16 Jul Painting Surfboards and Chasing Waves (Original)

Painting Surfboards and Chasing Waves by Drew Brophy

Copyright © 2018 Son of the Sea, Inc.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations for a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First printing, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9990115-1-5
Son of the Sea, Inc. P.O. Box 836
San Clemente, CA 92674 drewbrophy.com
info@drewbrophy.com
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Painting Surfboards and Chasing Waves
An artist’s journey to success
by Drew Brophy and Maria Brophy

LONNIE RYAN

DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to all the people who helped me along the way. And to my father, Thomas Alphonsus Brophy, who was my biggest fan.
Love you, dad.
A MESSAGE FOR ARTISTS:
Surfing has always been a huge part of my life and my art. It is the way I stay connected to the flow of the Universe. My goal over the years has been to surf all the best waves in the world. It is where I charge up my imagination with the energy of my rides and the beauty of exotic locations. Surfing in a giant tube is like being in a time machine–for a brief moment time slows and you notice every drop of water falling over you. It forces you to be totally present.
My message to artists is this: find your passion and pair it with your art. Surround yourself with the people and companies that share that same passion. It does not matter how good you are or what your style is. No matter what you create, someone is going to love it and someone is going to hate it. Focus on the people who love it.
When I started, my art was not great, but it was good enough to create a wonderful life for myself and my family. Over the years my art has become more refined, and I am always striving to do better. It takes time to become noticed and successful. You must be patient.
The most important thing is to be self-motivated. Everything you ever wanted stands in front of you. You just have to know what it is that you want, and then be willing to go get it.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Born to Surf

8

Hawaii

22

Lost Years

32

Son of the Sea

68

Beyond Surf

106

5

6

SCOTT SMALLIN

7

Born to Surf
8

DREW AT PIPELINE. PHOTO: DARREN CRAWFORD

You could say I was born to
surf and create art.
I grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was the 1970s and surfing had reached our small town. Our neighborhood was filled with kids who loved to surf, including my two older brothers, Tommy and Jamie. I wanted to be just like them and spend my days chasing waves. When I was about 4 years old, my dad bought me a styrofoam kickboard to ride waves on. He sketched my name on it, and I colored it in with my crayons. It was the first board I ever painted. It just said “Drew.”

LEFT My first “surfboard.”
BELOW Life at the Dunes.

BELOW My brother Tommy, surfing.

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Early drawings: it’s fun to see these crude old drawings. I had stacks of papers and sketches in my room. You can see that my ideas and style were already in place, but it would take many years to refine it.

Some of my earliest inspirations and memories were of my Grandfather, “Pop,” reading me the comics and teaching me how to draw a simple car.
My Uncle Jerry rode a motorcycle and was covered in tattoos. His hair was flame red with a red beard. He was like a giant painted man.
My Aunt Loretta sent huge bundles of scrap paper for my birthday. It was the best gift for a kid with an active imagination.
Our home was filled with magazines like National Geographic and Surfer and art books on the masters like Dali, Da Vinci, and Van Gogh. I spent hours looking through them while my mother played the piano. I dreamed of going to all of these beautiful places in the world.
My sister Julie was in art and design school. She always had drawings and paintings lying around the house.
My Mother allowed me to crayon on the walls of my tiny bedroom that I shared with sister Andrea. I’d draw colorful scenes filled with dinosaurs, trains, and characters.
It was my father that inspired me the most. I remember him doodling eyes on his papers while he sat at his desk. He would first draw the outline, then the iris, then carefully add the lashes. There were eyes on all his business papers. I believe it helped him think.
This book shows my path as an artist. It’s a celebration of the people and places that shaped me. It is about my dreams that I refused to give up on.

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I loved Surfer magazine when I was a kid. This was my spin on a surf cartoon done with crayons. 11

TOP U.S.A. Surfing Championships, Hawaii ABOVE I lived for my surfing adventures. BELOW Some of the local crew and me, we drove up and down the East Coast searching for waves in my dad’s Grand Strand Carpet van.

I always say that surfing saved my life. Our town was fortunate when Mark Allison arrived and opened up Surf City surf shop. He brought the excitement of surfing to our community. His shop was full of the coolest boards and t-shirts. It was the 1980s and everything was loud and full of color. Mark ran the early days of the ESA surf competitions and they were like having a beach barbeque with everyone in town who loved to surf. He would take a bunch of us surf groms to Cape Hatteras, California, and Mexico. We were kids seeing a whole new world of possibilities and we all wanted to be pro surfers. These early experiences gave me a desire to go to all the beautiful places I saw in Surfer magazine.
Mark gave me my first art job when I was still in high school. He hired me to draw logos for his surf shop. One of my favorites was a polar bear scene I did for a wetsuit ad in a local newspaper. My drawings were crude compared to the art I saw in the magazines, but it felt good to be part of the team. I began to imagine that one day I could create art and travel the world surfing.
I really struggled to finish high school. My mind was on surfing, adventure, and travel. Even though I took four years of art, it wasn’t enough to get me into art school.
One day during my senior year in high school, the guidance counselor pulled me into her office. She said, “Drew, what are you going to do? You can’t just surf and paint the rest of your life.” I was crushed. She basically just told me that the only two things I was good at weren’t worth pursuing.
Two things were evident when I graduated high school: one was that I wasn’t going to art school, and the second was that I wasn’t good enough to be a pro surfer. My future was uncertain and it felt like I did not belong anywhere.

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Uncle Sam tee shirt design Early cartoon

Surf City surfboard logo Polar bear newspaper ad

13

When all my friends went off to college, I picked up work doing odd jobs for Native Sons, a local screen print company. I mainly cleaned screens and watched the girls in the art department press out letters and cut film. The owner, Steve Taylor, gave me cool art projects and eventually let me create designs for tee shirts. My big break came when he let me do the art for the Surf and Spike, their annual beach event. I had surfed in it for many years and now, I was creating the art. Native Sons was my crash course in graphic design. I can remember when they got their first computer and we did not have to draw or press out letters anymore. All the girls who worked in the art department had been to art school. At some point I realized that I was not qualified to be hired as a full time artist. Eventually I had to move on.
Restaurant logo, from sketch to ink, to hand-drawn and press out letters. I learned the process from start to finish.
I drew lots of girls for tee shirts for local strip clubs. This influenced my art later during the Lost years. None of the girls in the art department wanted to draw sexy girls. That’s how I got my start designing tee shirts. 14

LEFT Surf and Spike poster BELOW LEFT Stock tee shirt design BELOW Stock 4-color tee shirt designs
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TOP Shark Sketch (1992) Created for my college drawing class. ABOVE With Rob McCarty in my art studio when we did a show together. It was my first offical art show. BELOW Painting a mural with Tommy Davis in a Myrtle Beach casino. BELOW RIGHT My first real art studio. I wasn’t making any money so it lasted less than a year.

I was determined to make it as an artist, so I signed up for art classes at the community college and I rented my first art studio. I did one show with my friend Rob McCarty, who was in art school. We grew up surfing together and we both wanted to work in the surf industry. But these were tough times. I felt out of place at the college, and I blew my first big job in my studio; the client laughed at my art and would not pay me. It wasn’t long before I had to shut it down. I felt stupid for even trying.
Local artist, Tommy Davis, hired me to help with some mural projects. He was a good friend and the only successful artist that I knew. But I did not know how to get to where he was at. I wasn’t making any money from art so I had to support myself by ripping out carpet for my dad’s flooring business and waiting tables at night.
Around this time, I began painting for Perfection Surfboards. I had been hand painting my own surfboards for years. But, airbrushing surfboards is more technical than creative. You paint on the fragile foam before it is glassed. It’s like painting a styrofoam hot rod with flames, fades and stripes. You use a lot of tape, paper, and big spray guns. It is a dirty job and a lot can go wrong. The owner, Kelly Richards, said I was the worst surfboard painter he ever had, but he gave me a chance. My spirit was getting crushed and I felt like I could not do anything right.

