Introduction:
What is Outsider? It is a space opera chronicling the adventures of a young human officer thrust into an alien society in the midst of a galactic war. It is presented in a for-web, full-color comic format, which combines digital 2D, 3D and hand-drawn artwork. And yes, it's free.

Outsider is written and drawn by me, Jim Francis (a.k.a. Arioch). It's something of a learning project. Visit my gallery if you'd like to see more of my work or learn more about me. Outsider is updated irregularly; when available, updates are usually posted on Monday morning (PST). The first pages were posted on October 31, 2001.

Outsider is a copyrighted work; please do not alter or redistribute these materials without consent. For more about questions of use, see the Legal Stuff section here.

Credits:
Outsider is created (written, designed, penciled, inked, colored, modeled, textured, rendered, lettered) by Jim Francis, with the following assistance:

Additional Mechanical Concepts: Francois "IgnusDei" Cannels
Additional Character Concepts: Lauren Francis and Amy "DeepChrome" Leeds
Additional Texture Image Sources: 3DStudioMax f/x (Dave Jerrard), Startopia (Gary Carr, John Steels, Mark Smart, Richard Franke)
TrueType versions of Loroi Hand and Loroi Block fonts: Jesse "Quazel" Israel

Cameo Appearances: Dylan Meconis (as Ellen Kirkland) p.2-12; Jim Kroutch (as self) p.3-5; Faith Hicks' Raven (as Loroi medtech) p.19-25; Jennifer Anderson's Orin (as Loroi medtech) p.20-25; Lauren Francis' Luma (as Loroi Unsheathed, p.22-26).

Acknowledgements:
The Loroi borrow stylistically from previous space sirens (especially the Elerians from Master of Orion 2, and the Syreen from Star Control 2) and from the blue-skinned aliens of Japanese animation (most notably the Gamilas and Deingil from the Space Cruiser Yamato series). They are intended as an homage to the "Space Amazon" archetype... blue and otherwise.

Artistic inspirational nods also go out to: Patrick Owens & Judith Peterson (Master of Orion 2), Rob Cunningham & J. Aaron Kambeitz (Homeworld), Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Crusher Joe, Venus Wars), Shoji Kawamori (Macross, Crusher Joe), Kazutaka Miyatake (Macross), Leiji Matsumoto (Space Cruiser Yamato), Hideki Kakinuma (Gall Force, Mospeada), Masaki Kajishima (Tenchi Muyo), Wendy Pini (Elfquest), Hayao Miyazaki (Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind), Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell), Joe Johnston & Ralph McQuarrie (Star Wars), Syd Mead (Tron, Blade Runner), Hijiri Yuki (Chojin Locke), Jes Goodwin (Warhammer 40,000), and Gerry Anderson (Thunderbirds, UFO, Space: 1999).

Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: What software & hardware tools do you use?
A: For drawing and inking, I use either I use a Wacom Intuos2 6x8" pen tablet, or an ordinary #2 pencil, plain paper and Micron Pigma pens, scanned with an Epson P1200U scanner. Coloring is done by computer in Photoshop. 3D models are created and rendered with Newtek Lightwave 3D [9]; pages are colored, composited and lettered with Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Fonts used include those from Fonthead, Comicraft and Blambot. I have a basic tutorial that shows how I color with Photoshop.

My main system ("Greywind") is a Dell Dimension XPS Gen5 Pentium D Dual-Core 3.20GHz running Windows XP with 2GB of RAM, a two-disk 500 GB RAID, and a Dell 1600x1200 20" LCD display. I do most of my 2D and 3D artwork on this sytem. My secondary system ("Fireblade") is a Dell Dimension 8200 Pentium 4 2.40GHz running WinXP with 1GB of RAM, 370 GB of disk space, and a Dell 1280x1024 19" LCD display. I do most of my writing and web-wrangling on this system.

Q: How long does it take you to do a page?
A: Right now, each page takes 3-5 evenings or somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 hours to complete, depending on the number and complexity of panels. 3D models and textures can take several days to weeks to create.

Q: May I link to your comic/website?
A: Sure, no need to ask permission. Banners are located here.

Q: Do you do "link exchanges"?
A: No, sorry.

Q: Will you add Flash animations and sounds?
A: Not planning on it.

Q: How long is this comic going to be?
A: The story as currently outlined is 7 chapters (of about 50 pages each), plus a short prologue and epilogue. I originally thought it would take 4-6 years to complete, but unfortunately I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked, and the story continues to grow.

Q: What are your long-term plans for this comic? Will you ever finish it?
A: I promised myself that I will finish through the end of chapter 2, and then I'll decide where to go from there.

Q: Will you ever have the comic printed and marketed?
A: Maybe, but I’ll worry about that if and when a lot more of it is finished. Unfortunately, color is very expensive to print. But, if I decide to do so, information about it will certainly be posted on this site.

Q: Will you upload your 3D models so I can use them?
A: No, sorry. 

Q: Is Outsider based on the game Master of Orion II?
A: The game was an important inspiration for Outsider, yes. 

Q: Is Outsider based on the anime series Crest of the Stars?
A: No. I have seen the series, but that was not until I was already several years into production of the comic. 

Link Banners:
Here are banners for linking-type purposes (the URL is http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/):


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