Phil Heckels draws portraits of pets that will make you laugh. He calls them "rubbish" portraits, but if you look closely, you realize that he is a caricaturist. And who wouldn't want a caricature of their beloved pets? It will cost you, but the funds go to Turning Tides, a charity benefiting homeless people in the UK. Heckels has already raised $35,000 for them!
According to CNN, Heckels was making thank-you cards with his 6-year-old son Sam to send to his family when the idea came to mind. Though he had never drawn before in his life, Heckels, who goes by the pseudonym Hercule Van Wolfwinkle, crudely drew the family dog and then uploaded a photo of the drawing — alongside a facetious asking price of £299 (approximately $390) — to Facebook. All of a sudden, a surge of requests came in from friends asking him to draw their pets.
"I had absolutely no idea this would all pan out as it has," Heckels told Digg in an email. "The first pictures were just posted on my own Facebook page as a joke to my 90 or so friends. It's just gradually built momentum, and it's been so overwhelming!"
See a roundup of Heckels' best portraits so far at Digg. See more and keep up with his work at Facebook.