Kids with natural talents deserve to be encouraged. That’s what 9-year-old Joe Whale’s parents knew when their son got into trouble at school for doodling during class. They enrolled him in an after-school art class where his work attracted attention, and his teacher posted his work on Instagram.

Young Whale might have been in trouble at school, but he was hired to do the walls at Number 4, a restaurant in Shrewsbury, England. So, there’s that! Joe is now known as The Doodle Boy and he has his own website, plus pages on social media that feature his awesome art, which reminds me of Keith Haring‘s work.

Joe Whale’s story is a reminder that it’s incredibly important to embrace whatever talents, ambitions, goals, dreams, and desires kids might have.

Joe’s dad Greg Whale said:

“Joe is a really talented little boy, he’s excelling at school, he’s a great footballer and cricketer, but drawing is definitely what he is most passionate about. He was in school getting frustrated at the little amount of art he could do so he used to doodle on the table’s whiteboard in class and get into trouble for doodling, His mum and I decided to get him into an art class outside of school and he loves every minute of it. His drawings blew his teacher away and they gave him his own wall to keep doodling on which he does every week when he goes there. A few weeks into his classes, his teacher asked if she could post his work on her Instagram for everyone to see and a short while later, we got another call from her about a restaurant who had seen his work.”

“They wanted to get Joe into their restaurant to complete an art piece on their wall, and it was in their main dining area, we were over the moon. I asked Joe and he of course leapt at the chance to do it, so we have been going there after school where for a couple of hours a night he’ll put his creativity on their wall. Joe loves doodling and we’re so proud of everything he’s achieving, the fact that a completely independent business has asked our nine-year old son to do a professional piece of work for them is incredible.”

Joe Whale’s work has brought him more than 1,500,000 views on Instagram.

Source: Metro UK