Hot Pop is a style of art that captures the depth of its subject matter in color, placing bold strokes of vibrant hues where other artists use lines and shading. Some might describe it as a technique, one invented by Doug Hoffman in the 1980s when his three-year-old daughter insisted she painted her portrait using only Crayola markers. Others though would say Hot Pop was Hoffman’s calling, the art form he was born to discover. He didn’t recognize it right away: at first, the markers felt clumsy in his hands but as he put felt-tip to the paper he discovered a freedom unleashed by the unfamiliar tools. As he marked the page with his daughter’s face, he was astounded by the way the image matched the one he held in his mind’s eye. At last, Doug had managed to capture the world the way he saw it, and it proved to be an innovation that wouldn’t just change Hoffman’s life, but the art world at large.

In 1996, the United States Patent Office awarded Hot Pop with the first ever copyright assigned to a style of art — an act many other artists, including Andy Warhol, had attempted and failed. Hoffman, though, carried on humbly, working as an art teacher in schools because as much as he believed in Hot Pop’s revolutionary potential, he believed it could change, and more importantly improve, the lives of young artists.

In the 30 years since Hot Pop’s fated beginning, Hoffman has taught his technique in schools and hospital rooms, all the while working in his private studio, in Crayola, acrylic, and oil, to create hundreds of commissioned portraits, public and private murals, and original paintings. Hot Pop can be found in private collections, as well as in galleries in and around Hoffman’s hometown in Watertown, Wisconsin.