"Rubbish Pet Portraits" isn't a promising name for a picture book. But the UK-based guy behind them is obviously more of an artist than he lets on. Hercule van Wolfwinkle (God I hope that's his real name!) writes that last year he was making some "thank you" cards with his six-year-old son. "I just doodled a couple of pictures of our dog [on them]--they were really rubbish, I'm not an artist and have never really drawn in my life."

"As a joke, I uploaded the two pictures to my Facebook page with a jokey comment about Pet Portraits being for sale for just £299. No VAT."

The images got shared…and then actual requests started coming in.

Long story short, van Wolfwinkle took all comers, using it as an opportunity to raise money for a local homeless charity. His Facebook page, Pet Portraits By Hercule, features hundreds of illustrations. And I think the guy's a brilliant artist, with a fantastic sense of proportion, gesture and style that's intentionally clownish:

To date he's raised £59,554 (USD $82,894!) for the charity, and the book comes out this May. See more of his work here.