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ABOVE The technical side of painting a surfboard is shown in this photo. The order sheet describes the design for the surfboard. Some designs were simple, others, like this one, were complicated and time consuming. Each color is masked off in tape, then taped over to hide it from the next color, while desperately trying not to damage the other colors.
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I had no idea at the time but a simple act of kindness was going to change my life. Mark Allison had told me that in Hawaii surfboard makers were using Uni Posca paint pens on surfboards to do pin-lines. That night I mentioned this over dinner with my parents and their friends, the Rosens. I told them how the pens can only be bought in Japan and they might help me with my job painting surfboards.
Two weeks later I came home and was surprised to find a giant box on the kitchen table. It was full of Uni Posca paint pens, of every size and color. Mr. Rosen had gone to Japan on business and kindly searched all over the city to find them for me.
I immediately started using them on my surfboards for pinlines. They allowed me to be more creative and I started painting dragons, flames, and suns. I even used them in combination with the sprayed colors. I thought it looked amazing, but everyone else was not so sure. Kelly Richards tolerated the new style, but he was nervous that the boards would not sell. It was totally different and people do not like change.
TOP My first surfboard painted using Uni Posca paint pens, 1992 ABOVE Hiding in this photo is shaper/artist Regis Jupinko. He taught me all of the tricks for airbrushing surfboards. Surfing is full of characters who make the job fun. Some are saltier than others, but we all love to surf.
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The Posca pens were great for pinlines, making the airbrush pop. But Poscas greatest gift to me was that they made full color illustrations on surfboards now a possibility. My early surfboard paintings were crude. I had a long way to go before I would master the Posca pens. I always took photos of all of my board paintings and I’m so stoked to have recorded this early progression.
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ABOVE Summer of 1993 with my quiver of Kinetic Surfboards, upon return from Puerto Escondido. My life was getting ready to change. In seeking to be happy, my passion for surfing and my job of painting began to merge. BELOW Surfing Puerto Escondido, feeling reborn
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I didn’t know what to do with my life. I was depressed and failing at everything. I needed something to make me feel good about myself and where my life was going.
When I asked myself what I truly wanted, the answer was clear: I wanted to surf big waves. I had given up on my dreams of surfing and traveling, and it left me feeling empty. It was time to change that. I saved my money and booked a trip to Puerto Escondido, also known as “The Mexican Pipeline.” It’s the heaviest beach break on the planet and guaranteed to get big waves. Making the decision to go gave me something to be really excited about.
Gary Wilson of Kinetic Surfboards made me three big-wave surfboards, and I painted them wild in my new crazy style. Some of the guys made fun of me, saying I was going to get beat up for my boards being so bright. Others said I was not even good enough to surf the waves.
I flew to Mexico alone and from the moment I arrived, I felt reborn. I was born to surf big waves.
I spent the summer in Mexico. I knew many of the surfers from when I was younger and traveling to California. They were all pro surfers now living their dream. One of them, Dino Andino, commented on my board as we walked up the beach. I told him that I painted it. He thought that was cool and asked if I was going to Hawaii for the winter. It was the first time I considered the possibility. I asked if he thought I could get a job painting surfboards there. He said absolutely. In that moment my world changed. My hope of painting and surfing could be possible after all.
Soon I found myself back in Myrtle Beach with the same problems, as though my great summer in Mexico never happened. Then I heard that Surfer magazine was going to publish a photo of me, riding my painted board in a giant tube. A kid from South Carolina in the magazine on a killer wave. It was hard to believe.
Just when I thought that I was going to be sentenced to a life of ripping out carpet and surfing knee-high waves, the Universe threw me a Hail Mary.

The photo of me surfing Puerto Escondido ran in the April 1995 issue of Surfer magazine.

While sitting in a local bar, deep in thought and

Todd was cool and said yes, they were looking

a little lost, I overheard a guy telling stories about

for someone to paint boards.

surfing in Hawaii and working in a surfboard factory.

I told him that I was painting boards for Kelly

I couldn’t believe it! I jumped in and told him that I paint

Richards in South Carolina, and that I could save my

surfboards here in town. The guy replied, “They were

money and I could be there in about a month or two.

looking for an airbrush artist when I left, you should

Todd said, “You don’t understand. We need

call them.” He wrote down the number of his friend in

someone now. If you can get here by Thursday, I will

Hawaii on a napkin. He said, “Call Todd. He’s from

give you a shot.”

South Carolina, too.”

As I hung up the phone I realized that this was

That night I couldn’t sleep. I just kept thinking

the crossroads of my life. I went into my father’s

about how great it would be to surf all the great waves

office and said, “Dad, I was just offered a job in

in Hawaii. The next day I went to work in my dad’s

Hawaii.”

carpet store. He was sitting at his desk, busy with

He didn’t even look up from his desk. So I said

paperwork.

it again louder. He glanced up at me with the look of

I snuck off to the other office to make the phone

confusion.

call. I pulled the squished napkin out of my pocket. It

I said, “I just got off the phone, they said if I get

read “Todd” and had a phone number scribbled on it.

there by Thursday I have a shot.”

I dialed and waited. I was so nervous. It rang a lot of

He sat up, finally listening. The next words that

times before someone answered. I asked, “Is this

came out of my mouth were the harsh truth that

Todd?” And then I rambled on and on about how I met

surprised even me. I said, “Dad, if I don’t go, nothing

his friend Curt and he said you were looking for an

great will ever happen for me.”

airbrusher, and….Todd cut me off and asked, “Do you

There was a long moment of silence. My dad

know what time it is?”

nodded, then stood up and walked across the street

I forgot that there was a six hour time difference

to the travel agency. He bought me a one way ticket

and that I just called Todd in the middle of the night

to Hawaii. I left everything I knew behind and flew to

in Hawaii! I felt like such an idiot.

Honolulu that Thursday morning. I was scared. It felt

like I had just jumped off a cliff.

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Hawaii
On the North Shore with Todd Sutz and Bill Barnfield. 22

When I landed at Honolulu Airport, Todd was waiting. He drove me right to the factory on the North Shore. I remember driving past the pineapple fields; it was late in the day and the sun was setting. It was Fall and the big wave season was about to start.
The factory was called Proglass and was in the small town of Haleiwa. I looked around the factory in awe. It was full of surfboards made by the best shapers from around the world. I had just left Nowhere, South Carolina, to come to the epicenter of surfing.
The owner of Proglass, Bill Barnfield, gave me an impossible task of painting thirty complicated, full color, three foot surfboards for the Shorebird restaurant in Waikiki. They all had to be identical. Bill said, “If you get these done by Monday and they look good, you can have the job.”
Now I knew why the other airbrusher quit. I was not sure if I was capable of pulling this off. I was afraid I was going to ruin all of them. But there was no way I was going back.
Well, I got the job. The thirty surfboards I painted turned out good enough. Besides, they really needed an airbrush artist. Todd let me sleep on his floor until I found my own place.
Bill Barnfield ran a tight ship at Proglass. He made me to do things right the first time even though it is difficult and time consuming. Todd Sutz was the laminator and my only friend. He taught me kindness and patience through his generosity. I would have never survived the North Shore without him. Todd and Bill were both expert craftsmen and taught me lifelong lessons, and I’m forever grateful for that.
Life was hard on the North Shore. Work was inconsistent and I was often starving. I began painting signs and anything else to make money. I rode the 52 bus to work every day and surfed every afternoon.
I often ran into my surfing heroes between the water and the shop, and a few were nice to me. Some were jerks and most wouldn’t even talk to me; they acted like they didn’t know me. Some famous surfers and shapers never paid me for my work. I can count on one hand the number of people who
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ABOVE Map of the North Shore of Oahu. BELOW Winter of 1993/94, my dreams of surfing Pipeline finally came true.
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stopped and gave me a ride when I was at the bus stop in the rain. Hawaii was a lonely place for me.
The waves sustained me. I mostly surfed at Sunset, Pipeline, and Rockpiles. I was a nobody who surfed alone even amongst the crowd. I liked to surf when the waves were really big, even windy days when no one else wanted it. Being in the ocean when it is at its strongest is when I feel the most alive.
I painted surfboards for world champs, like Tom Carroll, Tom Curran and many others. But they were not my designs, just boring rails, bands and swooshes. It was a time when short boards were white and color was dead. Longboards were where it was at.
Shapers gave me so many crazy challenges that I became really good at airbrushing. One was Russ K. Makaha, named after Rusty Keaulana who was a longboard world champ. I painted boards for the entire Keaulana family. I loved it because they wanted color and all the trick faux wood stringers, super complicated stuff. The surfboards all went to Japan and they loved them.
Mark Liddell with Island Energy Surfboards was on the South Shore. He was one of the few who let me do a lot of cool paintings using the Poscas.
Another great shaper was Mike Diffenderfer, who had me painting crazy, super intricate designs for him.
All of these guys gave me the opportunity to master my skills.
My friend Todd Allen of North Shore Trading Post was into vintage clothes and motorcycles. He knew what was cool, and he commissioned a board painting from me: a skeleton on a motorcycle. He thought it was bad ass and that gave me the fuel to not give up on my new style.
I became an expert on airbrushing boards while in Hawaii. Then I set out to master the paint pens. I was stoked to find out that that I could buy the Poscas at Dia, a Japanese drug store in Honolulu, and probably the only place in the U.S. that sold them. Only a few companies and underground surfers would let me paint their boards with the Poscas. The big surfboard brands had no interest in them.
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Rejected designs for Rip Curl, 1995. 26

I got my first big break when a shaper named Steve Elliott hired me to paint two surfboards for the Board Forum in Surfer magazine. He liked what I was doing so he had me airbrush a dragon on a shortboard and paint pen a flower design on a G&S fun board. It was the first time I ever had my work published in the board forum, and I felt like I was finally getting known for my art.
When I wasn’t painting surfboards, I was designing logos and tee shirts. I wanted to design for surf companies.
I first went to my friend, Rob McCarty, who now worked for Rip Curl. I mailed him concepts to get my foot in the door, but his boss didn’t like them.

