Models were too expensive to hire so the stores that were household names back then, such as McKinlays, Ludbrooks, Fitzgeralds and Ambroses, instructed him to draw the models, choose their pose, and dress them with his brushes.

Sometimes Mike was simply provided with a bolt of fabric, and he had to design an outfit as an example of its possible use.

As a tax officer, Mike made a great fashion illustrator.

The numbers man, who was responsible for balancing ledgers for the state government, would get his work done so fast he spent the rest of the day doodling.

“I loved to draw, and I was the first ever art dux at Wynyard High School,” Mike said.

Colleagues suggested he was so good he should make drawing his living, so when Fitzgeralds advertised for an artist the very next week, he applied.

Within a few years he had progressed to become the advertising manager and his illustrations were in The Examiner most days of the week.

In 1971 he was offered a job with The Examiner as senior artist in its art department, attracting several major clients by drawing a diverse range of products for ads.

He said the biggest challenge was the thousands of fine lines required in drawing fur coats and the “glo-mesh” in Oroton handbags – achieved without computer aid.

He was the artist of choice for fashion label Hilton Van Raalte to exclusively draw lingerie for McKinlays.

“I thought I was doing a great job drawing attention to the product, but at one point I was reminded to not not put so much cleavage on my figures because it could look like the bras didn’t fit properly,” he said.

And who would have thought an assignment to draw a rubbish bin could bring kudos - Mike was campaign winner in a national regional dailies award for his cartoon series on Jones and Co. wheelie bins.

Following another stint working freelance, he returned to The Examiner in 1986 and other than a year when he ventured interstate to work for the Courier Mail, he worked at the newspaper until he semi-retired in 2008.

In the later part of his career his artistic skills were commissioned by The Examiner’s editorial department, mainly for courtroom sketches and political cartoons - and it even extended to designing signage for the revamped exterior of the former Paterson St premises.

“I couldn’t possibly count the number of cartoons I drew relating to pulp mills, politicians and Tamar River silt,” he said.