Drew Brophy


I am best known for painting surfboards, but when the opportunity to paint for Escape camper vans came up I was stoked so here is some background on how painting vans came about. In 2008 we went to New Zealand for vacation. We rented a hand painted camper van from Escape Camper Rentals. The vans were amazing hundreds of them all different and all painted by hand. When we checked in the owner said he knew my art through surfing the Internet and wanted me to paint a van right then while on my vacation. He was also thrilled to tell me they were coming to America to set up shop in La, and asked if I would be interested in painting the vans for the new shop. We loved the concept and agreed to take the project on. I have done dozens of vans for Escape since then; the first one took me two days, now I have a quick system to get it done 8 hours, a full day of painting.


Step 1 The first step is prepping the Van; this includes cleaning, taping, scuffing the surface. This step is very labor intense; it pays to take your time to do it right or you may have problems later. The best tip I can provide you here is to use quality tape, cheap tape leaves adhesive residue which is very difficult to remove.


Step 2 Set up your workspace to be fast. I use a wide color range of Montana Gold and Montana 94 spray paint with changeable tips. I use a couple different airbrushes, Paasche vl for broad color, and an Iwata eclipse for tighter details. I arrange my Createx colors to match my spray paint, so when I start I can move fast with all my tools. I also tape my design to the van to keep me on track.


Step3 I begin with spray paint filling in broad sections of mid tone color and outlines of the design. I am not doing much blending, I am just trying to map out the design and get rid of all the white as quick as I can. Make sure you paint the hard to reach spots in cracks and wheel wells, even up under the bottom.


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