When I wasn’t painting surfboards I was designing logos and tee shirts. These are early Surf the Earth designs and some logos for surf shops in Haliewa.
Lucky for me, Surf the Earth from South Carolina gave me my first real shot at commercial art. They had me create designs for tee shirts and ads. My ideas were good with everything hand drawn, but I felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and I couldn’t seem to make my designs look finished like my surfboards.
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ABOVE RIGHT Pipeline, 1990’s. This photo was taken early in Tim McKenna’s career as a photographer. He sold it for postcards that were published in Europe. Years later, I met Tim McKenna while surfing Teahupoo in Tahiti. When he compared his Tahiti photos of me to his older ones, he recognized me in his postcard photo and sent me a print of it. I think it’s cool to be captured in one of his early photos. RIGHT Airbrush and Posca pen art on a 7′ 6″ Kinetic Surfboard, shaped by Gary Wilson (1994).
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TIM McKENNA

I remember when I finally thought I hit my stride. I had worked a super busy week and had technically earned a lot of money. I was so proud of myself. Everyone I painted for had promised to pay me by Friday. I sat all day waiting but not one person came. I was devastated. I waited by the bus stop as it got dark. The bus arrived as I pulled out my change and realized that all I had to my name was $1.40. The bus cost $1. I needed money for food, so I watched as the bus pulled away and I began the long walk home. I was so angry, wondering how this could happen.
My parents taught me to do your best, keep your word, and be honest, but none of these traits seemed to matter in real life. Instead I was taken advantage of because of them. I made a powerful decision in that moment: this would never happen to me again. I grew a lot on that long walk home.

I bought a bag of rice with the money, and with every bite of it, I strengthened my determination to succeed and not be marginalized by anyone ever again.
The North Shore was a crash course in survival; physically, mentally, and financially. I decided that I wasn’t going to let life beat me and I set out to be the best surfboard painter in Hawaii. I was going to show everyone how cool the paint pens could be. I was going to make all my dreams come true.
But, the Universe had other plans for me. Pipeline was my favorite wave, and I was born to surf it. I was still riding the same 8′ 6″ magic Kinetic board from a few years earlier. That board loved to get tubed, but one day it all stopped. Pipeline is one of the most powerful, dangerous waves in the world. If you surf it long enough, you will eventually hit the bottom and end up in the hospital.

My day came when I got launched by the lip of a big wave on a windy day, and I hit the lava rock bottom with my face. I was knocked unconscious and then pulled into shore by surfers. I do not remember much else. Todd Allen came to get me at the hospital. My skull was cracked by my eye socket, my cheek bone was smashed, my jaw and shoulder dislocated. Chunks were cut out of my head, face, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle. I spent the next months recovering, not being able to chew. I couldn’t work, so I lost my job. My dream was over just like that.
I was, once again, at a low point in my life. I needed to make something happen. I heard about a surfboard factory in San Clemente, California, that ran two shifts a day. My friend Rob lived there and said I could sleep in his garage. With no other options, I packed up and flew to California.

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30

It was Spring of 1996. I arrived in California with a bag of paint pens, three surfboards, and a pair of flip flops. I didn’t even own a pair of shoes. I immediately made a plan to get a job painting surfboards.
San Clemente was a hotbed of opportunity– the longboard explosion had hit and Stewart and Hobie, the hottest surfboard companies at the time, were here. Business was booming.
I made a flyer to show my work using an old ad for RussK and some photos of my board paintings that I glued together. Then I made photocopies to show shapers and surf factories.
The first place I went was Stewart Surfboards. As I walked up the stairs, Bill Stewart was coming down and I heard him tell his partner Henry Ford that they needed a new airbrusher. I seized the moment and handed him my flyer and told him that I just came from Hawaii to paint boards for him. It was fate. He hired me on the spot, and they drove me right over to where their boards were made. It was an amazing factory owned by shaper Ron House, who later became one of my best friends.
There were more boards at Surfglass than I had ever seen in my life. It was unbelievable how it all flowed–lots of people working 24-7. This was the very factory that I had heard about back in Hawaii!
I was required to paint a minimum of ten boards a day, every day. When you have this many boards, you must be fast. You tape all of them, paint and rack them, and when the first one is dry, add second colors. It was easy. I was paid $15 to $25 a board and extra for customs. At the time, that was a lot of money.
I rode a bike seven miles every day to work. At night, I slept in Rob’s garage. Not bad for starting over.

ABOVE My handmade flyer to promote my board painting skills. FACING AND BELOW Bill Stewart was famous for painting surfboards and murals. By this time, he was one of the largest surfboard manufacturers in the world. I was stoked to be painting surfboards for him.

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The Lost Years
32

I wanted to do more than just airbrush on longboards. I wanted use the paint pens on shortboards. I wanted to design t-shirts. I wanted to do it all.
I first went to Spyder Surfboards, who were huge at the time. I showed them my paint pen art, hoping they would let me paint for them, but the guys at Spyder could not see its potential.
I was frustrated and about to give up when I remembered hearing about a guy who shaped under the name Mayhem and who also used paint pens. I had seen one of his boards while surfing Pipeline. It turned out that I was riding my bike past his place everyday for weeks and didn’t even know it. I found out his name was Matt Biolos, and one day I stopped in to introduce myself.
The place was a mess. Matt was shaping in the back, covered in foam dust. I walked in and he instantly growled at me, “What do you want?”
Something on a table caught my eye; it was my Ripcurl designs that I had sent to Rob from Hawaii. Somehow they found their way to Matt’s shaping room. I said, “I hear you paint boards.” He nodded and showed me boards that he and his girlfriend were painting in the next room. The art was really cool and fun. I told him I saw one of his painted boards in Hawaii and now I was working at Surfglass, airbrushing.
I said, “I can paint boards with Poscas better and faster than you,” and he laughed. Then I told him that the Rip Curl designs on his desk were mine. He said, “I hope you can paint better than that.”
He slapped down a board, and I painted a dragon for him right there. He liked that I was fast and told me to come back the next day and he would have boards for me to paint. We were instant friends. And we both knew that the paint pen art was cool, no matter what anybody said.
In truth, Matt needed me because he was going to Japan for a month, and he needed a bunch of surfboards painted while he was gone. I started right away. Rick Hazard, the new sales manager, would send the painted boards out to surf shops as soon as I finished them.

The first Lost surfboard I painted in 1996.

NAKI

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Now I was painting surfboards around the clock. My day would begin at Surfglass airbrushing Stewart’s boards and then I would ride my bike to the other end of town to paint Mayhem’s boards through the night.
In the weeks that followed, my surfboard paintings got more and more insane–the Posca pens unleashed a volcanic explosion of art. It was like getting a tattoo for your surfboard, giving it personality and grit. We were having so much fun and people loved it.
When Matt came back from Japan he was irritated at the insanity I was putting on the boards, but it was too late. The genie was out of the bottle and a fuse had been lit.
My real skills were creativity and speed. All of those years working in factories trained me to be efficient. The business was taking off, and I painted more and more boards. It just made me better and better. Every painting was totally different and unique. I gave every board painting a name, and I signed each one–which no one ever did with production surfboard art before. The airbrush artist is mostly anonymous. But people now knew my art and my name. They started asking for boards done by me, because they knew that anything was possible.
I painted surfboards, live, for the first time at a trade show in San Diego. It was a lot of fun, and people loved to watch me paint. I would scribble a rough sketch and then just attack it with the paint pens. People would crowd around to watch and surf shop buyers would fight over each board.
Every surfboard painting was unique and I named and signed each one. People started asking for boards painted by me. 34

Surfers in Japan loved the art. Matt had been doing business there for years and he brought me along on his next trip. It was the first time I was paid to paint in another country. The best part was that you could buy Posca pens there. Matt and I would walk into an art store and spill the whole Posca display onto the floor and buy all their pens. The Japanese thought we were nuts. We would bring them back to the U.S. in our board bags.
Eventually our contact in Japan, Nishi from Luv Surf Tokyo, kept us well stocked with pens, and we just kept the boards flowing.
I painted surfboards live at tradeshows in the USA and Japan. 35

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The Lost magazine ads, posters, and design forum boards pushed the limits of what was acceptable on surfboards. My “The Bitch” and “Bitch-in-aBottle” boards (which were censored when the magazine was printed) were the two that made people gasp at what I was painting. These boards were inspired by my old days of drawing strippers in Myrtle Beach for Native Sons. I would get requests to paint even more obscene ideas that I cannot show photos of.
FACING PAGE 1996/97 Lost magazine ad and poster. This was printed in magazines around the world. It instantly established me as one of the best surfboard painters ever. It was radical because “surfboard painter” wasn’t even a thing until this came out. It changed the definition of what art on a surfboard could be. And it changed the way surfboards were painted forever. RIGHT Matt Biolos with Bitch in a Bottle surfboard in the early days of San Clemente Surf Company.
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Drew’s Dream
(1996) UniPosca on masonite
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My career was taking off like a skyrocket. I moved from Rob’s garage into my own room. I was surfing and painting just like I had always dreamed, and I was busy making more money than ever before. Then one day Bill Stewart demanded that I make a choice; paint for him or paint for Lost. He was upset that my new style with the Poscas was really taking off with Lost Surfboards. He warned me that if I continued at Lost, I would be fired. It was a tough choice: Lost was new and uncertain, while Stewart was every airbrusher’s dream job. But, I knew that Posca was a better way to paint surfboards and it was going to allow me to grow as an artist. I decided to quit Stewart.
When I painted Drew’s Dream, I was inspired to capture the chaos in my life. This was in the first group of work that I painted with Poscas on masonite. With the pens, I was finally able to create what was in my head. This was the start of creating art for clothing at Lost. Every design started as an original painting, just like the boards. Often we would see something spontaneous on the boards and recreate it as a painting for tee shirts. Most of the early illustrations were painted on wood and masonite.

