Introduction
Credits
Acknowledgements
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Link Banners
Introduction
What is Outsider? It is a starship combat 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.
Humanity is caught in the crossfire of a galactic war, and it's up to the members of Earth's Scout Corps to forge an alliance that will ensure Earth's survival. But which side to choose: the oppressive, insectoid Umiak or the ruthless, elflike Loroi?
Outsider is written and drawn by me, Jim Francis (a.k.a. Arioch). It was started as something of a learning project, and has since grown in scope. 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 (Pacific Time). 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:
TrueType implementations of Loroi Hand and Loroi Block fonts:
Jesse "Quazel" Israel
Additional Mechanical Concepts: Francois "IgnusDei"
Cannels and Karl "icekatze" Hauber
Additional Character
Concepts: Lauren
"WeeKelpie" Francis and Amy
"DeepChrome" Leeds
Additional Texture Image Sources: 3DStudioMax f/x (Dave
Jerrard),
Startopia (Gary Carr, John Steels, Mark Smart, Richard
Franke)
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; Gopal Prabhu (as Lieutenant Chandra) p.96; Martin Koza & Andrew O'Dell's Eloree (as Loroi porter) p.100.
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 (Appleseed, 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, inking and coloring, I use a Wacom
Intuos4 Medium pen tablet and
Adobe
Photoshop. Prior to page 45, most of the character linework was
drawn with an ordinary #2 pencil on plain paper and inked with Micron Pigma
pens, and scanned with an Epson
P1200U scanner. Drawing and coloring is now done entirely in
Photoshop with the tablet. 3D models are created and rendered with
Newtek Lightwave 3D
[9]; pages are colored, composited and lettered with Photoshop
7.0. Fonts used include those from Fonthead,
Comicraft and
Blambot. My main
computer system 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.
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: May I submit fan art?
A: Certainly, just email it to me at: arioch@well-of-souls.com.
I generally post all fan artwork in my gallery, unless it is
inappropriate in some way. I reserve the right to resize or
alter images as necessary.
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. If I had
known how much work this would be, I would have chosen a less
ambitious project as my first webcomic.
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?
A: The game was an important inspiration
for Outsider.
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
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