September to Remember

The last 30 days have been jam packed!

I ended my month of August by picking up my limited run of only TWENTY-FIVE prints of my Kendrick Lamar portrait and was ready to list them online for you to own. Of course, life happens around art and I quickly found myself in probably the busiest month of my life with a whopping total of only 6 days at home(Count Tyrone Rugen could count those on one hand!). A mixture of jobs and wedding related things took me from Phoenix to Medford to Palm Springs and finally Orlando; I've barely had time to catch my breath let alone sell products online.

So now as I sit in my Orlando hotel room, staring at the tallest points of all the amusement parks I'm not going to, I want to give everyone the opportunity to put their thumb on their own copy of my KL portrait before waiting for me to get home. That's why I have decided to have a pre-sale! Grab your print this week and when I get home I will ship my little heart out on October 3rd.

Click here to head to my store and get yours!

(If you haven't already, check out my time-lapse process video in the post prior to this one.)

I Remember You Was Conflicted

Enjoy my 2-minute cut of the process of me making my most recent Kendrick Lamar portrait entitled, "I Remember You Was Conflicted".

The title comes from the poem Kendrick reads repeatedly through the album "To Pimp A Butterfly". I was inspired by the symbolism and detail Kendrick had in his songs, brought to my attention by the beautifully crafted podcast, Dissect(S1). I wanted this painting to also hold that strong symbolism, focusing on Kendrick's inner duality fighting between his life in Compton, and his new life in Hollywood.

The symbolism and references in "To Pimp A Butterfly" are so dense that this project was overwhelming to plan for. I went into it knowing I wouldn't be able to show as much symbolism as I would have liked. I relied heavily on resources out in the world; magazines, coupon books, newsprint; I really do like that 'luck of the draw' feeling when using collected magazine clippings.

This painting was a really fun process! I don't usually post time-lapse videos before the final one but I enjoyed posting my process to Instagram and hearing all your feedback. Even when the face didn't look exactly like Kendrick, you all stuck in there with supportive comments.


So, who should my next subject be?

High Art 2018

What a crazy 4/20!!

In the beginning of March I stumbled across a 4/20 art contest via Instagram, HIGH ART. The theme was "Freedom" along with "cannabis" of course so I figured my red, blue, and white style would be a good match for this theme. The contest was also being hosted by Juxtapoz Magazine, which I(and many) consider to be one of the top art magazines currently. I was stoked to be a part of something they were putting on alongside Natural Cannabis Co. located in Santa Rosa. This was their 5th annual High Art contest yet the first time I was hearing about it.

After I submitted my painting "Onjha" online, I waited. I've submitted to contests in the past which usually end up being a popularity contest. Winners are usually chosen by how many votes they can get from the "public" which leaves a lot of room for dishonest votes. That is why I was so excited to hear that High Art would be judged by a panel of 7 judges. Then, just a month after submitting, I got a notice that I was a finalist! Out of over 5000 submissions, I made it to the top 100! The wait was on again with 2 more weeks until the final announcement.

My submission entitled "Onjha" (pronounced 'on-yuh')

As two+ weeks passed and 4/20 finally arrived, Morgan and I did what we normally do on that date since our time in Seattle, hit up the pot shops! After showing some face at The Pottery in LA, and passing through Delta9 we headed home just in time to relax at 4:20pm. We were casually laying on our bed browsing social media when my phone DINGS with a new email...

"YOU HAVE WON HIGH ART 2018!!"

Excuse me? Me? I have? I frantically read the entire email thinking "is this a mass-sent email and am I just reading the subject line wrong??" Reading...reading...reading...My name and the title of my painting were IN THE EMAIL. This was sent directly to me..... I had won! FIRST PLACE!!!

Since Morgan and I were originally considering heading to Natural Cannabis Co. up in Santa Rosa to make 4/20 a little more fun, I had completely forgotten that the winner would also be announced via Facebook live. Still laying on our bed, my fingers raced to Natural Cannabis Company's Facebook page. Their latest video, 11 minutes of judges revealing the top 5 contestants. A little bit of scrubbing and there she was, Onjha, in all her glory, in the #1 spot! It was such a surprise, Morgan and I were hugging and kissing and celebrating. What better way to celebrate our recent engagement than to win a cash prize that can help make our special day even more special?