Blow Your Top (1998) 41.5″ x 31″ Posca on canvas Stormy Peaks (1998) Posca on masonite

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This was the first painting I did on canvas with the Poscas. It was inspired by the days when I lived on the North Shore of Oahu. I spent a lot of time waiting for the bus after painting all day at Barnfield’s. The bus stop was right in front of Wyland Galleries, so I would wander in to check out the art. Wyland is known for his over and under ocean painting scenes. He was always very nice to me even though I would walk into his gallery covered in paint and mud.
When I was putting the last bit of color on this one, my girlfriend, Maria, looked at it and said, “Let’s call it WHY-LAND.” One day Wyland got wind of this parody I did of his work, and he bought a print of it.
Later in life, when I started doing the licensing show in New York, Wyland walked up to me and said, “It’s about time you got here.” I run into Wyland every once and a while and we talk about art and business. This painting is one of the few originals that I’ve kept for myself.
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WHY-LAND
(1997) 36″ x 36″, Uni-Posca on canvas
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WATERWORLD
(1998) 40″ x 30″, Uni-Posca on canvas
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This is a great example of the evolution of my characters and design. Each one of the characters in these pieces starts out in a single painting on a surfboard. They would then be recreated as paintings for use on trunks and tee shirts. Some of them would eventually become stand alone characters, like my Mad Mahi.
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LOST LAM
(1998) 30″ x40″ Uni Posca and watercolor on matteboard
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The collaboration with Matt Biolos was so much fun. He was good at picking out the best characters from my drawings and then saying, “What if we do something like this?” Then I would make it happen. This Lost Lam design is great example of his idea with my skill. We made a great team.
My sketchbooks are filled with scribbles from this time period, some were made into boards or paintings, many were not. Matt and I would write notes on the ones we wanted to take further.

ABOVE Devil Doll tee shirt BELOW Water World Trunks

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Lost in Hawaii (1998) Posca on wood
My first international art show in Tokyo, Japan. 46

Surf Temple (1999) 33″ x49″ Posca on masonite

I began having my first art shows with my boards and paintings. This one was in Tokyo, Japan. I painted all of these paintings in my garage. They were all Lost tee shirt designs. Most were painted on wood or masonite, some on canvas.

Road to Baja (2001) 36″ x 49″ Posca on masonite Tiki Warriors (1998) Posca on canvas

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FIREFACE
(2000) Pentaptych Uni Posca on Lost Surfboards
I started painting surfboard murals in the late 1990s. It all began when I was painting live at the Lost booth during the Surf Expo Trade Show. We would line up blank boards all around the outside of the booth. I would start at one end and paint my way around the booth while people watched. At some point, I started continuing the painted designs from one board into the next. First I painted triptychs, and then I started experimenting with painting five-board murals. Eventually I was selling them as a set, as art. I also would have them photographed for reproduction on T-shirts and art prints.
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JOY OF SURF
(2001) Triptych Uni Posca on Lost Surfboards
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My style and technique of painting with the Posca pens refined over time. My process of painting a board with pens allowed me to be so much more creative and made it easy to start and finish a painting quickly in one sitting.
Airbrushing surfboards has many limits. You have to paint the foam at the beginning of the manufacturing process. There are many technical factors that require the designs to be simple. Many things can go wrong in the steps after painting. Airbrushing also requires a specially equipped room at the factory.
Painting with Posca pens on a surfboard allows so much more creativity. The pens allow me to paint at the end of the process, on top of the glass. All different sizes of boards can be glassed clear, not slowing down production. I can choose any board and then apply any design. I can also paint anywhere–at a shop, on the beach, or in my living room. And, you can be much more creative and free to paint anything, simple or complex. I always knew that this was a better way to do it.
As I painted in surf shops all over the world, I imagined local artists painting custom boards in their distinct style in each local shop. I began leaving my supply of Posca pens with locals everywhere I went, encouraging young artists to pick up where I left off.
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The volume of art that I created in this time period was staggering. I had huge boxes of spent Poscas. I was designing tees for men and women, bathing suits and fabric, and still working out of my garage. Demand for my work increased, and I painted around the clock. Every design I created started as an original painting.
My style and technique with the poscas became popular. We brought in new artists to help with the volume of boards and art. It was amazing to see artists beginning their careers and making money painting with the Posca pens. It inspired artists in little surf towns all over the world to paint their boards. It really felt great.

Luckily I saved a sample of every piece of clothing my art was printed on. Here’s some of the Lost gear I designed.

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Somewhere in this madness I found success. Matt and I were traveling all over the world–him shaping and me painting. We went to Japan, Brazil, Peru, France, and Spain. We would crank out hundreds of

boards at each stop, and then go surfing until we couldn’t move at night. My board painting just kept getting better. I always wanted to be a world traveler and here I was, but I never thought I would go so far.

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In my free time, I was traveling, surfing, and painting in Tahiti, Fiji, Costa Rica, and Mexico. I was surfing all the waves of my dreams. Those paintings made it possible for Maria and I to buy a house in San Clemente.
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Pipeline (1997) 36″ x36″ Uni Posca on wood I love the round shape of this painting, its round like the tube at Pipeline.

Hatteras (1997) 36″ x 48″ Uni Posca on masonite Hatteras was inspired by those times when I was younger, driving all night for a swell and surfing in the East Coast Surfing Championships. It was my first surfing adventure, and it was where you met everyone, like a gathering of the tribe. The painting hangs in Scott Busby’s In the Eye Surf Shop in Buxton, North Carolina where it belongs.

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ABOVE Sunset Beach (1998) 24″ x48″ Uni Posca on canvas The first place I lived in Hawaii was at Sunset Beach and I surfed it daily. Then, I would sit on the beach thinking about how lucky I was to be there. LEFT Scott Benston, Gerry Lopez, and me, hanging out in the booth at a tradeshow. This is what life was like. Creating cool stuff with cool people. BELOW Sebastian Inlet (1998) 24″ x 36″ Uni Posca on canvas Driving from Myrtle Beach to Florida took the same amount of time as driving to Hatteras. Often we went south for waves, but really we just wanted to get warm.
Simultaneously my art for Surf the Earth grew with my Posca pen technique. I created a series of my favorite surf breaks. Cape Hatteras was the first of these paintings. It was created at the same time as Drew’s Dream, on Masonite.
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The illustrations for boogie boards started as big paintings in my studio.

Opportunity would always find me when I did live paintings at the trade shows. People would notice my art and more work came from it. One example was when Petey Peterson of Wham-O asked me to design boogie boards. My art was perfect for the little styrofoam boards wrapped in fabric. A few people grumbled that I was “selling out” by putting my art on boogie boards. But I imagined the joy it would bring all the kids who would ride their first wave on my art. Wham-O was my first official licensing deal with a contract. For the next seven years, I produced nearly fifty original paintings that they printed on over a million boogie boards and shipped all over the world.

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In 1997, Jimmy Redmon, co-founder of Liquid Force Wakeboards, had one of my painted Lost boards. He was designing a wakeboard that was going to be a game changer for the industry and he wanted it to be amazing. Advancements in printing had him coming to me for artwork. The Trip was the first of many paintings I have done over the years with Liquid Force. They brought me to a whole new group of fans who loved the water just as much as surfers.
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In California, bombing the hill at Trestles was just as fun as surfing. I became friends with the guys at Sector Nine at the trade shows and soon after started designing their skateboards. The first boards we did were limited to three or four colors, but then with new technology we began to be able to print all the colors. I also painted some custom boards with the Posca pens in hopes it would catch on, and guess what? It did!
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RIP CURL CUP
(1999) 50″ x 34″ Uni Posca on wood
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When I got the call to create the Rip Curl Cup art for the Triple Crown of Surfing, I was over the moon. The contest was held at Sunset Beach where the waves get huge. I loved surfing Sunset when I lived there, and I had dreamed of surfing in the contest my whole life. I figured I would have to settle with doing the art instead of competing.
They flew Maria and me to Hawaii for the event. We showed my art in an exhibit with artists Chris Lundy and Steve Valiere. They were two of my favorite artists, and I could not believe I was doing a show with them.
We stayed in Hawaii to attend another contest, the biggest surfing event in the world: The Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters. It was my favorite wave to surf, and I lived right on the beach at Pipeline four years earlier. While at the contest, promoter Randy Rarrick asked me if I would paint a mural on site. It was a huge wall, 16′ x 40′, and without even thinking I said yes. For three days, I painted that wall in the hot sun and watched my favorite wave put on a show. Some of the contestants were riding boards that I painted for them, and I noticed people in the crowd wearing t-shirts and trunks with my art on them. I even saw a guy skating on one of my skateboards in the parking lot. I paused for moment to take it all in. Less than five years earlier, I was a starving artist at this very spot, struggling to make a living and make friends.
Then I ran into Gerry Lopez, who the contest is named after. Gerry was one of the few people who was always cool to me when I lived in Hawaii. Gerry introduced me to a guy who turned out to be the main sponsor of the event. Gerry casually suggested that he should have me do the art for next year’s contest. I about fell over. The guy said, “Great! I will be in touch.” Gerry winked at me and smiled.

