Japanese Artist Creates Animal Characters For Lake District

A Japanese artist has designed a range of animal characters for a country estate near Windermere, inspired by the Lake District’s wildlife and its famous writers such as Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth.

Hideyuki Sobue, who made his home in the Lake District twenty years ago, won the commission from Wild Boar Estate to provide the new artwork for the venue.

Some of the rural Lake District's most distinctive native animals are being featured and personified in his work on the project. These include a Brewhouse newt for the estate’s microbrewery, a wild cat to celebrate its whisky offering, a pheasant for its private woodland and a queen bee for its hives and honey.

Other characters include squirrels, foxes, owls, and of course the eponymous wild boar itself for the estate’s new logo.

Having immersed himself whole heartedly into the culture and heritage of the Lake District, Hideyuki has brought his Japanese skillset to the project, with the works of Beatrix Potter as key influences in the new artwork. His style aims to bridge east and west by sampling the rich cultural, artistic and ideological heritage of both.

Hideyuki Sobue explains:

“This has been an exciting project to help give Wild Boar Estate a more distinctive style, character and personality. I developed an animal portrait series following my National Trust commissioned art project, ‘A Letter to the Earth from Beatrix.’ This draws inspiration from Beatrix Potter’s remarkable creativity, particularly her beloved ‘Little Books’ featuring charming animal characters."

“For this commission, I aimed to blend traditional and historical Lake District themes with a contemporary take on storytelling using memorable characters across all areas of the estate.”

Hideyuki’s artwork involves a brush hatching technique using Japanese sumi ink, which was originally adopted from ancient China. It is also underpinned by a linear structure and oriented lines for each drawing, inspired by the concept of ‘disegno’, the aesthetic approach based on drawing established at the Florentine school in the early Renaissance period.

Group marketing manager of English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues Colin Fox explains:

“Hideyuki Sobue is a wonderful artist who we have known for many years. I previously commissioned him to create a logo for the Lake District Japan Forum and have followed his body of work ever since."

“We really loved his Allan Bank portfolio in particular, and I felt it would work fantastically well for the Wild Boar Estate to build on our company mantra of respect, creativity and fun."

“His deep understanding of the artists, poets and romantics who have been drawn to this beautiful part of the world has allowed him to develop his own unique takes on their work to inspire his own creations."

“We loved the idea of these character drawings of woodland animals, and using their individual home names like squirrel’s drey, fox’s den and owl’s nest for our new room categories, signage and overall rebranding for the estate.”

Hideyuki’s prestigious project commissions include ‘A Letter to the Earth from Beatrix’ held at Allan Bank, Grasmere, a homage to Beatrix Potter's creativity and enduring legacy. This was supported by the Arts Council England and the National Trust. He also received critical acclaim for his portrait of William Wordsworth, which was displayed at Rydal Mount.

Pic caption: Lake District artist Hideyuki Sobue and Colin Fox from English Lakes Hotels showcase examples of the animal characters.