My Crying-Dog painting is printed on cardboard and comes with a fire extinguisher, better safe then sorry. See the artworks: www.digitalpetart.com/ Classicart What do you think of this Urban Legend? Would you dare to buy a Crying-Boy painting? 

Mixed portraits and rough portraits (that are made in my studio next to the digital classic art I make) are mixed media: digitally altered. This means the portrait you send in will first be optimized and digitally altered. There is no painting in this process, but composing and filtering.

Digital illustration 

Digital illustration or computer illustration is the use of digital tools to produce images under the direct manipulation of the artist, usually through a pointing device such as a tablet or a mouse. It is distinguished from computer-generated art, which is produced by a computer using mathematical models created by the artist. It is also distinct from digital manipulation of photographs, in that it is an original construction "from scratch". (Photographic elements may be incorporated into such works, but they are not necessarily the primary basis

Background of my art

Anthropomorphism (making an object or animal look human) has been greatly discussed and there has been a lot of research done about it. Making something look human gives comfort because it's recognizable. A lot of marketing campaigns are build on this principle (think of the little round chocolate couple with the two m's) and your whole childhood you've seen talking animals in series and movies.
Giving human trades to animals has also been good for the welfare of animals; studies show that people are more willing to help them in situations of distress because of anthropomorphism. 

for more info visit the art studio: www.digitalpetart.com

If You Have Pets

What you need to know

• A small number of pets worldwide, including cats and dogs, have been reportedexternal icon to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19.
• Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low.
• It appears that the virus that causes COVID-19 can spread from people to animals in some situations.
• Treat pets as you would other human family members – do not let pets interact with people outside the household.
• If a person inside the household becomes sick, isolate that person from everyone else, including pets.
• This is a rapidly evolving situation and information will be updated as it becomes available.

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For more information on COVID and Animals

See COVID-19 and Animals and COVID-19 and Animals Frequently Asked Questions.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some coronaviruses cause cold-like illnesses in people, while others cause illness in certain types of animals, such as cattle, camels, and bats. Some coronaviruses, such as canine and feline coronaviruses, infect only animals and do not infect humans.

Risk of people spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to pets

We are still learning about the virus that causes COVID-19, but it appears that it can spread from people to animals in some situations. A small number of pets worldwide, including cats and dogs, have been reported

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 to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19.

Infected pets might get sick or they might not have any symptoms. Of the pets that have gotten sick, most only had mild illness and fully recovered.

What to do if you own pets

Until we learn more about how this virus affects animals, treat pets as you would other human family members to protect them from a possible infection.

Because there is a small risk that people with COVID-19 could spread the virus to animals, CDC recommends that pet owners limit their pet’s interaction with people outside their household.

• Keep cats indoors when possible and do not let them roam freely outside.
• Walk dogs on a leash at least 6 feet (2 meters) away from others.
• Avoid public places where a large number of people gather.
• Do not put face coverings on pets. Covering a pet’s face could harm them.

There is no evidence that the virus can spread to people from the skin, fur, or hair of pets. Do not wipe or bathe your pet with chemical disinfectants, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or any other products not approved for animal use.

Talk to your veterinarian if your pet gets sick or if you have any concerns about your pet’s health.

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Questions about keeping your pet safe?

See Frequently Asked Questions about Animals and COVID-19.

Protect pets if you are sick

If you are sick with COVID-19 (either suspected or confirmed by a test), you should restrict contact with your pets and other animals, just like you would with people. Until we know more about this virus, people sick with COVID-19 should avoid contact with pets and other animals.

• When possible, have another member of your household care for your pets while you are sick.
• Avoid contact with your pet including petting, snuggling, being kissed or licked, sharing food, and sleeping in the same bed.
• If you must care for your pet or be around animals while you are sick, wear a cloth face covering and wash your hands before and after you interact with them.