TOP Painting a mural at Ehukai Beach Park 1999 ABOVE Maria at my art show at the Charthouse on the North Shore 1999 BELOW With Todd Sutz, getting ready to go surf Sunset 1999

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Creating art for the Pipeline Masters Contest is the Holy Grail for a surf artist. There is an elite club of artists who are invited to do so. I wanted to make mine amazing. I am one of only a few artists in the club who actually surfs Pipeline.
I painted the art in my backyard in San Clemente. My life was the craziest during this time. I was traveling all over the world, painting like a mad man, still chasing dreams that I had already reached. But my whole world was changing. Maria and I got married and my dreams were shifting. Together, we began to dream much bigger.
On the morning I was about to catch a flight to Hawaii for the Pipeline Masters, I realized something: I didn’t want to go to Hawaii. I had already achieved everything I had been working so hard for. I was exhausted.
I set my board bag down in the driveway and went back into the house. I had reached another crossroad in my life. It was time to change direction. Again.
TOP I always dreamed of surfing in the Pipeline Masters. This was the closest I got! Surfing Pipeline, taken with a disposable camera. ABOVE 2000 Pipeline Masters illustration in progress, painting it in my backyard in San Clemente.
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PIPELINE MASTERS POSTER
(2000) 49″ x37″ Posca and airbrush on wood
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Son of the Sea
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Before I left Hawaii in 1996, when I was down and out and recovering from my surfing accident at Pipeline, I had a lot of time to think.
It was then that I dreamed of my future and wrote out a master plan for my life. I wrote a list of everything I wanted. It was organized into three categories: work, family, and travel.
I envisioned a life where I would make a living creating art with a wife and kids to travel the world by my side. We would live by our own rules. I wanted every ounce of energy we put out to benefit our family. And I wanted it all by the age of thirty.
I was consciously executing my life plan, staying focused on what I wanted. Six months after I moved to California in 1996, I met Maria. She had all the qualities that I wanted in a wife; she was beautiful, smart, and always up for a big adventure. We set out to build a business and a life around my art. She became my partner in everything, and together we navigated a world that traditionally takes advantage of artists. We worked to discover new ways of doing business and somehow support ourselves.
My dad always said that having kids was the best thing he ever did. This was true for me as well. My son Dylan was born a few months after my thirtieth birthday. In Welsh, Dylan means “son of the sea” so Maria and I named our new company the same. Son of the Sea, Inc. and Dylan were both born in 2001. This newfound happiness in my life influenced my art immensely. It was the first time that I felt like I belonged.
At this point, Lost had grown much bigger and gotten new partners. I was at another crossroads; things had changed and I decided that I no longer wanted to be a part of it. In 2002, I stopped working with Lost. Therein began yet another chapter in my life.
Maria and I put all of our focus into growing Son of the Sea. We sold art prints to surf shops all over the country, working out of our garage. We would go on surfing adventures down both coasts painting surfboards in the surf shops that sold our prints. We were gaining more and more fans one town at a time, surfing and painting, real grassroots.

ABOVE Maria and Dylan, The Pass in Byron Bay, Australia

JASON KENWORTHY

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LEFT EYE OF THE TUBE (2001) 30″x40″ Uni Posca on canvas. The late, great Wayne Coombs, of Mai Tiki, bought this painting from me at a Surf Expo in 2002. BELOW We sold prints, stickers, tees and other merchandise to hundreds of surf shops in the USA, under our Son of the Sea label.
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I was still designing for many companies, and my style was now well known. We continued to build a brand around my art and name.
We began doing more art shows and trade shows. We expanded with tee shirts, stickers, and more. We hired sales reps, an office manager, and a shipping department. We finally moved operations out of our garage and into a warehouse.
Our adventures went international. Our first was the Australian Paint and Surf Tour. We spent a month surfing and painting down the East Coast of Australia. This was the life I had dreamed of, a synergy of family, work, and adventure all rolled into one.
Maria and I learned a lot about business. It was during a time that people first started usng the internet, and we were an early adopter with drewbrophy.com. Our online sales exploded and we were selling art globally. Maria was full of brilliant ideas; one of her first was to sell an instructional video on how to paint. I had been showing people how to paint all over the world in person, now we could share on a whole new level. Paint Pen Techniques with Drew Brophy video was a huge success.
Maria’s next big idea was to go outside of the surf industry and take my art to the Licensing Expo in New York City. There I exhibited alongside artists Wyland and Christian Lassen, as well as huge brands like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and the NFL. Maria educated herself in licensing and created a business model. She represented me and some of our artist friends, navigating the minefield of contract language to get us the best deals.
My art was now generating multiple streams of income: internet sales, wholesale to stores, original art commissions and licensing.
My focus was on making better, more iconic paintings that would last like hit songs. I wanted to redefine the surfboards to be fine art sculptures of fiberglass resin and paint, to be cherished forever as a celebration of craftsmanship. I wanted to give my collectors art that was authentic and full of life, allowing them to become a part of our story.

ABOVE Maria in Haleiwa, HI BELOW Maria at License Expo in New York.
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Maria and I built the foundation for our dream life during this period. We focused on travel, surfing and creativity. We did live painting events all over the globe and exhibited my art at trade shows. We produced our own TV show called The Paint Shop with Drew Brophy. We went on adventures all over the world, as a family. We intentionally created a life doing what we love, on our own terms.
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PURE JOY
(2001) Tee Shirt Design
The original painting was on a 24″ x18″ canvas, mixed media
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Pure Joy was one of a series of paintings I created for an art exhibit at the Surf Gallery in Laguna Beach in 2001. I painted all of the art on easels in my backyard; this was before I had a studio space outside my home.
Pure Joy captures what surfing feels like to me. I knew from the moment that I sketched Pure Joy that it would be an amazing painting. It was the first to sell at the Surf Gallery exhibit, and it was purchased within minutes of opening the doors. Pure Joy became an iconic image, almost instantly. It ended up being printed on magazine covers and became a favorite for tee shirts and other items. It was my first big hit.
My son was just a baby when I painted Pure Joy. What I didn’t realize when I painted it was that he would grow up to look exactly like the character in the painting: lean, long hair, happy smile.
LEFT PURE JOY (2001) Tee shirt design The original painting was on a 24″x18″ canvas, mixed media ABOVE This is the original drawing, right out of my sketchbook. I drew the Pure Joy lettering to complete the overall design for tee shirts.
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ABOVE Me, holding some of the products that have Sunrise printed on them. TOP My studio wall, painting Sunrise. I create most paintings as a series. They are all painted simultaneously. Sunrise was painted at the same time as Dreamland and My First Wave.

Some of my best art has been sparked by my travels. After a good surf trip, I usually come home with inspiration and a renewed enthusiasm to paint.
After a surf trip to South Africa in 2005, I sketched out a series of paintings, trying to capture the joy of nature that only a surfer can experience. Included in that series was Sunrise, My First Wave, and Dreamland. At the time, I was using Poscas and adding textures and effects with acrylics.
When I painted Sunrise, I had no idea that it would later become my most iconic painting. It’s the most copied, most tattooed and most licensed of all of my work. There are murals of Sunrise painted in six different countries, it is even painted on walls at surf camps in Poland and the Maldives!
The original painting of Sunrise was sold in a gallery in Corona Del Mar, California. Since then, thousands of reproductions have been collected all over the world. The image has also been printed and sold on hundreds of different products, including tee shirts, skateboards, surfboards, Converse shoes, and even glass water bottles.
I think the reason Sunrise resonates with so many people is because it shows the magic of how surfing connects you to all that is in the Universe. It captures that intense feeling of being at one with everything, the feeling that every surfer gets addicted to.

