First thought: no thanks!  Why would I want to pay someone $50 to create a caricature of myself?  Then again, judging from the demand of the service, this thing just might be pretty cool (depending on your definition of cool).

David Lanham of Icon Factory has launched a career on the side – thanks to a broken leg.  The story is that he was put out of action for a while so he had to stay at home.  What happened was that he found some idle time on his hands and started playing with his iPhone.

The result? A lucrative business on the side.

David Lanham is now creating customized avatars for his clients.  What he does is hold FaceTime calls using his iPhone 4 (no less).  Based on the image, he draws the client’s very own personalized caricature.

You can check out the rest of his work on Flickr to see for yourself.  While I totally respect this Lanham’s skill – he IS good – I do not see myself shelling out that much money for something like this.  I am just wondering what it is that’s driving people to spend for their own avatars.  Maybe I’m just frugal. Can anyone explain this to me?