Special thanks to Morgan for taking the original image and to Onjha for being in it!

I must say, some of those finalists were so impressive, I am honored to have even been in the top 20! I never would have expected my 1am submission to an online art contest would have gotten me to the final spot and I can't be more grateful.

If you're curious about the 10k worth of donations, I've asked NCC to donate it all to Red Cross International. The Red Cross has always been a part of my life, especially with my prior involvement with Music Saves Lives and I know how important blood can be to we humans. So next time you donate blood, ask for an extra orange juice, on me!

If you'd like your own copy of the winning painting, prints can be purchased HERE along with a ton of other merchandise.

RAW Natural Born Artists - ENVISION

Calling all SoCal art lovers!

I will be showcasing at this years RAW:OC arts show entitle ENVISION on January 24th.

Over the 5 years I spent living in Seattle I began to experiment with only using red, blue, white, and sometimes black paint. All of these paintings were created after my local Seattle art gallery shut its doors for good meaning that this January event will be the FIRST time I showcase this series of paintings in front of real live humans! I have shown some of these pieces on my website before but am very excited to give everyone the opportunity to see these up close and personal. I will be selling all of these paintings at my booth including some newer ones.

Tickets to the event are $22 and you get so much more than an art show. There will be live music, dance performances, live painting and a fashion show to end the night!

As a bonus to everyone who buys a ticket from me, you will be automatically entered to WIN an original art piece. A name will be drawn at random on the night of the event so you can go home with your new art! Your ticket must be purchased using the link below to be entered.

Be sure to add "Mike Oncley" as your "artist" when you purchase your ticket.

See the other artists HERE

Faking It on MTV

It sure is fun to have friends in the TV industry!

My pal Alex Hunter(Everyone I Love Is Dead) also works on a variety of TV shows when he is not directing zombie hordes. He asked me if I could send him some art files to get printed for the background of the TV series Faking It on MTV.

Faking It isn't a show I would typically watch so of course, I missed these scenes when the show came out. I recently stumbled across some paperwork from Alex and my art agreement, reminding me the name of the High Schooler show I signed up to be on! A quick Google search and I was able to find the Season 3 episode my art was on, available on Hulu(nice).

The episode was about one of the main characters having a piece in the student art show. My art was used to accent the background and make it feel like an authentic art class/gallery.

My wooden "Bauhaus" art piece on the table in the background(above "Gregg Sulkin")

My portrait of Wayne and my double-faced portrait of The Pierces on the back door

Portrait of The Pierces, my red "Sea of Ink" painting and my couples portrait "A Kiss From Me" on the brick wall

A closer shot of "A Kiss From Me" behind this one-sided conversation

Screenshots taken without permission from MTV ;)

Now You Simi, Now You Don't

Drugs, guns, cars, and murder. Not what you typically think of when you think of Simi Valley. So how do you portray that in a poster about exactly that?

See how I did...

Stellar People, Black Pills

Adaptive Studios is at it again with their new series, Stellar People, and every great series needs a great poster to show it off!

Want to see the whole thing?

I'll Be There For You: Friends and Lovers

I remember watching network TV at my parents, on their gigantic cube of a television. We would watch Friends after dinner and we stuck around for most of the series. I have been playing with an idea for the past couple months.

The concept was to represent each of the Friends with an inanimate object they love.

What was part of their personality and their friend until the end?

Even when their actual friends keep insisting that you "were on a break"?

Or they won't make time for their friend dinner date nights anymore?

Or when they bonk your kid on the head and lie about it?

....anyway.....here's my new series, I'll Be There For You.

OCD strikes again with Monica and her Cleaning Supplies!

Grab your pocket forks for Joey and his Pizza!

Sit down and enjoy the tunes of Phoebe and her Guitar!

You'll say Woopah for Chandler and his Chocolate Milk!

Next stop, Bloomingdales! with Rachel and her Credit Cards!

and finally... we'll pretend we don't know how this will end but

it's Ross and his Prehistoric Engagement!

