Life With Dogs: “Crappy Pet Portraits” A Smashing Success For Charity

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and, as dog lovers, we’ve never seen a bad dog portrait!

Even if the artist himself labels his art as “crappy pet portraits”, we think all animal pictures are masterpieces!

Hercule Van Wolfwinkle never expected the amazing and charitable reactions a couple of silly posts on social media would create. In a self-penned article on Bored Panda, he shared his charity art project “all happened so organically without much thought or effort.” And the giving that resulted makes this happy accident of art even more joyful.

How the “Crappy” Art Started

One day while writing out ‘thank you’ cards with his 6-year-old son, Hercule started piddling with the pens. “Whilst he was making his card, I just doodled a couple of pictures of our dog—they were really rubbish, I’m not an artist and have never really drawn in my life.”

Pet Portraits By Hercule/Facebook

To have some fun with friends, Hercule posted his art to Facebook “with a jokey comment about Pet Portraits being for sale for just £299.” That’s about $388 American. His friends loved the two sketches, someone requesting a portrait of her dog right away. Then, another. And then a few more!

“By the end of the day, I had probably drawn about five portraits and we’d all had a giggle in the process.”

Pet Portraits By Hercule/Facebook

But that’s not where the doodles ended. After friends shared the pictures with their friends, Hercule started getting requests from strangers! When folks requested a portrait of their furry family, rather than charging them a fee, Hercule requested they make a donation to charity instead.

“That’s when I set up the Facebook page Pet Portraits By Hercule and the JustGiving page which is raising money for my local homelessness charity, Turning Tides.”

Pet Portraits By Hercule/Facebook

Suddenly, Hercule had a chartable art project on his hands. But the best part about his pet portraits? Everybody was having a good time and those in need were getting help thanks to his creativity. “I was having fun drawing the pictures, people seemed to enjoy laughing at them, and if we could make a bit of money for a brilliant cause in the process—great!”

Pet Portraits By Hercule/Facebook

When he set his monetary goal for charity, Hercule went with his joke price of £299. Along with portrait requests, that amount rolled in fast, plus a lot more. To date, the total stands at more than $28,000 and growing.