Hey Everyone,

Happy New Year!!!  I’m a little late off the mark with that comment, but hey, it’s the thought the counts right!

I’m massively excited about 2012 as there is SO much going on here at Fully Illustrated. Loads of new releases, announcements, you name it. It’s going to be a majorly busy 12 months.

Part of my new year resolution is to get back to the two things I love, fitness and photography, and in view of this, I’d like to share a photo that I took today on a cross country lunchtime trek!  It’s such a still day today so I thought it would be great to get down to a local forest/reservoir and get some great reflection shots around the water’s edge.

If this little shot takes your fancy, I’ve also included a fully functional iPad & iPhone wallpaper of it too. Enjoy :)

Here’s to 2012!

Mike.

Hey Everyone,

Another long delay since my last post…nothing ever changes does it ;)

I was contacted last month by the very friendly chaps over at Start Frag to see if I’d be interested in a quick interview about my thoughts, experiences and feelings about working within the games industry…how could I refuse.

Why not pop over and take a quick read.

http://startfrag.com/from-gamer-to-game-designer-interview-w-micheal-heald-from-fully-illustrated/

Thanks for the fun interview Start Frag!

Mike.

Hey Everyone,

Well, its time to announce the free app that’s in production for the iPad!

After the 100′s of thousands of downloads of the iPad Moods I created many months ago, I decided that it made perfect sense to turn those little critters into something a little more fun, something a little more app like and something dedicated to the iPad!

I’m sure you’ve got many an idea as to what the app is, or what the app maybe, but I’ll leave you to think about that just a little longer.  The design of the app is now nigh on complete, and is entering development.  So watch this space for some exciting new updates!

Oh, and did I mention that its going to be free? Smiiiiiiile :)

More info REAL soon!

Mike.

It’s been a fair while since my last proper post (bar the flowery photos a couple of weeks ago) as I’ve been consumed with project work (more so than normal).

There has been SO much going on behind the scenes as I’ve got my head deeply implanted in a few new games! Exciting stuff!

The main projects that have been consuming my time are a kick ass facebook game for the guys over at Aranim, a suuuper exciting game for the guys at Thunder Game Works and some more epic MMO action for the Haypi team.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend the VAST majority of this time illustrating too.  To give you a rough idea, I’ve probably put together something like 50 new characters over the past few months, people, soldiers, zombies, animals, monsters, dragons, you name it, it’s been bloody marvellous!  I also got to try my hand at matte painting on two separate projects too, something I’ve always fancied a pop at.  It was a steep learning curve but I was exceptionally happy with the final results…I just need the respective projects to launch so I can release them :)

Add into this lots of other smaller projects and you can expect some rather epic updates to FI over the coming months.  I genuinely cannot wait to get all these things out into the public eye!

The other very exciting sideline project I’m cooking up is Fully Illustrated’s first dedicated iPad app!  But watch this space for a dedicated blog post about that soon, it’s shaping up rather nicely!  And note the word app, not game ;)

Catch you all soon.

Mike.

Happy New Year everyone!

Wow, what a fantastic year 2010 was!  I can’t believe it’s over already, it seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye.

I’m looking back at 2010 to try and pick out a particular highlight (other than the obvious one of becoming a dad!), but I have to say that I was blessed last year with so many superb projects and opportunities.  I guess what’s needed here is a HUGE THANK YOU to all my kick ass clients!  Guys, you all rock and keep me smiling from ear to ear :)

2011 promises some amazing new events for Fully Illustrated too, a lot of which are focused around the iPhone and iPad, but I’m also very excited about my new relationship with the legends that are Microsoft Game Studio.  The Neosaurs project was one hell of a way to end 2010, it’s given me a lot to strive for this year.  I also can’t wait to announce some other BIG relationships that I’ve got in the mix at the moment.  Once I’m able to officially announce more I surely will! I know that sounds very cloak and dagger, but NDA’s have the last word in my book ;)

And last but most surely not least, a big thanks to all the wonderful people that visit Fully Illustrated so often and are kind enough to drop me a mail, it’s great to see you returning on such a regular basis.  I’ll try my level best to keep the site as regularly updated as its always been.

Here’s to an exciting 2011!!!

Mike.

Yesterday’s Stenches launch was little short of mindblowingly epic! Not only did we get reviewed as TUAW’s Daily App, but we also got a killer review from Touch Arcade & Slide to Play…but that’s just the tip of the iceberg…we also got the AMAZING accolade of Apples (US) ‘iPhone Game of the Week‘! OH MY GOD!

Thanks to everyone out there that is saying amazing things about Stenches you are all so, so awesome!

Thank you world!

Mike.

Welcome to a spooky All Hallows blog entry!

