The artists behind Chewy's viral pet portraits are furious over a new contract that cracks down on creative control

• Chewy has become known and loved for surprising customers with portraits of their pets.
• In August, Chewy announced its new artist fee would increase from $30 to $35 per portrait.
• The $5 raise came with a new, more-restrictive contract.

Chewy's tradition of pet portraiture is in jeopardy.

The pet-food and -supplies company is known for surprising its customers with personalized paintings of their pets. Accompanied by handwritten notes, they're sent to celebrate milestones, birthdays, and national holidays. Other times, Chewy sends portraits to memorialize a pet who has recently died.

Chewy's portraits are popular on social media. Customers share the 6-by-6-inch canvases in awe and sometimes in tears. Customers can't commission or request the portraits; they are sent seemingly at random at Chewy's discretion. The paintings are based on photos customers upload to the site.

The artists behind the paintings are largely anonymous to both customers and one another.

That was until August 2, when Chewy, perhaps unintentionally, copied 177 of its portrait artists on an email.

It announced its contractor fee would increase from $30 to $35 per canvas. But for this pay raise to take effect, artists needed to sign a new contract that limited creative control and the number of portraits they could paint. It also forbids them from signing their canvases.

Insider reviewed the email from Chewy as well as responses to Chewy from six artists. We also spoke with four Chewy artists who talked on the condition of anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from Chewy and fellow portrait artists. Insider has verified their identities and their employment as independent contractors for the company.

Many of these artists, as well as those who responded to the company's email, said they felt Chewy used them to build its altruistic brand image but didn't support them with the fair pay and recognition they said they deserved.

"It's heartbreaking because they portray themselves as an amazing company," one artist told Insider. "The way they are treating us is like we are just machines of mass production."

In a statement to Insider, Chewy said: "We are grateful for our artistic partners and the work that they do and are proud to have increased artist compensation this year."

'Keep Painting, and don't sell yourself short! Chewy doesn't deserve any of us.'

While the email from Chewy highlighted the $5 pay increase, the more-restrictive contract was the bombshell for many artists who spoke with Insider or responded to the email.

"Chewy's customer service has been above and beyond every time I buy something or need any help," one artist wrote. "Please, show that same interest for the people working behind that powerful marketing tool."

The contract stipulated they could not contact Chewy employees. It's unclear whether this stipulation also meant that those artists were not allowed to contact each other, but many of the artists who responded to the email or spoke with Insider said they believed this was the case.

The new contract introduced a batch limit of 40 portraits per 10-day period. While the artists who talked to Insider said they completed between 10 and 20 portraits a week, they said they knew of artists who completed more than 40 a week.

Another contract stipulation: Artists can no longer sign their work.

"I think myself and other artists are completely blindsided," another artist wrote. "We are being fed bread crumbs for compensation and being asked not to sign our work."

The new contract also prohibits artists from posting pictures of their work on social media or reaching out to Chewy customers.

"If you're a contractor, you're going to show your work and your skills because that's how you get more contracts," one Chewy artist told Insider.

"Keep Painting, and don't sell yourself short! Chewy doesn't deserve any of us," another artist wrote.

Insider obtained a copy of Chewy's portrait guidelines dated July 27. In it, the company wrote: "When Chewy customers receive our unique pet portraits, something that is often highlighted is the complete surprise of receiving it, and the mystery behind the creator. As we continue to grow our artist network, we'll strive to keep that surprise and mystery alive."

The mysterious Chewy portrait artist

Finding a Chewy artist is a lengthy quest for the most enduring online sleuths.

For years, customers have posted on Reddit and Instagram in search of the artists behind the canvases. A scribble at the bottom of a Chewy portrait is the only way to trace the work back to its creator. Artists told Insider Chewy had withheld artists' information even when both the customer and the artist mutually requested the company share it.

Allison Gray was one of those customers. She was excited to receive a portrait of her Boston terrier from Chewy last week.

"I wasn't expecting to get one. Then all of a sudden, there it was and there was my dog," she said.

