Welcome to Hotpop.cool — home of Hot Pop, the art of Douglas Hoffman and the first patented style of art in the United States.

Doug Hoffman has been making art for as long as he’s been alive. As a kid growing up in Madison, Wisconsin he received his BA in Fine Art from University of Madison and made his way across the country with his paintbrush and his pen. But along the way Hoffman collected more than portraits, he collected family and stories and, as a stand-up comedian and yellow cab elf, the stories usually come with a punch-line. But one story rises above the rest, the story that would change Hoffman’s art, and his life, forever.

Hot Pop was born in 1990 when Hoffman was visiting his daughter Sarah in Boulder, Colorado. As was customary during their visits, Hoffman was set to paint a portrait of his then five-year-old girl. But just as he was about to start, Sarah took the paintbrush out of his hands and said, “No Dad, use these instead,” placing a box of Crayola markers in his hand. It took Hoffman a few days to get used to the feel of the chubby markers in his hands, but soon they felt natural, like they were meant to be there all along, and Hot Pop was born. In 1996, Hot Pop became the 1st style of art to be copyrighted in the United States.  

Since that fateful day, Hoffman has painted over 4,000 portraits in Hot Pop style (including for driver Mario Andretti and six Green Bay Packer’s players), created murals for Milwaukee area museums and zoos, and painted hundreds of commissions.

Hoffman has been featured in several articles, interviews, and regularly performs stand-up and theater in his hometown of Watertown, WI.