As this year is the first year of being a dad, I decided, or should I say my wife decided, that it was high time that my cartoon skills should meet pumkin flesh…and what a wonderfully good idea that was!  I got rather excited by this, and as you’d expect, it couldnt be just a simple case of throwing down some holes in a pumpkin…ooooooh no, this needed sketching, planning and nice new ultra sharp set of cartoon pumpkin carving knives…and a massive spoon ;)

So I spent some time sketching out some ideas and soon settled on the final one, and what a handsome monster he was too.

So last night I set to work carving him out and I have to say that it was a total blast!

Its been such a long time since I’ve strayed away from my computer or sketchpad to actually create something, so this felt, well, special!  Needless to say, after a couple of hours of cutting and chopping he was ready!

I couldnt wait to get him candlelit and in front of my door.

I cant wait for next year!

Hope you like him.

Mike.

As most of you know (especially folks on twitter) I’m a mad collector of retro games and arcades boards, and I mentioned on Twitter recently about some dedicated display cabinets that I was having built to house the entire collection.  Well, these cabinets were finished recently and look beeeeeeautiful.  They span the width of the room their housed in and stand from floor to ceiling…yes, floor to ceiling ;)  I’ll be cataloguing the whole collection soon, but as a rough guide there’s over 300 games and over 30 consoles :)  This is the outcome of a lifetimes collecting, so whenever I see something worth adding…I add it :)

Everything you see is boxed, with instructions and in either good, great or as new condition.  I’m rather fussy about that part ;)  There’s some real gems in here too, a boxed and as new Virtual Boy, a rare Japan only Sega MegaJet, a mint Multi Mega, plus loads of other crazy stuff.  The core of the collection is focused on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, so a very large amount of the games are for this system.  Man I love the Mega Drive!!

So to any of my wonderful games customers that happen to be reading this, if ever you needed any further proof of my obsessive love for this industry, look no further ;)

Anyway, without further ado, say hello to the collection!  Its split over two sides, one side for games, one side for hardware.

The Games:

The Hardware:

I hope you enjoyed the show!!

Mike.

P.S. Yes, that’s an official replica of Conan’s Father Sword hanging on the wall…call it my security system ;)

One of the recent iPhone games I’ve been busy on, is the sub-story follow up to the worldwide AppStore hit, Trenches,  attractivly entitled, Stenches!

After the phenominal sucess of Trenches and the huge expression of love from the players regarding secret unlock-able ’Zombie Horde Mode’, Thunder Game Works decided to create a whole game based around this awesome little mini-game.

So you can imagine my excitement when I was tasked with bringing this vision to life!  I love anything Zombie related, so couldnt wait to get my teeth into this!  New characters, environments, branding, menu’s, everything!  Absolutely awesome fun!!!  Just to give you a preview of what’s to come, I’ve showcased the main zombie characters below, and as you’ll see, there’s quite a mix in this new game :)

The game is crammed with awesome new features and game modes, but I wont babble on about those here (you’ll hear more in the press real soon) and I’ll leave you take a look at the concept sketches.

If you’re a fan of Trenches and/or Zombies, you’ve got to grab a copy of this puppy when it launches as I can honestly say it’s absolutely SUPERB!!

I hope you like them :)

Mike.

I know I’ve been talking about this almost none stop recently and haven’t posted the final photos, but that’s because I’m too fussy, and am re-art-working the machine as we speak ;)

But, just to appease a few folks, I decided to show the machine as it is now, before I apply the new artwork.  As you’ll see, the room my two machines live in, is our tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny spare box room, just wide enough for two arcade cabs, a bookshelf and little else.  Perfect for a miniature arcade :)

I’ve decided to make the new machine a mock Neo Geo MVS cab, so its going to be a beautiful mix of rich red, black and white…very old school.  Anyway, here’s a few pics of my babies running.  Awwww, dont they look cute together :)

Oh and I’ve gone even crazier since the last post as I got the chance to pick up some truly amazing original arcade boards in bulk…so I bought them…and blitzed that already depleted budget into non-existence ;)  The collection now sits a little something like this…

• Art of Fighting
• Fatal Fury
• Fatal Fury 2
• Fatal Fury Special
• The King of the Fighters 94
• The King of the Fighters 2001
• Metal Slug
• Metal Slug 2
• Samurai Showdown
• Samurai Showdown 2
• World Heroes
• R-Type 2
• R-Type Leo
• Caddilacs and Dinosaurs
• Golden Axe
• Knights of the Round
• Street Fighter 2 – Champion Edition
• Super Street Fighter 2 X
• Street Fighter Alpha 2
• Darkstalkers
• Vampire Saviour 2
• X-Men Children of the Atom
• Carrier Airwing

I’ll post the final, final, final pics when the new artwork is applied and finished :)

Mike.