See the entire print and snag one for yourself in my Etsy store: http://etsy.com/shop/mikeoncley

Stay tuned for more with this series!

http://etsy.com/shop/mikeoncley

New Toys and Better Movies

For years I have looked up to Wacom and their incredible line of products. I always had the notion that I would someday be able to afford a beautiful Cintique monitor and create my art digitally. Unfortunately(for Wacom), in 2015 Apple released their brand new Pencil that works seamlessly alongside their iPad Pro, and all for half the price of a Cintique of the same size. I was torn between a history of high designer praise and what could easily be the flavor of the week in drawable touchscreens.

Finally, after swaying back and forth deciding on this next big purchase while stalking a few artists on Instagram to hear their opinions, I finally landed on the iPad Pro. Portability, price point, and familiarity all coincided to make it the right choice, and so far it has been!

I'm stoked how my rendition of Mariah Carey's "Glitter" as a movie about the loot boxes in Destiny came out. Presenting, GLIMMER! Starring the charming Cayde-6, voiced by Nathan Fillian.

I used the app Procreate to sketch up this dude and it felt so natural! Apple really got it right with the pencil. So far, this thing has become a perfect companion on flights and I know it will only help my art grow. Can't wait to see what else I can do!

https://mikeoncley.deviantart.com/art/Glimmer-707406633

the original

Hey look! I also posted a time-lapse video to my Instagram.

A post shared by Mike Oncley (@heyoncley) on Oct 4, 2017 at 10:02am PDT

Garbage Eater

Here's a fun drawing I finished recently. Created for a psychedelic jam band from Texas, I had a lot of fun thinking of pieces of garbage to add to the pile for their upcoming EP "Garbage Eater".

Stay tuned for a link to the EP when it's done!

STFU Donny!

I am very proud of my new drawing of the three main characters from The Big Lebowski including Donny, Walter, and the Dude, all drawn as In-N-Out food items!

I was cracking up while watching the scene in The Big Lebowski where Donny keeps trying to get the group to go to In-N-Out since deep down I am trying to get everyone around me to take me to that golden arrow of goodness. I figured what a better way to represent Donny's struggle than making each character in that scene into items off the In-N-Out menu.

I get a kick out of redoing company logos for my own enjoyment and couldn't miss this opportunity of turning the In-N-Out logo into the words "Shut the fuck up Donny!" I've also listed the logo by itself if you're into it!

Put them together and you've got yourself a kick ass t-shirt or sticker, now available!

You may have also noticed that I have been using RedBubble a lot more than I have in the past. Once I tried their way of uploading art into my shop, I was sold. Society6 has made it a chore to get your designs uploaded and implemented across multiple products. Not only that but their search tool helps you find nothing you're looking for except for the items they are pushing constantly. RedBubble has shown to be a more accepting community who searches for art and follows through in ordering it. S6 has proven over and over that it's just too cool for school and too cool for light hearted joke designs. By all means, if your art is geometric buffalo photographs collaged over pictures of galaxies with a female figure in negative space, then Society6 will be your home away from home. For me, I'll stick with RB from now on(plus they offer stickers! No brainer).

Sticker Me!

Just a heads up to all the sticker fanatics, I now offer my vector art on stickers! I typically only have Stupid Little Squares stickers available but thanks to RedBubble you are now able to buy one-off stickers directly!

How do you like them apples?

See more at https://www.redbubble.com/people/mikeoncley/shop/stickers

Old Files and Nuclear Wastelands

I just stumbled on this old map I made for a project for college while browsing through an old hard drive.

I'd say this nuclear wasteland I created was heavily influenced by Escape From New York since I was really into it at them time. Surprisingly I hadn't gotten into the Fallout franchise yet but this map only reiterates my recent love for Fallout and it's fictional world.

I just dream of an awesome new apocalyptic city that makes it's home in the ruins of Disney World. That would be sweet. And I mean actual Disney World, not this Nuka-World stuff. I want the real deal. The Rushmore wasteland would be pretty awesome too.

This also makes me wonder about old computer files in the future. Will I be an 80-year-old, transferring my old 60-year-old AI files to a more modern hard drive? Will digital media be a reckless and fragile storage option in the future when everyone has reverted back to printing everything?

