is COVID-19 Cautious. I need to be with people who take the pandemic seriously and do not “refuse to live in fear” -__-
  
  
• Work on my 2nd trans folklore comic: ‘Where Sky Becomes Sea’ a transmasculine coming out story of MLM love and change. It will be told in a similar style as ‘The Fox Who Became A Girl’ in how it deals with magic and transformations, and how it will be a folk tale. I specifically want to touch on topics of the dangers of the cis-hetero patriarchal conservative gender binary, destroying the idea of “needing to be pretty for people / your community,” choosing happiness over serving others narrow ideas of what you should be, religious zealotry working to ban HRT but through more symbolic ways in a high fantasy setting, and overcoming of a transphobic society to shape tomorrow for the youth of today. This will be my first project to ever write by myself too. I look forward to sharing all my process on my Patreon. There will be a lot of influence from Romeo and Juliet with trans revolution as a center point. The challenge excites me! Can’t wait to get going. My goal is to finish it by the end of the year, and work on editing and publishing it in 2026.
  
  
• Find more ways to continue applying my art to activism for a free Palestine, I would like to help make things for protests and help make things for fundraisers for Palestinians. I would also like to make a blockprint for Palestine to help facilitate donations to families with the prints as rewards.
  
  
  
  Lastly, I’d like to accomplish one new zine every 2-ish months. Mini or large zine, about topics I’ve wanted to cover including…

1. Resources For the Homeless in Denton TX (to be left at little free food pantries and free coolers in town)
2. Standard COVID-19 Zine adapted from my 2024 Summer wave one
3. Why I Still Mask: Benefits of Masking Zine
4. The Nonbinary Index Zine AKA “Under the Nonbinary Umbrella”
5. How I Became A Witch Zine (Witchcraft 101)
6. Spells for Anti-Fascist Witches
7. Lime the Nekomata: Origins (OC Lore Comic)
8. What is Fascism? & How To Combat It with Lime the Nekomata
9. Poems of Palestine – benefitting a family in Palestine all sales
10. Poems of a Scattered Life – general poems from the last 3 years
11. My Favorite Pieces of Art History (Photo of VS Master Studies + a little info dumping)

MAY or may not complete these in one year, but at least one bimonthly would make me feel good about getting somewhere with my personal voice in zine work. If I complete half of these this year I’d be pleased.

What are your goals and plans for 2025? I hope you get to have a busy and fruitful year!

🎆 HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎆

Follow My Work into the New Year at… ovaettr.gay
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