CartoonHue Folk

Mr Men & Little Miss inspired art

Hue's latest creations are a tribute to Roger Hargreaves's Mr Men books & also dubbed the 'Untold Stories' paintings, crossing familiar shaped characters with modern & often humorous themes. Our collection is here: 'Hue Folk - Mr Men And Little Miss Books.'

Taking his previous concept of the re-imagined Penguin Books, Hue wondered how he could cross them with one of his favourite genres, cartoon characters. We all remember the Roger Hargreaves books & cartoon series from childhood and so Hue has blended them and created something rather special, dubbing them: ‘Untold Stories.’ Of course these New characters never appeared on the front of any real children’s books!

Maybe you have got your own idea for a character based on yourself or someone close to you? No problem, give us a brief and we will commission Hue to create your very own unique character as an original painting!

Penguin Classics book cover art

The artist has turned his creative flair to producing many series of the 'Hue Folk - Penguin Classics,' Penguin Classics style book covers with cheeky slogans written on! A genre of art incredibly in vogue in the UK art market, Hue approaches each original with great care and an eye for detail. Starting with a humorous phrase, he uses bold brush strokes and often lush varnishing to create beautiful pieces of art for your home – of course layered with tongue-in-cheek whit!

We can request Hue to commission a mix-and-match of previous designs, allowing you to swap colours & fonts on the book covers, or even a totally unique design & wording. Hue is finding these originals incredibly rewarding to paint and the feedback from customers has been simply amazing!

What inspired Hue’s Penguin Book cover art?

Hue was motivated to re-imagine Penguin Book art after seeing the genre become a firm favourite placed in the UK art market over the last decade, with customer’s drawn into galleries seeing the latest ‘cheeky’ cover art in the window.

He saw the trend first emerge with the rising popularity of British artist Harland Miller and public’s interest in his large-scale paintings of 'aged' Penguin Book covers which emerged 2015/16 – famously subverting Penguin’s tri-band book design.

And with his plethora of designs, mediums, originals and limited editions, Hue has now established himself as a well-known Penguin Book cover artist, following in the footsteps of contemporary artists such as James McQueen & The Connor Brothers.

A bit about Hue Folk

The exiting and versatile artist Hue folk was born in 1989 and was massively influenced by pop culture growing up, the history of Pop Art and talents such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.

There are rumours that Hue Folk is not actually one individual but a pseudonym for a collective of young and diverse artists inspired by recent trends in pop culture! I may still refer to Hue as a real person here but regardless they are all upcoming Urban Pop artists that continue to make headway on British gallery wall space.

As you can see, Hue is inspired by cartoon characters, iconic & famous people, vibrant colours and fashion labels; certainly, his pull to use flashy and attention-grabbing colours is something you can see across all of his original and limited edition portfolio.

As the collective is rumoured to be made up of various people, it benefits from their wide skillset and fortes as digital artists, graphic designers and illustrators to name just three disciplines they are schooled in. Clearly, they are immersed in experimenting with design, the use of typography and mashing up Urban and Folk art themes.

Their ‘secret location’ art studio is actually in Milton Keynes, no doubt inside the HQ of their publisher! and the production process is equally as diverse as the group. Spray paints, inks, gold and silver reliefs and even laser engraved woods have become popular with Hue - as well as reinventing the use of stencilling & print making itself as an art form!

The artist can be found on Instagram