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SUNRISE
(2006) 36″ x48″ Posca and acrylic on canvas
During a trip to South Africa, on the beautiful beach of Jeffrey’s Bay where the ocean is full of life and the waves seem to peel forever, I was inspired to paint the sunrise.
One morning before dawn, after the coldest night of the year, I awoke to be the first to ride one of those magical waves. Standing in the dark, shivering in my wet-suit, I raised my surfboard to block the icy winds. The crashing waves kept me company, but I could not see them in the darkness. Above me, millions of stars danced in the vastness of the Universe.
As my mind began to wander, I felt cold and alone, as if I was nowhere in time or space. Just another speck of light in the night sky.
Finally, a tiny faint glow in the distance caught my eye. It steadily grew larger and in a sudden burst, a tremendous wave of blue light raced across the sky. In a fraction of a second, it erased the darkness and the millions of stars. I instantly felt the warmth of the light as the wave illuminated me. I embraced it and basked in it–it felt like God’s warm hands on my face.
I was no longer alone, a new day had been born, the endless waves and our beautiful world came into view. This is our true gift, every single day.
The earth is our mother. The sun is our father. The ocean is where I was born and feel most at home, it calls to me. I am a Son of the Sea.
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DREAMLAND
(2006) 24″ x48″ Posca and acrylic on canvas
MY FIRST WAVE
(2006) 29″ x 41″ Posca and acrylic on canvas
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Dreamland was inspired by a Dutch man named Thomas, who lived in one of the first houses ever built on the point at Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa. He named his house “Dreamland.”
Thomas would borrow my Mark Richards twin fin surfboard every day and we became friends during my short time there. He told me stories about when Jeffrey’s Bay was a remote place and he had the only house on the point.
Dreamland is my vision of Thomas, sitting on the sand after a great surf session, back in the days when he had the beach all to himself. When I drew the sketch of My First Wave it came to life on the page. I couldn’t wait to paint it. It perfectly illustrates the pure happiness of catching your first wave, a memory I’ll never forget.
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Sunset Sessions was a commissioned painting for a collector named Todd Saunders. Todd’s favorite surf spot is San O’nofre, a giant surfing beach a few miles from my house. People have been surfing there for decades–it’s where groups of families and friends gather to get in a full day’s surf. After hours of catching waves, you come out and your friends have a warm fire going and a cold beer waiting for you.
When SoCal Magazine asked me for an image that would capture the beach life in Southern California, I instantly thought of The Wedge, a mutant wave that breaks off the jetty of Newport Harbor, in Newport Beach. On any given day in the summer, there is carnage at The Wedge–bodyboarders, surfers, stand up paddlers, and body surfers, all going at once. It’s the best show in town!

SUNSET SESSIONS
(2011) 36″ x 48″ Posca and acrylic on canvas

I see a painting totally finished in my mind, first, when I create a sketch. The Wedge was designed with the magazine cover in mind, as you can see here.
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THE WEDGE
(2011) 36″ x 24″, Uni-Posca on canvas
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Hinano Tahiti Painting Series
One year my Tahitian friend, Teva, commissioned me to paint a series of works for a clothing line for his company Hinano Tahiti. The three paintings that came from that commission were Wall of Skulls, Vahine, and Tree of Life.
The Wall of Skulls is on the Polynesian Island of Tahiti and that’s where the inspiration for this painting came from.
One of the most deadly surfing waves in the world is called Teahupo’o. It’s located on the south west coast of Tahiti, literally at the end of the road. I first traveled to surf Teahupo’o in 1997, before it was on the radar of the surfing world. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.
In ancient times, as the population of Tahiti grew, people had to travel further and further to find resources. The inhabitants of the “end of the road” at Teahupo’o got angry at all of the uninvited visitors that would come and pilfer the food from their mango and breadfruit trees. They decided to put a stop to it and severed the heads of anyone caught stealing their food.
They built a wall made of skulls along the shoreline. This was their way of warning visitors to stay away.
Teahupo’o is translated to mean “severed head” or “wall of skulls” and that is why the world famous surf break is called Teahupo’o. It’s one of my favorite waves in the world.
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TIM McKENNA

WALL OF SKULLS
(2010) 36″ x 60″ Uni-Posca, acrylic on canvas
FAR LEFT Surfing Teahupoo in 1997 LEFT Painting the Tahiti series in my studio
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TREE OF LIFE
(2010) 36″ x 60″ Uni-Posca, acrylics on canvas

The Tree of Life captures the story of the breadfruit tree, passed down by my friend Teva’s grandmother. She told a story of how in Tahiti, the breadfruit tree gave life to people in her family, feeding generation after generation.
When a breadfruit tree is young, it needs to be nurtured to grow into a fruit bearing tree. Families would revere the tree, knowing that their children’s children would feed off of it. They cared for the tree while it was young, protecting its future potential.
When you see a thriving breadfruit tree, it means that tree had been intentionally nurtured by the elders. Imagine having a tree in the back yard that your great, great grandfather had planted and it’s been feeding your family for decades. These trees are very special.

Vahine is of a local Tahitian girl sitting at the beach at the surf break Taapuna in the moonlight, with an outline of the Island of Moorea on the horizon.
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VAHINE
(2010) 60″ x 36″, Uni-Posca, acrylic on canvas
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Concept Boards
In 2002 I wanted to create a series of concept surfboards that would show the extreme possibility of the collaboration between craftsman and artists. I teamed up with the four shapers that gave me my start and who had a huge impact on my life. The idea was to let each shaper design an extreme surfboard, then have Todd Sutz do the glass work, and I would paint them. The boards were exhibited at Surf Expo in Orlando and were the hit of the show that year.

ABOVE Painting the concept boards live at Surf City Surf Shop in Myrtle Beach, SC TOP Todd Sutz in his factory, glassing the concept boards
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PITCHFORK
Gary Wilson Kinetic Surfboards

STINGER
Kelly Richards Perfection Surfboards

TUNA TAIL
Todd Sutz Island Inspired Surfboards

W-TAIL BONZER
Bobby Web Action Surfboards

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THE GREEN ROOM TRIPTYCH
(2002) Posca on surfboards shaped by Todd Sutzs
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The surfboards for The Green Room Triptych mural were shaped by Todd Sutz, at the same time as the concept surfboards. It was the first mural where there were no logos and were created specifically as fine art. It was exhibited at Native Sons in Myrtle Beach and Surf Expo in Orlando Florida, where it was sold to a collector. The Green Room became a popular image and was later made into prints, tee shirts, and stickers.
Nature Worshipper was shaped by Ron House and painted in 2002 for the Surf Gallery Art Show in Laguna Beach. It was the centerpiece for the show, inspired by nature in all its raw beauty. Ron House became my partner in my fine art surfboard projects and together we pushed the limits on art and craftsmanship, setting off a new interest in surfboards as fine art.
NATURE WORSHIPPER TRIPTYCH
(2002) Posca on surfboards shaped by Ron House

Exhibit in 2002 at Native Sons in Myrtle Beach, SC

Art show in 2002 at The Surf Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA 89

Hard Rock Hotel

THE STONES
(2003) Posca on 9′ 6″ gun shaped by Ron House On display at Hard Rock Casino Hotel Las Vegas
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With Ron House, installing the surfboards at the entrance of the Hard Rock Casino’s world famous pool.
The Hard Rock surfboards were the first boards that I created and sold beyond the surf industry as fine art. Ron House, a master shaper and craftsman, was my partner in making these boards. I wanted tall, elegant spears with winged tails. Every detail was over the top. My paintings of The Stones and Jimi Hendrix took me to a new level of creativity inspired by music.
These two boards set off a collection of surfboards commissioned by the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for concert events in their venue The Joint. This exposed me to a whole new world. I did art for Santana, Motley Crue, Rob Zombie, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Black Crowes, and so many more. This project pushed me so far beyond just surfing.

From start to finish, the creation of the Hard Rock surfboards was a celebration in extreme creativity. We pushed the limits on the shapes and the art. Even Greg Webster’s resin work was over the top; it was a black and red tint infused with red, hot-rod metal flake.

VOODOO CHILD
(2003) Posca on 9′ 6″ gun shaped by Ron House On display at Hard Rock Casino Hotel Las Vegas
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SANTANA
(2005) Shaped by Ron House
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ROB ZOMBIE
(2006) Shaped by Ron House

MÖTLEY CRÜE
(2005) Shaped by Ron House

TOM PETTY
(2005) Shaped by Ron House

NINE INCH NAILS
(2005) Shaped by Ron House

BLACK CROWES
(2005) Shaped by Ron House
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PRECESSION
(2012) Posca on 8′ 0″ gun shaped by Ron House

ISLAND LOVE
(2004) Posca on 8′ 10″ double wing pin tail
shaped by Ron House

PERFECT LINES
(2005) Posca on 10′ Waimea gun
shaped by Ron House

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BILLABONG
(2005) Posca on 9′ 6″ Waimea gun shaped by Timmy Patterson

AARON CHANG

Ron House, holding a Timmy Patterson surfboard that I painted for Billabong’s store in Times Square, New York.
Precession was created in 2012 for an art exhibit at Sacred Craft in Del Mar California. It depicts the prophecy of a shift in consciousness, with the of death of greedy consumerism and rebirth of synergy with mother nature.
Island Love was created for a Valentine’s Day art exhibit for M Modern Art Gallery in Palm Springs California. The painting depicts the love affair between the hula girl and a tiki warrior. Red resin rails were filled with metal flake and in the light, it glistens like a fishing lure.
Perfect Lines was created for a private collector. The art demonstrates an articulation of how amazing our world is, from the curvature of liquid waves to the perfect natural lines of the yellowfin tuna. These shapes inspire spear-like surfboards made for speed.
Billabong, commissioned by Billabong for their flagship store in Times Square, New York City, depicts me surfing the giant wave of life, doing my time while wisdom and angels watch over me. The dangers of life surround me as the vulture waits for me to wipeout.
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FLYING FISH
(2005) Posca on surfboard shaped by Al Merrick
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With Maria at Milk Studios in New York City. This surfboard sold at auction for $14,000, which at the time was the most any of my paintings had ever sold for.