If you are sick with COVID-19 and your pet becomes sick, do not take your pet to the veterinary clinic yourself. Call your veterinarian and let them know you have been sick with COVID-19. Some veterinarians may offer telemedicine consultations or other plans for seeing sick pets. Your veterinarian can evaluate your pet and determine the next steps for your pet’s treatment and care.

For more information visit: What to Do if You are Sick.

Stay healthy around animals

In the United States, there is no evidence that animals are playing a significant role in the spread of COVID-19.  Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low. However, because all animals can carry germs that can make people sick, it’s always a good idea to practice healthy habits around pets and other animals.

• Wash your hands after handling animals, their food, waste, or supplies.
• Practice good pet hygiene and clean up after pets properly.
• Talk to your veterinarian if you have questions about your pet’s health.
• Be aware that children 5 years of age and younger, people with weakened immune systems, and people 65 years of age and older are more likely to get sick from germs some animals can carry.

For more information, visit CDC’s COVID-19 and Animals webpage and Healthy Pets, Healthy People website.

Guidance and recommendations

• Interim Guidance for Public Health Professionals Managing People with COVID-19 in Home Care and Isolation Who Have Pets or Other Animals
• Interim recommendations for intake of companion animals from households where humans with COVID-19 are present external icon
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• Interim Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for Veterinary Clinics
• Evaluation for SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Animals

More Information

• COVID-19 and Animals
• COVID-19 and Animals : Frequently Asked Questions
• Information on Bringing an Animal into the United States
• World Organisation for Animal Health: Q&As on COVID-19external icon
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• USDA: Coronavirus Disease 2019external icon
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• FDA: Coronavirus Disease 2019external icon
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• USDA Statement on the Confirmation of COVID-19 Infection in a Tiger in New Yorkexternal icon
• Confirmation of COVID-19 in Two Pet Cats in New York

Top of Page

COVID-19 and Animals

Other LanguagesPrint Page

Updated June 15, 2020

What you need to know

• We do not know the exact source of the current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but we know that it originally came from an animal source.
• At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.
• Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low.
• More studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by COVID-19.
• We are still learning about this virus, but it appears that it can spread from people to animals in some situations.

For more information, see COVID-19 and Animals Frequently Asked Questions. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some coronaviruses cause cold-like illnesses in people, while others cause illness in certain types of animals, such as cattle, camels, and bats. Some coronaviruses, such as canine and feline coronaviruses, infect only animals and do not infect humans.

Risk of animals spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to people

Some coronaviruses that infect animals can sometimes be spread to humans and then spread between people, but this is rare. This is what happened with the virus that caused the current outbreak of COVID-19. However, we do not know the exact source of this virus yet. Public health officials and partners are working hard to identify the source of COVID-19. The first reported infections were linked to a live animal market, but the virus is now spreading from person to person.

The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, and talking. Recent studies show that people who are infected but do not have symptoms likely also play a role in the spread of COVID-19. At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low. More studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by COVID-19.

Risk of people spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to animals

The first US case of an animal testing positive for COVID-19 was a tiger at a NY zoo.

We are still learning about this virus, but it appears that it can spread from people to animals in some situations, especially after close contact with a person sick with COVID-19.

For information on how to protect pets from possible infection with SARS-CoV-2, see If You Have Pets.

Animals that can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19

We know that cats, dogs, and a few other types of animals can be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but we don’t yet know all of the animals that can get infected. There have been reports of animals being infected with the virus worldwide.

• A small number of pet cats and dogs have been reported to be infected with the virus in several countries, including the United States. Most of these pets became sick after contact with people with COVID-19.
• Several lions and tigersexternal icon
  at a New York zoo tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 after showing signs of respiratory illness. Public health officials believe these large cats became sick after being exposed to a zoo employee who was infected with SARS-CoV-2. All of these large cats have fully recovered.
• SARS-CoV-2 was recently discovered in mink (which are closely related to ferrets) on multiple farms in the Netherlands. The mink showed respiratory and gastrointestinal signs; the farms also experienced an increase in mink deaths. Because some workers on these farms had symptoms of COVID-19, it is likely that infected farm workers were the source of the mink infections. Some farm cats on several mink farms also developed antibodies to this virus, suggesting they had been exposed to the virus at some point. Officials in the Netherlands are investigating the connections between the health of people and animals as well as the environment on these mink farms.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains a list

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of all animals with confirmed infections with SARS-CoV-2 in the United States.

