Okay, hold on a second, before you leave screaming "BUGS!" at us, stop for one moment and look at this one. We know, we know, bugs are kinda eww-y sometimes, but not this one. This one is as beautiful as a painting, specifically, a Picasso painting. 

Meet the Picasso bug, otherwise known as Sphaerocoris annulus. It's a bug that's native to tropical and subtropical Africa, and it is one of the most beautiful bugs we've ever seen. Looking at this little guy brings us to the days of our childhood, when we were in kindergarten, playing around with the prettiest bugs around, no fear to be found in our tiny little palms. And maybe, after seeing this cool creature's pictures, you will feel the same way. 

Meet the talented Em Paquin, an animation student who desperately wanted a cat. We came across some of her lovely re-created digital paintings of popular cat images online and reached out to ask her to explain the meaning behind this project and the goal of painting 100 cats. 

Em explains that the project was originally titled, "Day __ of drawing cats until my parents let me adopt one." Em continues to reveal her longing for a cat of her own, "I wanted so desperately to adopt a cat, and being home for quarantine was the perfect time to introduce a new furball to the family. The only thing in my way was my parents who I've been living with, now that my college courses are online."

"These daily illustrations were a subtle way of voicing my wish to adopt a cat."

On day 21 of the project, Em brought home a new kitten named Beanie. However, Em realized how much she enjoyed drawing cats and wanted to push herself but taking it further, thus setting the goal of drawing 100 cats!

So, what will Em do the moment that goal is reached? Seeing as how she's already on Day 68, the 100th drawing isn't too far away. 

"After that goal is reached, they will probably continue, maybe for a year, or maybe I won't ever stop." 

Well, we're glad to hear that because we love them! Keep up the beautiful drawings, Em! Follow Em on Instagram for daily cat drawings!

Piper, the raccoon, is the newly adopted raccoon in the @TitotheRaccoon family! 

Their first adopted raccoon, Tito, was adopted in 2017 and skyrocketed to stardom! Tito is energetic and no one has really seen a domesticated raccoon before. With Tito's successful YouTube series and his popularity on Instagram, it's impossible not to fall in love with the mischievous little trash panda.

Not long afterward, the Tito family grew as they adopted Cheeto in 2019. Sadly, in January of 2020 the Tito family shared that Tito had gotten outside and hasn't been seen since. 

It's been a sad time without Tito, but thankfully the family still has Cheeto, and now, Piper has joined the clan. 

Recently shared on Instagram, Piper has demonstrated she is quite skilled in the paw-painting world! Just like Tito, and Cheeto, who are both quite skilled artistically. Piper looks so proud of her art, you can't help but fall in love with her even more. 

Piper's artwork is for sale, some have already sold out so don't dawdle! 

This is the first time we've been wowed by animals who paint -- one art student taught her pet rat to paint. 

Japanese contemporary artist, Tokuhiro Kawai, is an expert with oil paintings but also a true cat lover.

He used his mastery to create surreal images similar to those created by the Italian painters of the High Renaissance. 

But instead of biblical figures, kings and queens, Kawai infuses his paintings with cherubs, children and cats. 

Lots of cats.

Take a look at some of Kawai's most interesting works that put our feline friends as their centerpiece.

We're strangely obsessed with Vanessa Stockard's paintings of her cat, Kevin. And sometimes her other cat, Barcode. 

If you haven't heard of this artist or seen her work yet -- prepare yourself for a treat! Vanessa Stockard is a traditional painter who paints of large canvas of wood! There's so much life and beautiful in her work -- you can find yourself mesmerized forever!

This. This is art. 

Meet the talented Rebecca Salinas, a painter who adores cats. And it really shows. 

We had the privilege to speak with Rebecca and discover her inspiration behind this masterpiece!  

"I've always loved and drawn cats my whole life. I am in advanced art classes now at UCF, in Florida, and finally have the freedom to choose my own content. The theme was 'populated space' and I immediately knew I wanted to do a painting full of cats. I'm in a Facebook group called 'This Cat Is C H O N K Y' and I love a lot of cats that are famous from there."

Rebecca also mentioned that two of her own cats can be found in the painting, and that she used submitted photos from the 'This Cat Is C H O N K Y' Facebook group as pose references!

"I really love it when I can laugh at my paintings, and this one is one of my most funny paintings yet," added Rebecca. 

According to Rebecca's post in the C H O N K Y group, there are 50 recognizable cats in this one painting alone! Do you think you can pinpoint them all?

Thanks for sharing your lovely work with the world, Rebecca! Check out more of her amazing art on Instagram or Facebook! 

Artist Matt Adrian paints portraits of birds and they're absolutely amazing. 

But he also titles each piece something absurd and that makes each portrait even MORE amazing. 

Thank you to Twitter user @alexqarbuckle for bringing this artist to our attention! 

Keep it up, Matt Adrian -- we're your newest fans! See more of this awesome artists work on his website! 

Amalie Markota Andersen has taught her pet rat, Darius, to do something quite extraordinary -- paint! Anderson herself is an animation and digital arts student and told The Insider that it only took Darius roughly 10 minutes to complete a masterpiece.

Darius used his feet to create his work and his painting have gone viral multiple times on Twitter and Tumblr. He's sold about 3 or 4 pieces. 

Unfortunately, the talented Darius passed away earlier in 2019. Anderson says her and Darius had a special bond and we're 100% sure of that.

Darius and his paintings have been going viral on the internet since this past Saturday, when pictures of him and his work were shared by a now-private account. 

Story via The Insider

Catching dogs on camera during a particularly vigorous shake has become something of an art form. Canismo, a project from a group of Brazil-based artists, is turning water-logged pups into artists using a few buckets of non-toxic paint with the goal of supporting the adoption of shelter animals. The campaign gives dogs the freedom to express themselves and allow their inner artist to be seen, in a bright -literally bright, and adorable way. After having a harmless paint made with cornstarch and food coloring, pour all over their bodies, the dogs reacted by shaking it off onto canvases that were hanged around them. As stated in the description of the project, "the shake of the paint reveals a remarkable exercise of freedom, where each drop of ink bears the stain of prejudice." 18 unique artworks were created out of the project, which benefits the Procure1Amigo shelter.

Pigcasso, a pig rescued from the slaughterhouse at just 3 years old is now a world-famous painter! You can follow her incredible journey on Instagram! 

Cats don't usually stand in the spotlight, well that is until they want all the attention. But, none the less, we will always put them in the center and show them with attention. Just like Danial Ryan does in his paintings. Ryan, a painter,  has mesmerizing works of art that mainly revolve around cats. Painting pieces that have meaning but show Cats as the center of the piece. It's no secret that Ryan's work is somewhat interesting... we are definitely captivated. Check out below and decide for yourself! 

More info: Website / Facebook

h/t

Via artist Nikolaj Arndt

Whether with paws, jaws, hooves or hands, the animal kingdom is filled with creatures able to express themselves through art. To prove it, here's our list of 11 animals that paint. Via: Mother Nature Network

Remember the shadow puppets you use to create as a child? Wouldn't they have been so much cooler if they actually LOOKED like the animals you were pretending your hands to be? Well, if you're the children of Italian artist Guido Daniele, you're lucky enough to have that privilege! He's the immensely talented painter behind these images of animals meticulously painted onto the human hand - each takes about 4 hours to complete. Breathtaking! 

You can see more Fat Cat Art on their website.