During this time Maria and I were very active with ocean related charities, donating surfboard paintings, wanting to make a difference. Many boards were created for these events, these are two of my favorites.
Flying Fish was created in 2005 for event held by Surfrider in New York City. In this painting you can see a young surfer at the bottom with the world exploding with life around him. This is how I see the world.
MiOcean was created in 2010 for a MiOcean event in Laguna Beach, California. In this painting you can see me surfing, Maria holding a light, and Dylan searching the sky with a telescope.

This painting flowed freely, which always happens when I don’t have a client telling me exactly what to paint. Some of my best works come from being free to cut loose and paint what’s in my head, without restriction.

MIOCEAN
(2010) Shaped by Ron House
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My reputation for painting thousands of surfboards has led to a demand in custom painted surfboards for corporate headquarters and events. Often these are painted live at specialty events, given as awards, or showcased in their headquarters as fine art.
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THE GREAT NORTH WEST
(2013) Posca pen on 12′ paddleboards
Shaped by Ron House
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LARRY BEARD

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Sacred Shapes
In 2014 I was challenged to help shapers Jeff Eilers and Erwin Spitz repurpose six severely damaged vintage surfboards that were saved from being trashed. They had stripped the fiberglass off the boards and repaired the foam, then gently screened the discolored thin layer of the raw foam away. Jeff’s idea was to reglass them as new with 70’s style airbrush. There was still quite a bit of discoloration, so I created designs that could flow with the damage so you could not see it. The boards were then reglassed by master surfboard builder Roger Hinds. The result was totally amazing. This unique project demonstrated beautifully how to give new life to an old surfboard, transforming it into a collectible piece of art.

THE TREE OF LIFE
saved by Jeff Eilers (2013)
Airbrush on surfboard

JONIE MILLHOUSE JONIE MILLHOUSE

It felt great to go back to my airbrushing roots to paint these boards. Here’s Maria with her favorite four.
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JOURNEY OF THE POLYNESIANS
(2016) Posca on 8’0″ swallow tail gun shaped by Ron House
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CHASING THE DRAGON
(2012) Posca on 8’0″ Pipeline gun
shaped by Gerry Lopez

The Journey of the Polynesians is one of bravery and adventure. I have traveled all throughout the South Pacific and am inspired by the history of the Polynesian people. They navigated thousands of miles of the Pacific and were master navigators of the sea by using the stars. No one is quite sure where they came from or how they gained this amazing knowledge. Some speculate that they reached much further lands, like North and South America.
The Polynesians were the first surfers. Surfing is one of the few activities that was done just for pure joy, riding the ocean’s energy.
Every symbol in this painting has deep meaning and some are ancient concepts. The sky is a visual depiction of mana. In Polynesian culture, mana is a spiritual quality considered to have supernatural origin–a sacred impersonal force existing in the universe. Just like all indigenous people, they weren’t separate from the earth, they were a part of it.
Chasing the Dragon is a retro 1970’s Lighting Bolt Pipeline gun shape that Gerry Lopez made famous. The painting is inspired by Lopez’s stories of his early exploration of Indonesia and the long, tubing waves discovered there. He likened the waves as being chased by a dragon trying to eat you. Others on this journey discovered another dragon in Southeast Asia, opium, which left you trapped in a very dark place. The question is: are you chasing the dragon or is the dragon chasing you?
Tribute to Rick Griffin was created for an art exhibit in Santa Monica California, which featured a board painted by legendary artist Rick Griffin. My painting is a celebration of creativity which this beautiful life inspires. Many parallels in my artistic journey with Griffin compels me to reach further into my artistic mind. The painting started as a spontaneous sketch to reflect Griffin’s message, “I am the Eye”. It was painted live in Santa Monica while the public watched it come to life. It is one of my favorite paintings.

ABOVE Painting one of Griffin’s characters in the Kachina mask. It symbolizes Rick’s spirit, waving to us. TOP Admiring Rick Griffin’s painted surfboard

TRIBUTE TO RICK GRIFFIN
(2016) 8’0″ Pipeline gun shaped by Ron House
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I’ve been hired to do a lot of fun projects creating art for special events and company branding. I always begin the process by asking what they want and it triggers an explosion of ideas. I’ve gotten good at figuring out how to transform their concepts into a visual. It’s exciting to see the end result of creating a painting and lettering that that gives their marketing and merchandising a unique look. I love to see the ideas come to life and make people happy.
(Clockwise from top left)
Nelscott Reef Contest Poster (2014) Surf Expo tee design (2011) Atlantic Watersports (2016) Orange County Mattress (2014) Malibu Coast Animal Hospital (2015) The Quarry (2014) Doheny Surf Festival (2012) Santa Cruz PaddleFest (2016) Native Joe’s Scoop & Grind (2014)
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Beyond Surf
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Somewhere along the line, I moved beyond surf and on to working with really cool clients like famous musicians and innovators, and giant companies. It didn’t happen overnight; it was an organic progression forward. Maria and I had worked hard for nearly two decades and finally found ourselves working with our dream clients. It’s allowing me to create better art and grow as an artist. I really never thought that I would go this far with my art.
If you stay consistent, build up a reputation for being great to work with, do your best, and don’t burn bridges, you eventually end up at a place where you never thought you’d get to. And that’s what I did.

ABOVE Baja Bad BOTTOM Bass of Doom, painted for Robert Trujillo of Metalllica.

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I can remember being inspired by album cover art when I was a kid, done by artists like Rick Griffin, Roger Dean, and others, who would set the tone with their art as the music took me on a journey. Sublime is the band that represents my time in Southern California. I have designed many CD covers but Sublime with Rome marks the first big band to use my art for the CD cover as well as all the merchandising and marketing for the tour. To see my painting as a sixty foot backdrop behind the band was a great moment and to finally see a record album with my art on it was a dream come true.
The artwork is the result of a ten minute conference call with the band and their record agents. Everyone gave their opinion but it was the music that set the tone.
TOP Sublime with Rome’s Irvine concert summer 2016. It was my kids’ first concert ever. BOTTOM, TOP TO BOTTOM At a Sublime with Rome practice session. The band members agreed to sign 100 collectible art prints of the artwork and the original paintings for me. Here I am with Rome Ramirez, Eric Wilson and Josh Freese. 108

JONIE MILLHOUSE

SUBLIME WITH ROME
(2015) 36′ x36′ Posca on canvas
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OHANA
(2016) 36″ x 48″ Posca on canvas
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I was so stoked when Eddie Vedder’s team called about doing art for a new music event hosted by Eddie at Doheny State Park near San Clemente. As a boy, Eddie surfed his first waves on its peeling, cobble reef. Eddie wanted the art to reflect the California beach lifestyle of waves, sunset, bonfires, and family. The event was named Ohana which means “family” in Hawaiian.
When I’m commissioned to create a painting for anyone, including bands, I usually offer the original painting to my collectors. Also, I always reserve the right to sell art prints of the painting. Both Ohana and Sublime with Rome paintings have been reproduced into collectible art prints which I sell from my website and out of my gallery. Ohana has turned out to be a popular print on canvas. I embellish each one by hand-painting the collector’s family name onto the bottom of the print.
This is the poster for Eddie Vedder’s first ever Ohana Festival. It was cool to see the posters all over town and to have my family attend the concert as V.I.P.!
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CHRIS SIGLIN OF TSURT, LLC

GROUPER BEACH
(2016) 24″ x 48″ Posca on Canvas

This CD cover for the reggae band, SOWFLO, is one of my favorites. It depicts the hot Florida sun melting the scenery of bubbling cannabis infused waves and water. It’s funny how so many people suspect that I smoke weed to create these paintings, but it’s quite the opposite; I need my mind clear and open. I already have such an overload of sensory information running through my mind, that anymore would just be chaos.

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SUMMER DREAMS
(2016) 24″ x 36″ Posca on Canvas
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A Life Well Lived
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Every painting tells a story. Often my art reflects the current events in my life and my interpretation of the way I see the world.
This painting began as mural project for Keen Footwear. It is painted on nine Fredrix Canvas gallery-wrap panels, six feet tall and 18 feet long. I painted it live during Keenfest in Salt Lake City Utah summer of 2014.
I have worked with Keen for many years. They are so much more than a shoe company, they are people striving to do everything better. Their enthusiasm is infectious, they truly inspire me to be more adventurous and their ideals push me to be better at everything I do.

A LIFE WELL LIVED
(2014) 18′ x 6′ , Uni-Posca, acrylic on canvas

When designing the painting, I began thinking of all the places that Keen shoes take people. I also thought about how these forward thinking people affected others and the world around them.
I quickly realized that this was not about shoes but was about getting out into nature, doing things to the best of your ability for the benefit of everyone, and the connection to each other and the environment.
This was a tall order so I started drawing circles. The circles slowly began to take shape into a flower of life pattern. The process was hypnotic, and I began to think of what a gift it is to be born into this beautiful world full of possibilities.

