Drew Brophy

Drew Brophy is an American artist born in 1971 who is known as a surf artist, best known for his surfboard paintings and a distinctive style made with Uni-Posca water-based paint pens. Self-taught, he began painting on surfboards when he first took up surfing in his native South Carolina, and he originally set out to be a professional surfer, travelling internationally and paying for his surf trips with his artwork. After living and surfing in Hawaii in the 1990s he moved to California in 1996. His work includes a custom paint job on a Music Man bass played by Dougie Poynter of McFly, the 2011 local television series The Paint Shop with Drew Brophy, a place in the 2012 book Surf Graphics and a 2018 autobiography, Painting Surfboards and Chasing Waves. In May 2011 he and filmmaker Seth Warren became the first to stand-up paddleboard the 225 miles of the Colorado River between Lees Ferry and Diamond Creek.