Behind the Scenes…

01 Dec

Posted at 09:44h in Behind the Scenes... by
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Drew has always loved surfing Teauhupo’o, one of the best waves in the world.

So when Teva and Aja of Hinano Tahiti approached Drew to create artwork for their apparel line, he was excited.

Hinano is Tahiti’s most popular brand of beer brewed by Brasserie de Tahiti since 1955.

If you’ve ever been to Tahiti, chances are you’ve had yourself some Hinano brew.

Hinano Tahiiti, owned by the same company, is an apparel brand that celebrates the island lifestyle.  Both brands share the beautuiful Vahine as their symbol logo.

Since Tahiti is one of Drew’s favorite places, it was easy for him to paint a few pieces exclusively for Hinano Tahiti’s 2011 collection.

Inspired by his time on the Tahitian Islands, Drew created a series of paintings for this collection, including WALL OF SKULLS, VAHINE and THE TREE OF LIFE.

(more…)

28 Sep

Posted at 10:52h in Behind the Scenes... by
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The great hat maker Flat Fitty challenged me to stump them on making a killer hat.  They gave me complete freedom to design it any way I wanted.  So I went crazy with the detail and colors.

Designing a cool hat took more than just putting good art on it.  It was the added details, large and small, that made it awesome.

When I first met with Elizabeth Miller, who is in charge of Flat Fitty promotions, she challenged me to create a hat that would show off what they can do as a manufacturer.  I was up for the task!

THE ART:  For the front of the hat I chose to use my painting SUNRISE.  I wanted it to pop when you look at it from different angles, and Sunrise has browns, blues, greens, many colors.

I had to manipulate the art so that it would work with the fold in the center of the hat.  This required modifying it so when you folded two pieces together, the art still looked good.  This took a lot of thought and time playing with the concept in the computer.

(more…)

16 Sep

Posted at 13:44h in Behind the Scenes... by
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We named our new van “The Dream Machine” for two reasons:

  1. We intend to “live the dream life” of adventure with it, and
  2. We were inspired by Shaggy & Scooby’s Mystery Machine!

The Dream Machine not only gets a lot of attention, but it also brings up a lot of questions, like “what kind of paint did you use” and “how did you seal it” and “did you really want it to look like that?!”

Drew was kind enough to want to share these answers and more.  Read his “tutorial” below: (more…)

05 Sep

Posted at 11:47h in Behind the Scenes... by
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Drew and the 2011 Trip Series Original Painting

Here’s the great thing about having long-term relationships with clients:  You develop a history over time, and before you know it, you’ve created many cool projects over the course of almost 2 decades.

That’s how it’s gone with Drew and Jimmy Redmon at Liquid Force Wakeboards.

Drew said he loves working with Liquid Force because “they aren’t scared to do something wild or different.”

And as Jimmy Redmon told me, he started working with Drew because “Drew was creating stuff that no one else was.  His style was unique.”

They’ve always allowed Drew to go crazy with the artwork, and as all artists know, when you have the freedom to paint what lights your fire, you can create awesome, radical art.

Drew’s first design for Liquid Force was in 1997 for their revolutionary Trip series (Liquid Force was the first makers of the multi-fin board – they changed everything in wake boarding!)  That was almost 15 years ago! (more…)

17 Aug

Posted at 22:04h in Behind the Scenes... by
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Del Lago Wall Mural by Drew Brophy

Art tends to be the first thing that’s cut in school systems, and it’s sad that our society doesn’t always see the value in art.

And that was one of the motivations of Patty Roberts, Wendy Northrup and Courtney Arlow to team up and paint a mural at their kids’ school.

del-lago-wall-mural-002-courtneys-side2

They saw a blank wall at Del Lago Elementary School and decided to turn it into a project that would benefit their community in more ways than one. (more…)

14 Aug

Posted at 10:37h in Behind the Scenes..., Murals by
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Drew Brophy sunrise mural art painting for Links in costa mesa californiaLast month Drew painted two murals back-to-back.  It’s funny, when it rains it pours…it all happened at once.

The first mural Drew painted was for Yogurt Wave, and you can read about by clicking on the link.

The second was for a company called LINKS in Costa Mesa, CA.  Our contact there, Tom, loved Drew’s painting called SUNRISE.  He’s also an avid fisherman.  So he wanted the mural to incorporate SUNRISE and fish somehow.  Drew pulled it off nicely.

Tom also wanted the wall adjacent to the mural to have a nice faux finish that would compliment the artwork.  And there are beams in the room that he asked Drew to paint to look like a big cross.  Check out the photos to see how it all turned out, below.

LINKS Big Wave MURAL FINISHED FAUX by Drew Brophy July 2010 011

The finished mural

After all this, I wrote a piece on my blog called PAINTING A WALL MURAL – TEN WAYS TO PLEASE YOUR CLIENT.  The article is based on what I learned by watching Drew handle his mural painting and his clients.  In the end, Tom was very very happy.  And so were we!

 

04 Jul

Posted at 10:49h in Behind the Scenes..., Murals by
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yogurt-wave-mural-artist-katie-staib-painting

Our new clients, Yogurt Wave, came to Drew for help creating a cool atmosphere in their new store.

The owners, Kerry and Tommy, envisioned a fun spot where action-sports minded kids would want to hang out.

Drew was their man to make it happen with his vibrant, energetic artwork. First they commissioned Drew just to paint a 46′ wall mural for their location in Costa Mesa, CA. But as we started working on the sketches, they then asked Drew to re-create their logo for them.

THE MURAL:

We knew this one was going to be tricky, so we flew in expert reinforcement all the way from (more…)

15 Jun

Posted at 22:37h in Behind the Scenes... by
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Drew's Pirate in Glass by Kyle Hunter Goodwin

Drew's Pirate in Glass by Kyle Hunter Goodwin


One of the greatest things about growing older is you get to witness your friends becoming successful and growing in their craft.  It’s fun to reminisce about where you came from and how far you’ve come.

Kyle Hunter Goodwin is someone that we’ve watched hone his talent through the years.  His glass works have become more detailed, refined and beautiful as time passes.

We got to know Kyle  many years ago when we were planning the Sea Monster Ball.  It was a group art show, curated by me and Drew, and put on at the very beautiful ocean front Ocean-Institute. We asked Kyle to be one of the artists exhibiting and he flew out from Florida to join us.  Since then, we’ve all come a long way in our careers, and we’ve kept in touch. Recently Kyle asked if he could take one of Drew’s pirate paintings and re-create it in glass.  Of course, we were ecstatic at the idea!

It’s amazing how Kyle could take Drew’s painting (below) and create this beautiful glass piece from that.  It’s for sale, you can buy it by contacting Kyle directly at 352-213-3998.


Pirate painting by Drew Brophy

Pirate by Drew Brophy


Go to his website at www.hunterglass.com and check out some of the awesome glasswares and art available.  You will love his work!

06 Jun

Posted at 16:10h in Behind the Scenes... by
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brophys-with-sunrise-escape-camper-van-1

Photo by Michael R Foley

“I envision a place where people can live together more pleasantly than in any other place in America.” Ole Hansen, Founder of San Clemente.

Imagine a place where most people who live there are truly stoked on life.  Happy, beautiful women surf and enjoy yoga.  Young fathers ride alongside their kids on bikes to school in the mornings.  The world’s best waves and beaches are a stones-throw outside your door.  The climate is perfect, and people are friendly and kind.

Such a place does exist; it’s called (more…)