Who's to say?!

Say Cheese: The Actual Book

As any good shopper should think, "where the heck are these books Mike keeps talking about?" Well, they're here!

Just as you are waiting patiently for your Say Cheese book to arrive at your doorstep, I waited for the magical box from the manufacturer, filled to the brim with the cheesiest book I've ever written! That day has come and I have books aplenty ready to sign and ship!

Did you grab a copy? The 20%-off pre-order deal ends January 15, so jump on it! It's not even a pre-order anymore because they exist, but I won't tell anyone.

Grab a copy here.

If you need more convincing, take a peek at a couple pages and maybe you'll realize that this cheese is here to please.

So please, Say Cheese or I'll plead you on my knees and hire bees to squeeze fleas before they freeze!

Blind Blind Tiger 3 Year Anniversary Party!

New poster I did for BBT's 3 year anniversary! If you're in LA this month, be sure to hit the Hi-Hat!

WWW.BLINDBLINDTIGER.COM

Crawl Out From the Fallout

Married to the Mob

I am so excited to see all of the busy collectors trading my newest series on NeonMob.

My new set of trading cards is entitled "Downtown" and is a sequel to my first series I released on NeonMob last year. This time around, I used my red, blue and white paintings to highlight different people who you may encounter in a fictitious "downtown".

If you are a NeonMob member you can start collecting my set right now. If you aren't a member and you are a fan of collectables, welcome to the new age of digital trading! You'll want to become a member ASAP since my series will eventually sell out!

Good Fat

Whether you're pregnant or just rocking a Dad Bod, have I got a drawing for you!

After pondering about the "good fat" that hides in an avocado, I thought about the good fat that women become when they are having a baby! Maybe all avocados are pregnant..... it is a seed after all.

As a change for Stupid Little Squares, I wanted to do this in COLOR! It just pops so much better on a t-shirt as a reminder for pregnant women to tell the public, I'm good fat! Hell, even if you're just comfortable with your curvy body, it's good fat!

So celebrate your body and pick up a print or a shirt from my Stupid Little Squares S6 store.

Netflix and LOVE

 If you haven't watched the new series "Love" on Netflix, then you are missing out. Your only excuse is not having Netflix, or not having a family member with it that you can mooch off of.

"Love" is a great story of life and dating between two great characters, Gus and Mickey. One of my favorite aspects of the show is how much of this show doesn't even involve the two of them interacting. You really feel like you know these people by the end of the series, especially after diving deep into their everyday lives. Paul Rust and Judd Apatow created the show and its feel is very reminiscent of the realness of Freaks and Geeks, which Rust said he was a big fan of.

Take a look at the portrait I made of Gus and Mickey, set to the theme song by Lyle Workman from the KILLER soundtrack(the score/music selection for the show is a big plus).



This footage of from a night long live stream I did on twitch.tv/mikespicy

Thanks for watching!


#netflixandLOVE

Here's a crappy iPhone photo

Two New Paintings/Videos

It has been a lot easier for me to compile time lapses lately thanks to Twitch. It always feels like such a waste running a camera on art while it dries, with Twitch I don't have to blink an eye about computer disc space or camera batteries and I love it!

Here are two paintings I made last month and their time lapse videos.

The first is a commissioned piece entitled "Speak Up" that is a mix of decopage and acrylic paint. The prompt was to add a visual to Proverbs 31:8-9. After reading the text I felt a woman in despair would be appropriate to use to depict what the text was saying. I don't want to specifically say how she is in distress because I feel that the writing can be translated to mean many things to different people.



Youtube didn't like my music selection so the music for Speak Up is just some instrumental royalty free music that YouTube provided.

My newer painting is a little less serious and revolves around the video game Far Cry Primal. I loved the visuals and the time period of this game and jumped at the opportunity of painting someone with paint on their face sine that look would go well with my sloppy methods. Check out the time lapse below.



This video uses the song "Soultwerk" from the album Pizzacult by Graz! You may remember Graz from my Pizza Party Month last year involving my Stupid Little Squares and his new album.