CHARITY WORK
On a summer afternoon in 2020, whilst trying to coerce his young son into making some thank you cards, Hercule doodled a picture of their family dog.
The picture was rubbish, so naturally he stuck it on Facebook with the following comment:
***FOR SALE***
Beautiful hand drawn pictures of your favourite family pets. Just send me a photo and I can produce a unique and wonderful piece of art that will grace any home and make the memories of your furry friends last a lifetime.
Some examples have been posted (I know it’s hard to tell but the photographs are the picture on the left in each one).
£299 ono. No VAT.
Little did he know that his post would go viral, and these pet portraits would soon be in high demand with requests for pictures flooding into his inbox in the tens of thousands. Request from all over the globe.
A large social media following and worldwide media coverage catapulted Hercule into the limelight and he has used this exposure to raise money for his chosen charities; Turning Tides Ending Local Homelessness and StreetVet.
Hercule does not take paid commissions for his pet portraits, they are free and just uploaded to his social media pages in return for a discretionary donation to the charities. But with over 80,000 requests for portraits in his inbox, it is a lottery as to who gets picked!
To date he has raised over £400,000 and counting with his pet portrait project, and this fundraising has seen Hercule receive a Points of Light Award from the Prime Minister, recognised by The Big Issue as one of their 100 Change Makers for 2021, and named as the ‘Creative Fundraiser of The Year’ at the 2022 Just Giving Awards .
Links to the donation pages are below and more information about the commission process can be found on Hercule’s Facebook page, ‘Pet Portraits By Hercule’.
Just Giving Turning Tides
Just Giving Streetvet
Please note: The merchandise and print sales from this site are not direct charity sales, however a minimum of 10% of profits are donated to Turning Tides and StreetVet. On occasion, some items may be sold for the benefit of other charities and are clearly stated when done so.