Research on animals and COVID-19

Research on SARS-Cov-2 in animals is limited, but studies are underway to learn more about how this virus can affect different animals.

• Recent research shows that ferrets, cats, and golden Syrian hamsters can be experimentally infected with the virus and can spread the infection to other animals of the same species in laboratory settings.
• A number of studies have investigated non-human primates as models for human infection. Rhesus macaques, cynomolgus macaques, African green monkeys, and common marmosets can become infected SARS-CoV-2 and become sick in a laboratory setting.
• Mice, pigs, chickens, and ducks do not seem to become infected or spread the infection based on results from these studies.
• Data from one study suggest dogs are not as easily infected with the virus as cats and ferrets.

These findings were based on a small number of animals, and do not show whether animals can spread infection to people. More studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by COVID-19.

Guidance and recommendations

• Interim Guidance for Public Health Professionals Managing People with COVID-19 in Home Care and Isolation Who Have Pets or Other Animals
• Interim recommendations for intake of companion animals from households where humans with COVID-19 are presentexternal icon
• Interim Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for Veterinary Clinics
• Evaluation for SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Animals
• Interim Guidance for SARS-CoV-2 Testing in North American Wildlife
• Toolkit: One Health Approach to Address Companion Animals with SARS-CoV-2

More Information

• COVID-19 and Animals FAQs
• COVID-19 and Pets
• Information on Bringing an Animal into the United States
• World Organisation for Animal Health: Q&As on COVID-19external icon
• USDA: Confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 in Animals in the United Statesexternal icon
• USDA: Coronavirus Disease 2019external icon
  external icon
• FDA: Coronavirus Disease 2019external icon
  external icon

Media Announcements

• Confirmation of COVID-19 in Pet Dog in New Yorkexternal icon
• Confirmation of COVID-19 in Two Pet Cats in New York
• USDA Statement on the Confirmation of COVID-19 Infection in a Tiger in New Yorkexternal icon
  

This information comes directly from the CDC website and is not mine, but we should all share this information to stay safe! You and your pets.

So lately the custom dog art has been a booming business. Big companies are selling custom portraits of people's pets. It is a large market and it is real fun that in these days you can have a customized artwork of your pet ordering from the internet.

What bothers me (and of course there is something bothering me, otherwise I wouldn't make a blog out of it) is the unfair advertisement that comes with these art works. 

Let me give you an example of what you can find on the internet: ' It's never been easier to have a commissioned piece of pet art in your home! (Company name) petportraits are hand-illustrated by our digital artists based on the  ...'  

When looking at the art works I immediately see that these are not hand-illustrated, these are made with a simple filter called ' cut out'. So what they do is take your photo and throw over a filter. That is a job done in five minutes, if you are a little driven in Photoshop three. To show you the difference between a hand illustrated work of art and a filtered see my website: www.digitalpetart.com/classicart

Then there are the renaissance paintings that the heads are glued on, thrown over a filter that in most cases doesn't resemble the costume's colors and structure that they glued the head on...I find these artworks a little distressing personally. It's like a floating head. I like Stephen King books and aren't afraid of a little horror but even these creep me out..

It's ok they use these filters, of course. The art work looks ok from a distance, nothing wrong with it if you want a good laugh.. but.. do not advertise saying it's hand illustrated! The hand illustrated pieces that I make take me about 4-6 hours, excluded the time it takes to make the custom design and the constant communication with my clients. Every pixel in my artworks is painted, added details for my clients to enjoy. 

