Birth of the Surfboard Mural

In celebration of 30 years of surf art, I’m re-releasing some of my coolest vintage designs on t-shirts and stickers.

Enjoy!

Collection of vintage Lost x Drew Brophy t-shirts, stickers, and apparel designs laid out together

A spread of vintage Lost-era designs now being re-released on tees and stickers.

Howdy friends,

In the 1990s, I was having an explosion of creativity with my style of Posca paint pen art on surfboards. It was the first time in my life that I felt truly in sync, and it allowed me to grow like never before.

I had people who believed in me. I had companies like Lost Surfboards pushing me to do what I did best. My art was finally in demand, and I just let it all flow out of me.

The craziest part of it all was the sheer volume of art being created. I painted 10 or more surfboards every day. I was painting for surf shops all over the country and for many of the best surfers of the time.

Drew Brophy in the studio during the Lost era, standing between colorful paintings

When the art took over

At night, I would paint on wood and canvas for t-shirt designs and other special projects. I was a mad man.

Back then, we did trade shows like Surf Expo in Florida and ASR in San Diego. Each time we brought more and more boards, and we could never get them done in time, so I decided I would just paint them live at the shows in front of the crowd.

Clear boards would be wrapped around our ever-expanding booth. My original art would be inside the booth, where you could buy the crazy designs on t-shirts, board shorts, and stickers.

I would start at one end of the booth and paint for days. I custom painted each board for surf shop owners. No idea was too crazy. It was amazing to see it all come together.

I began running the ideas through the boards, making murals — first three boards, then five. Shops bought them as window displays. Nobody had ever seen anything like it.

Large group of Lost surfboards lined up with custom Drew Brophy artwork — *Rows of custom-painted boards, ready for shops and surfers.*

Drew Brophy painting a surfboard live inside a Lost booth display — *Painting live at the shows, right in front of the crowd.*

Drew Brophy in front of a multi-board mural concept featuring Lost surfboards

Some of the mural concepts that came out of that wild creative period.

Finding my purpose

I had finally found my purpose. I was good at something.

Matt Biolos and I were being invited to make surfboards all over the world. We would show up and blow up — blowing minds everywhere we went.

That time period was a blur. I found myself everywhere. I had already exceeded all of my wildest dreams. I never thought I would go so far in such a short period of time.

Shop the Vintage Release

It really feels good to re-release some of the art from this period. I am forever grateful to everyone who was a part of those moments.

Together, we truly created and experienced one of the best times ever in the surf industry and surf culture.

Life is good. Enjoy, Drew.