Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lori Stephenson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lori, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is Windswept, my webcomic.
When I was 13, I started developing my own original characters and started posting artwork in online art communities. As a fan of anime and manga, and after watching other users post their own comics, I tried my hand at drawing my own “manga.” I was only able to create an introduction, but it was the most I had been able to create at that point in time.
Throughout the rest of my high school and college years, I continued to draw the characters and write relationship dynamics between them without ever fully committing to a plot. Even though I was enjoying myself, I still wanted to take my story further and give my characters a place to belong. Unfortunately I lacked clear direction for my story ideas until 2020, several years after I had graduated college and entered the workforce. During the initial COVID lockdown, I started thinking about where I wanted to go with my art—at that point I had been involved in convention artist alleys for five years, drawing fan art and some original works. My increased exposure to other artists in the convention scene combined with the additional free time I had post-lockdown gave me the final push I needed to get started on my comic.
Initially, during my teenage years, I had wanted to create a monster-hunting battle series. However, I found that I enjoyed writing about character relationships more than I enjoyed planning fight scenes, so when I decided to start my comic, I completely overhauled the original genre and decided to go with a slice-of-life comedy. Changing directions made everything else click into place and suddenly it was the easiest task in the world to write plot points for my comic.
August of 2020 is when I posted the first chapter of Windswept to Webtoon Canvas. I had heard the saying “make it exist first, then make it good later” and took that to heart as the first ten chapters of Windswept consisted of messy colored sketches. I was regularly posting a chapter every two weeks until I got to chapter 15, which is when my momentum slowed nearly to a halt. I learned the limits of my creativity and energy and took a seven month break before posting chapter 16.
After that point, I took more time to work on my chapters, ranging anywhere from three weeks to a few months in between posting. As an independent creator, I have the freedom to post when I want without deadlines, which works best for me since I also have a regular full time job. I got into a comfortable groove posting my work at my own pace until the end of 2023 when I decided I was ready for the next step.
I took a leap and decided to hold auditions for a comic dub of Windswept. I had experience recording audio and editing videos for work, but I had never directed anything to the scale of a long-running voice-acted comic before. Through this process, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most talented people I know and together we gained valuable experience learning how to create a collaborative project. I’ve been able to work with aspiring voice actors and musicians and wouldn’t have been able to get started unless I had gotten over my initial fears and took the plunge into the world of voice directing. So far, there are currently 21 dubbed chapters of Windswept available on YouTube. Lately I have been taking a break from coordinating and editing dub videos but I hope to start again soon.
This project is meaningful to me not only because the characters have been with me for so long, but also because of the many amazing opportunities I’ve been able to have as a result of trying something new. I’ve been interviewed for podcasts and chosen for guest speaking opportunities/ I’ve been able to contribute my comic work to library zine collections, and I’ve made meaningful personal connections in my local art community. I’ve also been able to explore different artistic mediums and develop my skills in other areas, which I look forward to sharing in the near future.

Lori, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always been interested in storytelling—I wrote many short stories in high school and I even studied cinema production in college. My degree led me to work in media and advertising, and my industry experience led me to education, which I found that I enjoy more than my original career aspirations.
One of the subjects I teach is 3D modeling and texturing, which oftentimes goes hand-in-hand with storytelling and creative art.
In additional to my professional life, I was active in the anime convention artist alley scene from 2015 to 2025, where I’d display my work at an art booth for a weekend every few months. I created art prints, keychains, and apparel, and got to meet many creative folks with similar interests through my hobby.

Through both my career and my hobby, my life through the past decade has been a fulfilling blend of personal interest and professional technical skills.

One of the core themes of my work is how personal connections improve the quality of life. Not only is this idea present in the plot of Windswept as the main character discovers how fun life can be when she interacts with the rest of the cast, but also through the meta of the narrative—I’ve been able to create so much that I never thought possible because of the encouragement of everyone who has ever touched me on my creative journey. In this way, Windswept is a unique and deeply personal project. An ongoing, long-running webcomic, a motion media voice dub, zines, and collaborations with other artists are just some of the components that encapsulate what Windswept has become. I hope that anyone who hears about my journey feels encouraged. From my personal experience, I don’t think money or an extravagant amount of free time is necessary to get started on a creative vision. I think what is most essential to making ideas happen is creative drive—“how badly do you want it?” is the question I ask young creatives who are starting their journeys. If you want something strongly enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen. That’s what I did, anyway.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Oftentimes I’ll hear about creatives working in the manga or television industry whose creative vision has to be set aside for the sake of audience demand or sales. As an independent creator, I don’t have to worry about those things—I get to focus on writing the story that makes me feel fulfilled, which is what I believe is the mission driving my creative journey. What kind of themes do I want to explore? What kinds of plot points are important to me? These are the questions I get to ask myself which is an immense privilege. My goal with writing my comic is to show others how satisfying it is to write the type of story that appeals most to you regardless of audience size or monetary gain. The act of creation itself is powerful enough to stand on its own as a valuable component to the human experience and I want others to enjoy that as well.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are several rewarding aspects of being an artist—one is the artistic process (with which I have a love-hate relationship), another is seeing the final product after putting in hours upon hours of effort, but I think the most rewarding aspect is hearing that I was able to make a difference in someone else’s life through my work. I’m not a very popular creator, not with my irregular posting schedule or my chosen genre, so when I do hear that someone was able to laugh because of my jokes or that they were encouraged because they could relate to my characters means the world to me. It shows me that I can make a difference in the lives of others in small, meaningful ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Kazeillustrations.com
• Instagram: @k_aze
• Youtube: Kaze Illustrations
• Other: Webtoon: Kaze Illustrations