For them to claim their art works are hand made confuses people and is misleading. If they mean with ' hand made'  they selected a filter with their hand, but that is not what they are implying. If I would buy a dress from a fashion designer and she says it's hand stitched I know I pay for the quality and time there is put in this dress, that makes it more custom and more of a reason for me to love it. That dress would be special. If it turns out to be fabricated in a factory together with a 1000 more...how would I feel? Same goes for these art works. 

There is a market for these filtered arts and that is ok. Makers go for the quick fabrication to make money, but they shouldn't claim things to make people pay more. If people have a small budget I offer to make a filtered art for them, but I am real about it. 

Be clear about what you design and the time you put in and base a fair price on that. Be real. I know my clients appreciate realness, I am sure their clients would, too.

A few months back I read an article by an art expert that claimed that anthropomorphism was something that was not done in the renaissance time, that in those days they respected their dogs to much to dress them up like that, followed by a link to a website that does paintings of dogs in renaissance clothes... 

The Facts.

First of all there is nothing disrespectful about anthropomorphism. On the contrary: making an object or animal look human is something humans did even in the Stone Age. It is comforting and recognizable and doesn't do any harm to the subject or animal, it's flattering we try to see similarities to feel more connected. There are whole marketing campaigns based on anthropomorphism and a lot of studies done about it concluding it's a positive phenomenon.

Quoting Wikipedia: 'Anthropomorphism may be beneficial to the welfare of animals. A 2012 study by Butterfield found that utilizing anthropomorphic language when describing dogs created a greater willingness to help them in situations of distress.Previous studies have shown that individuals who attribute human characteristics to animals are less willing to eat them, and that the degree to which individuals perceive minds in other animals predicts the moral concern afforded to them. It is possible that anthropomorphism leads humans to like non-humans more when they have apparent human qualities, since perceived similarity has been shown to increase prosocial behavior toward other humans.'

Infrahumanisation

The problem starts when you start infrahumanisation, when you see a human less human, like me seeing the art expert a little less of an expert and a little more as a dumb cow. As an example.

Second thing of what bothered me about the article was the claim that these paintings were not done in the renaissance time. They were. They were even done on rock paintings in the pre-historic age. A quick Google search and you'll see.

Sponsored content

Third thing and what may have bothered me most is that this article was clearly sponsored by the art company he mentioned, he linked to their webpage and put a photo of this company on his blog, without mentioning this was advertisement. By writing a 'critical' article he might have hoped we would not have noticed, but he was clearly infrahumanising us, thinking we were the dumb cows and we didn't notice he got sponsored... 

Let's enjoy our dogs painted as funny and recognizable, let's enjoy this art form and celebrate it, it's of all decades!

The attraction he felt toward troubled women, turned his love life into a fiasco; the love he felt for others made him gave away his worldly goods to prove he is a good Christian. He lived desperately poor and lost his hope for human affection, so drawing and painting became van Gogh’s means of channeling his depression.

Van Gogh lived a short and tumultuous life and struggled with mental illness. During one of his seizures, he cut off his left earlobe.

He was a great artist who had a way with words as well, he wrote long letters to his brother, with whom he had a very close bond.

There is a book called: The letters of Vincent van Gogh.

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" 

Some of van Gogh most famous paintings:

Almond Blossom (1890)

Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889)

The potato Eaters (1885)

Irises (1889)

Sunflowers (1888)

The starry night (1889)

"I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove."

What inspires me about Vincent van Gogh?

He stood up for his art, even when he only sold one in his whole life he continued to paint and draw. He got rejected a lot but that didn't keep him from doing what he loved most. 

He wasn't money driven and in his own words was a sheep compared to the wolves out there. 

His letters to his brother, who he loved deeply, are amazing. Describing things very clear, struggling with things that people can relate to. Next to a good painter he also was a great story teller. 

"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."