Stephen Crowley - It was one of those cases that the idea just came to me. Can’t say how or why. I was doing natural health comics and it occured to me that naturism was a natural health issue. In the end, neither concept mixed well (a bit like water and oil) but I did half page comic for an Australian nudist magazine in 1997 that featured Loxie and Zoot. After that I took the comics to the internet in 1998 and the concept has been evolving ever since. The current incarnation is The Bare Pit - which features characters from the original Loxie & Zoot series [View here] at the moment it’s set in a fantasy faerie land… and in case anyone thinks I’ve lost the plot completely it’s actually based on a story I started telling on the original site back in 2000. As for my target audience it’s basically anyone who enjoys reading it - I know a fair number of nudists enjoy it but so do non-nudists. Some of the latter have admitted to trying out nudism as a result (or at the very least, feeling better about their body and nudity) - but I am not on any mission to convert people (not anymore!). Considering how many nudists are online it is sometimes disappointing that more of them aren’t reading the comics, but I guess they just don’t like comics!

ND - How has it been received by the general community? The press? By other cartoonists?

SC - The online version of the comics have an overlap audience, that being people who read comics online. There is a community of webcartoonists and my nudist cartoons are known to varying degrees by some within that community. I think I’m probably regarded as that crazy nudist guy by most and they’re not sure what to think. Fellow cartoonists rank a work on its merits rather than the content and they have been very helpful in getting me to lift my game from a writing and artistic perspective. Overall response from the general public has ranged to acceptance to some ridicule. I ignore the latter, they tend to be childish and their comments indicate they have problems with themselves rather than with me. I’m always happy to receive constructive criticism and I think the most useful and consistent criticism from fellow cartoonists and objective public has been that the earlier cartoons (specifically The Koala Bares storyline) were a bit preachy and overly focused on the ‘nudists/nudism are great’ theme. Both are valid criticism and I’ve been at pains to move away from those weaknesses in my storytelling. Criticisms aside, though people who warm to my comics, regardless of whether they are nudists, cartoonists or neither seem to like the characters, the gentle humour and the art.

ND - Do you just do L & Z, or do you also have others?

SC - I have one other comic that is currently active online. Called ‘Magellan’ it is nothing like my nudist comic although I suppose there are writing and artistic similarities. Magellan is a super-hero comic which tries to take a fresh and different look at a very overworked genre. It has been well received even picking up some peer-based and popularity-based award nominations over the past few years. It is interesting and challenging balancing two different projects at once but usually helps me keep a fresh perspecive on both.Magellan can be found here. There are currently over 275 pages of action adventure - but it is unlike my nudist comics, containing pretty much no nudity, plus a fair bit of violence and swears.

ND - Do you make a living from just cartooning?

SC - No. It would be nice if I did! I had hoped sales from The Koala Bares books would help to make me self-sufficient but that didn’t happen as sales were much lower than hoped (ie disappointing). I might be a reasonable cartoonist but I’m lousy at selling myself and also have few resources or money to be able to do that. I do make a little bit of money here and there. Good thing I do it for the love not the money.

ND - You’ve done L & Z in print and online. What are the plans for the
future? Perhaps produce an animated version?

SC- Animated would be fun for sure but only possible with the backing of some company willing to give me a free creative run on it. I certainly don’t have the time, money or resources to even think about such a project. For the time being there is no plan to sell ay more books until I sell the remaining stock of my first publication… and that doesn’t look like happening anytime soon. For the moment I will just continue with my online project.