Founded on September of 2021, operated by the eccentric, self-taught artist Mike Lewis, where experimenting with every medium, from animation, comics, illustration and painting, are welcome, while still bridging the line between fine art and commercial art.
Welcome to Mike's Arthouse Shop.
For all your artistic needs.
Here's most of my original paintings. Only copies and prints will be available to sell to the public. These canvas sizes range from 8x10 to 16x20.
"Donutville"
12x16
$30,000.00
"From Sun-to-Mon"
8x10
$1,000.00
"Eye Glossary"
12x16
$4,000.00
"Spring of Emotions"
11x14
$60,000.00
Last updated: August 12th, 2024 - 8:42pm
Format: 2D Animation
Genre: Psychological, satire
Debut: September 15th, 2019
Running time: 3: 47
The idea for the short was created as one of his first fully-colored animated projects with the help of Toon Boom Harmony. Production took a whole month to complete.
The short, as the title implies, concerns the titular, ever-curious young cat Junior chasing after a question mark that then turns into a door of question marks where each of them have a different answer, metaphorically. There is no sound to the short and is instead very heavy on visuals rather than dialogue.
This short set the template for what would later become the Questo's World webcomic, establishing its core elements: visual-heavy, humor, satire and messages. The film features a mostly voided, white background and allegorical imagery, which fastly became Lewis's signature style as well.
Lewis loved the short so much that he considered doing two follow-up films, both of which were storyboarded and were ready to enter production, but abandoned them when he started the webcomic based off of the original concept.
Format: 2D Animation
Genre: Psychological
Debut: February 19th, 2021
Running time: 3: 08
A fully-colored introduction to another one of Lewis's characters, The Quackston Brothers, a dysfunctional pair of duck brothers who are each neurotic in their own way, the three live under one roof and trying to deal with one another. This short would have set the potential for a series involving these characters and show a more emotional weight to it's tone. However, like Junior's Inquisitive Quest, this short also has no sound whatsoever, and is just as stylized and abstract as it's sister film.
The creation of the brothers date as far back as the early 2010s. The idea comes from Lewis's experience feeding a pack of neighborhood ducks bread and seeing them fight over food and other things was one of the things the inspired the duck brothers. Like with Junior, The Quackston Brothers first animated appearance was in a series of two shorts made by Flipnote during Lewis's self-taught himself animation back in 2014.
Production started a while after the completion of Junior's Inquisitive Quest, spent nearly a whole year crafting the short.
Believing there was potential with these characters, the original idea was to have Questo (formerly Junior) and The Quackston Brothers co-exist in one series collectively named "Animalistic" (a mix of both animal and realistic), having the first segment focus on Questo and the second-to-last would be The Quackston Brothers if it were to be an animated series. Eventually, when Lewis got around to doing webcomics, the ducks would've originally starred in their own comic series as well, still under the name of Animalistic. However, as Lewis's sensibilities in his work began to change and develop into something more offbeat, he do not feel too satisfied with the end result of Quackology and grew to dislike the characters, claiming to be "too ordinary" for his taste. He decided to drop the whole Animalistic collaboration altogether, realizing that Questo's World was a much stronger concept, thus ends the chapter of The Quackston Brothers.
Format: Webcomic
Genre: Slice-of-life, psychological, satire, fantasy, surrealism, observational
Based on: Junior's Inquisitive Quest
Debut: April 2nd, 2021 to present day
Based on the Junior's Inquisitive Quest short film, this webcomic is a more fully-fleshed out version of the concept, revolving around the highly imaginative and outlandish adventures of a haplessly curious, eccentric and misunderstood young cat named Questo (a synonym and abbreviation for question) as he navigates the world through his bizarre yet unique observation of everyday life and daydreams constantly, a la Walter Mitty-style, blended with humor, adventure, allegory, satire and wisdom.
Many philosophers say we all have our own universe, hence the title Questo's World, as the universe within the comic is reflective of the main character's personality: very abstract and not too consistent, animals walk on two legs, talk and wears clothes, the town has a mostly retroistic 1930s to 1960s vibe of the music and fashion, and even a beloved diner that literally never left the 1930s or 40s or 50s? set in the fictional suburban city named Banalrentville. The comic is intended to be timeless for the most part, so instead Questo watching TV, playing video games, or using a computer or cellphone, he mainly uses his imagination alone to entertain himself and would even get himself lost within it (think of this cartoon as something Carl Jung would make if he was a cartoonist).
The main cast of Questo's World on an "animation cel"
The art style of the comic is very stylized, graphic, flat and colorful, influenced by the funny animals of Looney Tunes, the rubbery and hallucinogenic world of Fleischer, and the sophisticated stylization and experimentation of UPA, with heavy emphasis on color theory, angularity, minimalism, depth and perspective.
This is Lewis's first try on the comic format, inspired by his love of Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Far Side. Though very rough at the start, the comic would eventually find its footing around 2023, while staying true to its roots seen in Junior's Inquisitive Quest.
Lewis considers this one of his most favorite projects to date and the one he felt was the most ambitious and could be his breakout hit.
Format: Book
Genre: Children's book, fantasy, adventure
Debut: N/A
Lewis's first idea for a one-off book aimed squarely at children under the age of seven. Inspired by his love of Dr. Seuss and Jonathan London's Froggy books, and childhood shows like Blue's Clues, LazyTown, WordGirl and Arthur.
Based on one of his illustrations he did of a pair of anthropomorphic bunny rabbits of different candy flavors (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and cookies & cream) involves the rabbits creating Easter eggs, but the lack of eggs leads to an issue.
The book would feature Lewis's signature style, while also having that slight "children's book aesthetic" to it, set in a universe where the sky resembles the patterns of an Easter egg and the trees follow along those lines as well. The book is meant to give kids credit for their imagination and level of intelligence, with the book's use of stylized and colorful visuals including the characters being drawn with colored outlines, a unique fantastical setting and a fun yet somewhat humorous, commercial-free look at Easter that could also entertain the parents.
Format: 2D Animation
Genre: Satire, comedy
Debut: N/A
Running time:
Format: Animation
Genre: Psychology
Debut: N/A
Running time:
Based on Lewis's own experiences in the stock market, this story focus on a stressful, long-suffering man who in debt and looking for some hope in the stock market.
