Thomas parted from the endeavor in 1974 leaving French to continue to build what would become one of the most successful gay male erotica companies in the U.S. French left a legacy of homoerotic images in artwork, illustrations, photo sets, slides, film, fine-art photographs, magazines, books and calendars that presented his work exclusively and set a new standard in photography of men.
[2] French began drawing and photographing male erotica in the mid-1960s while working as an illustrator and artist for Madison Avenue advertising agencies.
[6] French was formally trained at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art from 1950 to 1954 and went on active duty in the United States Army in 1955, having been in the reserves for two years prior to his enlisting.
French settled in New York and pursued a successful career as an illustrator and artist for Madison Avenue advertising agencies.
While the Arion drawings had been playful sketches of Fire Island life and similar scenes (influenced by two of his favorite artists, George Petty and Alberto Vargas), the drawings created as "Lüger" featured more hypermasculine subjects: construction men, men in leather, surfers, cowboys, wrestlers, and sailors.
[9] Photographic copies of the drawing sets were offered for purchase through mail order and were advertised in various magazines available at the time: The Young Physique, Mars, Muscleboy, Sir Gee, Male Classics, and Fizeek Art Quarterly.
To avoid legal troubles, Lüger Studio offerings contained minimal frontal nudity but were nonetheless erotic and humorously creative in their suggestiveness.
But after fifteen years in New York, often traveling to California to take advantage of the weather and abundance of models, French decided to move west.
From the Colt Studio offices in San Fernando Valley, he continued to run the most successful male physique photography company in America, marketing his work to gay men.
Among them were Bruno, Ledermeister, Chris Dickerson, George O’Mara, John Tristram, Alan Albert, Bernie Booth, Dakota, Stoner, Erron, John Pruitt, Gordon Grant, Bruno, Jake Tanner, Jim Morris, Mike Davis, Nick Chase, Mike Betts, Rick Wolfmier, Pat Sutton, Andreas Stock, Danny Collier, Ed Dinakos, Billy Herrington, Franco Corelli, JD Amos, Doug Perry, Tony Romano, Ken Ryker, Tom Chase, Tony Ganz, Steve Kelso, Pete Kuzak, Carl Hardwick, and Wade Neff.
The rebranded company, "Colt Studio Group," continues to operate, adding new content, but with digital rights to the drawings, photographs, and films created by French.
One illustration of French's, entitled 'Longhorns - Dance', achieved worldwide notoriety when it was appropriated by the late Sex Pistols manager and fashion designer Malcolm McLaren in 1975 as the basis for artwork for a T-shirt sold through Sex, the King's Road boutique McLaren operated with Vivienne Westwood.
The uproar became a freedom of speech issue when Labour MP Colin Phipps called on Home Secretary Roy Jenkins to review the outmoded law.
“It would appear to me to be more logical for a prosecutor to have to demonstrate a specific public hurt in matters of taste rather than being able to rely on antique laws,” Phipps wrote to Jenkins.