I love the water and I love surfing. We are 90% water, we are the clouds, seeds of information coded for life. The joining of two circles, creates space for a third within the vesica piscis. Love is transformed into a new child of the earth, like butterflies emerging from cocoons.
We are all miracles searching for new experiences, we are the rain that nourishes all life.
The boy on the beach represents the time when we are young, when everything is amazing and new, and we are constantly curious, and fearless. This is one of the most amazing periods of life. I tell my kids not to be in hurry to grow up, just enjoy each age to the fullest. Enjoy all of your firsts.
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BRIAN BRADLEY

When we begin our path in life we play, we grow, and we come to realize that experiences and interaction with others are everything.
Knowledge comes from constantly pushing into the unknown and understanding that there is always something new and more to learn. The trick is to know what you really want, where you want to go, what makes you feel good?
We are the streams and rivers flowing across the earth, we are meant to be free. We want to flow towards the things that feel good and avoid the things that feel bad. It is a constant flow, like time, always moving towards the ocean where we all began.
Hopefully with enough experiences and time you will arrive at a place of interconnected reality. You realize we are only here to enjoy the ride.
Reality is being fully present and it lies in the expansion of our experiences and thoughts with others. It is the discovery that there is no separation, everything is connected, and we are all deeply rooted in the fabric of everything.
This is represented by the man in the center doing a yoga tree pose. This is also the understanding of who we really are.
We are liquid light at one with nature beyond our physical body. This is represented by the merkabah, the conduit which your life force exists in this world, this invisible energy flows through the flower of life pattern into everything it scales infinitely larger and smaller.

In this is the understanding that everything is a vibration of energy, manifesting matter in five combinations of shapes, called the platonic solids. These shapes make up all elements of matter which consists of almost entirely empty space.
With this understanding everything becomes only thought which is manifesting everything.
What seems so complex is simple, Control over your thoughts and desires is everything. It is the power of creativity. We are all creators of our reality. This is the knowledge to teach your children.
You are what you think, anything is possible, life is to be enjoyed, and we are all connected as one.
As time moves forward everything is in a state of renewal and transformation.
The fire and lava represent this as the cycle of light turns to dark. The darkness and its creatures represent the path of loneliness of a lost soul who has become disconnected and alone. If only he knew to fall back into the flow where there is nothing to fear and only love.
Salmon spend their last days swimming upstream to the place of their birth. They lay their eggs in the hopes that their offspring will live on, thus continuing the cycle. Connected souls have no fear. They will give everything to others and in so they will live on in their thoughts forever.
Saturn represents the unknown and all that is left to be learned in an ever-expanding universe. There will always be more that you want to see and do.

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DAVID MUNK

It is the thought of what you did do throughout your life that counts.
The owl represents wisdom; even in the darkness he sees joy and love and he has the sense to follow it and flow with it. This is your path and your time.
In the end, when it’s time to return to the light, have no fear, look back on a life well lived. Smile upon the cherished memories of your experiences with all that you loved on this earth. Take joy in all that you gave of yourself to others in kindness. Your hopes, dreams, and examples live on within them.
This painting was heavily influenced by the loss of my father. He is the one entering the light, I am in the middle seeing my childhood and my death, and my son stands on the beach, with his entire life in front of him.
When I think of my dad, I think of all that he gave me, I think of all of our shared memories.
In the end that’s all that is left, experiences of time together. His life was well lived, he is loved. He lives on in me and my son. It is the cycle of life. He took his last breaths on this earth with my mother and all of his children holding him with love. We escorted him to the other side, and he was not alone.
I hope this painting inspires people to live life to its fullest. I hope it inspires them to be the best people they can be.
I also hope it reminds everyone just how lucky they are to be here.

Live at Keenfest during Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, summer of 2014. I painted this over four long days. Sometimes during these bigger projects, I wish I could clone myself.

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Holy Water was painted live over three days at the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles. The painting was created to articulate the mechanism in which molecules of water form clusters and chains that potentially retain information of the electromagnetic fields of elements. It was commissioned by Gary Greenfield who is researching the effects of EMF fields on living systems through water.
Many of my projects require vast amounts of research to understand the subjects I am hired to illustrate. Holy Water was a month-long study of what makes water special to all living things. This project, and others that followed, thrust me into a whole new understanding about the world around us. This began a deep immersion into the study of physics and ancient cultures. Many researchers believe that the Holy Grail is all about the water and how it communicates information through the structure of its molecules.
Painting live at the Conscious Life Expo, 2015. With this project I was exposed to a lot of new information and I grew tremendously. I got to interact with some of the world’s most innovative physicists, scientists and inventors.
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HOLY WATER
(2015) 6′ x 6′ Posca on canvas
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MOTHER EARTH
(2017) 30″ x40″ Posca and mixed media on canvas
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Mother Earth depicts the amazing world of nature. It was commissioned as one in a series of over a dozen paintings created for Mother Earth Soil Products. It is a great example of how my work has grown to include more than my love of surfing to just nature itself. The painting shows the versatility of the Posca pens to create softer, more organic colors.
The idea was to capture Mother Earth and I imagined a young girl in her garden, creating a happy world. It took over a dozen sketches to get this one just right. All of the hard work is in the sketch. Once the sketch is complete, the painting comes easy to me.
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Creation painting was commissioned as an album cover for Tim and Ana Cannon, of the band Universal Prayer. I listened to Tim and Ana as they described what effect they wanted their album to have on others. As we brainstormed on the art and rambled on about life, this image emerged in my sketch. Sometimes my paintings reflect recurring themes and icons that seem to be leading me through life. This painting demonstrates perfectly how I see the world.
Tim and Ana wanted a seed of life mandala so I used that as a base for the painting. There’s a lot going on in this painting and it is all energy that emanates from the center. This sketch came easily to me. It felt like I wasn’t even trying. That’s the flow I’m always reaching for. 122

CREATION
(2018) 24″ x 24″ Posca on canvas
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JEFF MARDER DAN KRAUSS

Maria, Dylan, and I have had a life full of adventure surfing, hiking, exploring, and painting as we go. I have worked in 16 different countries and all over the United States while meeting people and living life to the fullest.
We always wanted to have another child, but it wasn’t in the cards for us. Not until 2011, when our great niece, Mia, began spending summers traveling with us. She made our road trips a lot more fun. In 2014, we got custody of Mia and overnight we became a family of four. Luckily, she loves travel and adventure, too.
It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been over twenty two years since I first wrote a list of what I wanted my life to be like. Everything I wrote on that piece of paper has come true. I had pulled myself out of the depths of depression and created my life exactly how I imagined that I wanted it to be. It wasn’t easy, it didn’t come overnight, and believe me, I’ve had to fight for everything I have. But I’m proud of what I’ve built and I’m ready to take my art to a new level.
In the summer of 2018 I had my first retrospective art exhibit at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum in South Carolina. The exhibit covered my 30 year progression of work, just as this book does. It was a dream come true to have a museum exhibit at the age of 47.
As I close this chapter of my life, it’s time to write a new list of dreams. I am, once again, facing a crossroads in my life. My biggest challenge now is to ask myself “what do I want next?”
I want to articulate, through fine art, the difficult concepts that I study: energy, solar dynamics, physics, ancient symbols, and knowledge. I want to be known as a seeker who has cultivated a deep understanding of how life works. I want to inspire and educate, creating art that opens people’s minds to see the world in a new light. I want my fine art paintings to hang in airports and museum collections for all to see.
After nearly thirty years of being an artist, I feel I’m finally ready to paint something great.
Life is good, Drew

TOP With Maria at the Great Pyramid in Egypt. BITTOM San Onofre State Beach. This photo was printed in The Wall Street Journal’s Life & Style section. They featured a story on my unique lifestyle.
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Uni Posca pens are the tools that have allowed me to succeed as an artist. Their simplicity and versatility have allowed me to paint on anything. I have developed techniques so that I could start my ideas quickly and then add details that would give the painting a professional finished look.
Posca has allowed me to build an entire career as an illustrator and fine artist. I believe Posca pens are the single best tool to introduce people to art. With just a dozen pens, you can set up anywhere and start and finish a painting in one sitting. I have traveled the world with a small bag of pens painting thousands of surfboards and artworks while sitting on surf shop floors, on beautiful beaches, and in surfboard factories.
Thank You, Uni Posca. Your pens changed my life.
Drew Brophy
P.S. to Artists: I’m offering free downloads of art tools and tips to anyone who has a copy of this book. Go to www.DrewBrophy.com/Book to get yours!
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SCOTT SMALLI

EVELINA PENCHEVA

Some people say that you shouldn’t mix art and money. But I love that I’ve been able to support my family with my art. Over the years, artists have come to Maria and me asking for advice on how to make a living with their art. We found ourselves answering the same questions over and over again, like “how much should I charge” and “how do I get my art on products” and “how can I travel while working as an artist”.
Our goal has always been to help make things easier for artists by sharing the lessons that we’ve learned along the way. Maria started answering the questions in a blog at www.MariaBrophy.com.

Maria’s blog became popular and nearly 10,000 artists from all over the world subscribed to it. In 2017, Maria compiled her best art business strategies and published them in a book titled Art Money Success.
Art Money Success is Maria’s guidebook on how to make a living with your artwork by following our own business model. The book is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle options. It has hit the Amazon #1 Bestseller list numerous times since it was released.
You can also sign up for free excerpts of the book at www.mariabrophy.com/book.

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