When she received her portrait, the only indication of the artist's hand was two initials penciled on the back of the canvas. Some artists had been initialing their work before the contract change.

When Gray reached out to Chewy to ask for the artist's information so she could thank them, the company told her in a chat that its artists didn't work for the recognition and didn't wish to be identified, she said.

As an artist herself — she also paints pet portraits but not for Chewy — she found that hard to believe.

In an email to Insider, one artist said signing her work was not important and she stopped doing so after receiving requests for commissions.

"Though I did do a few, I just didn't feel comfortable representing the company," she said. "Besides, I kind of like the anonymity of it now, takes some of the pressure off and I've been trying to loosen up a bit."

Fine-art standards for amateur pay

Some artists are frustrated because they say that Chewy's pay increase hardly reflects the work they're asked to do.

"This $5 is hardly a raise when it comes with inflation of supplies/cost of living and asking the artist to deliver a higher caliber of paintings that require more time," one artist wrote in the email thread.

Over the past couple of years, Chewy has been raising the bar for its portraits and requesting they appear more and more realistic, artists said.

"Photorealism is totally different from realistic interpretation," one artist said. "A work that looks like the picture is extremely expensive and takes hours and hours of work."

Chewy's portrait guidelines, which outline its artistic standards, asks artists to channel a realistic and representational style, avoid dead space on the canvas, not to portray a pet as a "floating head," and give eyes extra attention and time. It also gives examples of portraits that did not meet its standards.

"The level of attention, time, money, and detail Chewy expects from us can be too much, especially for the rewards given," one artist wrote in the email thread.

After sending in a batch of paintings, artists sometimes receive feedback emails from Chewy.

In an email forwarded to Insider, a Chewy employee said one painting had a "lack of shading and depth" and asked the artist to add more detail to whiskers and fur in her paintings. Other times, Chewy has requested more attention to background objects around the pets, the artist said.

"I'm not getting paid for unnecessary details," the artist said. "I'm getting paid to focus on the pet."

She completes each painting within one hour to earn the most money for her time, she said, adding: "It would take me about three hours to do what they expect."

If they make too many mistakes, artists can be placed on probation. According to Chewy's latest guidelines, artists on probation are assigned five paintings to be completed in nine days that must be reviewed before they receive another batch, a process the document says can take up to four weeks.

Artists said it could be difficult to follow Chewy's standards when they're often working from cropped, dark, or blurry images.

"They're like, 'You cut off an ear,' and sometimes they'll send you a picture of an animal and you won't see their ears," one artist said. "They're asking us to do really nice work very quickly. So frankly, I think we deserve a lot more than what they give us, especially if we can't even post them."

In a statement to Insider, Chewy said: "Providing brand guidelines is a standard approach that we take to ensure visual consistency, which helps to preserve the impactful experience for thousands of pet parents who receive these portraits."

The Chewy artists Insider spoke with estimated that their 6-by-6-inch acrylic paintings would be worth between $50 and $70 each if they sold them independently.

Despite flaws, nobody seems to want Chewy's portrait program to end

When Insider reached out to the 177 artists copied in Chewy's initial email, several artists said they did not want to speak because they feared losing their main source of income or that a public critique could shut down the program.

Many of these artists said they appreciated Chewy and the program for its flexibility, even if they found faults with some aspects, particularly the pay.

In an email to Insider, one artist said she was able to work around family illness. She said she received flowers after the deaths of her mother-in-law and her horse.

"That blew me away. I've never had a regular employer do that," she said.

Despite flaws, nobody seems to want the program to end. Most are just hoping for a bit more from the company.

"As a customer, I love Chewy. Don't get me wrong, they treat their customers so well," one artist wrote in reply to Chewy's email regarding the new contract.

"But as an artist for Chewy for more than five years, I have never felt more alone and have always wanted to reach out to all you other artists and say, 'Well Done.' Because we will never receive that from Chewy."

If you are a Chewy portrait artist, employee, or customer and would like to share your experience, please email this reporter at jortakales@insider.com or text (646) 768-4742 using the Signal app.