Mike's blog...

Earlier this month I picked up a pencil to sketch a tiger, a drawing of a tigers face for my godson. He loves these silent hunters. Did you know a tiger’s stripes act as camouflage, allowing them to blend in and stalk its prey. I wanted to make this tigers face drawing a mixture of…

Here is a recent drawing of mine, a pen sketch on watercolour paper, it’s called “Southsea Shell”. Since moving back to Southsea I have walked up and down Southsea Beach soooo many times! I actually went through a phase of taking a beach walk most evenings. Southsea Beach is a great place to clear your…

Hello and welcome to my blog, my name is Mike and I design and create websites for a living. So… I’ve been running my own web design and marketing company for 16+ years, and I love living in Southsea! If you are looking for a website designer based in Southsea then please ping me a…

So my 11 year old boy set some 2023 resolutions, top of his list, “to be a YouTuber”. Like most kids his age he loves gaming, and he would happily spend all day on the PS or iPad if he could. The plan is to record and share his gaming videos, thus becoming a content…

So, my core business Tidy Design (a web dev agency based in Portsmouth, Hampshire) has been busy developing its own “off the shelf” WordPress theme. We have called it “FLEX”, a Flexible WordPress website, hand crafted by Tidy Design to deliver you / your company the best return on investment. Why FLEX? FLEX is for…

I get it, creating regular and informative website content is difficult. Most entrepreneurs, business owners and sole traders ware many hats. Be it HR, production, sales or management, there are only so many hours in the day. In an ideal world a business will delegate the task of content writing to a content writer, someone…

Over the years I have created lots of Free Stuff for Tidy Design, a vast collection of icon packs and free graphics. I enjoy all aspects of graphic design, be it logo designs, company branding or website design. If you need some creative input on a project then please let me know, I’d be happy…

Back in 2021 I worked on a large NFT project with a group of friends. My role was to create a collection of artwork for CryptoVikings. The CryptoVikings are a horde of 9873 verifiably-random and unique Viking NFTs, each has 19 attributes which work together to select 9 visual components. Working on this NFT project…

Here is an oil painting I’ve been working on called “Pollinate”, what do you think? These little dudes have an important part to play in maintaining our planets ecosystem. Bees pollinate the food we eat, plus many trees and flowers that provide habitats for wildlife. Adding paint to canvas… I wanted this oil painting to…

Now here is an interesting question; do I need ISO Certification? My core business Tidy Design works with lots of different sectors and industries, there is rarely a dull moment and always something new to learn. Tidy Design clients vary from NHS midwifery departments to ISO Certification consultants. They say variety is the spice of…

So… I decided to frame a few more pen sketches. Above you will see Southsea Castle and South Parade Pier, two places I love to visit in Southsea. Since my divorce and moving back into Southsea, I have slowly been framing and hanging more artwork. If you like these Southsea pen sketches and would like…

Looking for a bespoke piece of artwork for someone special? Maybe you’d like an illustration of their favourite pet or a drawing of their favourite place? Whatever your artist requirements are, I’d be delighted to help. Creating meaningful art is an awesome process. To produce an original piece of artwork, a “one of a kind”,…