Not only was Lou Thomas the founder of Target Studios and a genuine pioneer in the physique movie (and to a lesser extent photography) business, but he and his partner Jim French had a pre-Target studio. It was in this studio that Lou took pictures that Jim turned into drawings. These art works signed Luger, Colt Luger and eventually just Colt were the beginning of Colt Studios. So, some of Lou's photos were the basis of the first-ever Colt drawings, even though they were not yet signed with that name. When Lou and Jim broke up, basically, Lou continued to make movies and publish magazines until literally weeks before his death. Jim, by then, had become ultra-famous as COLT. The aesthetic that made Colt famous was originally found in photos by Lou Thomas and, in fact, it is never 100% clear whether the images shot in the first decade or more of Target are Lou's own photos or shots by Jim French.

Among the many popular early skin stars who began their careers for Thomas' camera were Bruno, Jeremy Brent, Rod Mitchell, Josh Kincaid, Wade Nichols, Oak, Jimmy Hughes, Dennis Walsh, Kyle Hazzard, Bo Gantry, Myles Long, Glenn Dime, and Jeff Cameron.

In 1983, Thomas became affiliated with FirstHand Publications (the publisher of Manshots) where he served as editor of FirstHand, Manscape, Manscape II, Guys, and FirstHand Events. It was in his capacity as that that he wrote the following words (about the gay community's response to the AIDS crisis) in one of his editorials:

''There is a resilience here that will not be denied. We have been here since time immemorial and have overcome countless attempts by the preachers and the politicos and much of the populace to make us disappear, quietly go away. These attempts have not yet succeeded. They never will.''

Lou was amazing in his ability to make movies and magazines that carried themes and even stories without becoming trite or dull. The world of porn would be very lucky to have another genius like him today.  Lou Thomas died in 1990.