riptaccess="always">
MK Boss Character Select Screen Head Shots by Antichrist2005 on DeviantArt

If anyone could tell me how to properly post up a piece of art on here, you know framed and all that, that would be great.

So I drew these up waaay back in the spring of 2012 when I was still "fanfictioning" in my head what the next MK would be.

And in that time I came up with a bunch of designs for these characters and I always intended on posting these up on here. But things always got in the way and all these cards still aren't fully painted yet.

So here is one of like the 4 that I finally finished.

A few notes.

Shinnok:

Because I though this game was going to be a retelling of the events of MK4 I really wanted Shinnok to make an impression this time. This is supposed to be the god damn devil here and yet they gave him such a bland and average design in MK4 which resulted in people rolling their eyes going."Right so when does Shao Kahn come back?"

So i wanted to give him this imposing ominous look this time. Have his hat look more like horns, have his outfit look more organic.

I gave him these spider look appendages because first of all i thought it would be a neat gameplay gimmick for him. He could manhandle you from half screen, lunge forward and grab you ect.

The spider idea came from him being the figure of worship in the brotherhood of shadow. And back in the day there was a lot of spider like imagery with Quan Chi.

I designed Shinnok with the voice of Tony Jay in mind. Just thought I would throw that out there.


Goro:

I wanted to give Goro this snobbish aristocratic look. Because you know yeah the guy is a warrior, but he's also a prince. I don't feel like we see that aspect of him enough so i wanted it presented in his default facial expression.

The "tattoos" were inspired by something I remember from his...ending? in MK2011? was that real? What happened to that? It said something about him killing Kahn and then smearing his blood over his body in ceremonious designs causing him to become even more powerful.

Here it was the blood of his father as he succeeded Gorbak. Goro believed his father was leading the Shokan to a cowardly death due to Gorbak awaiting for what he believed to be the inevitable return of Shao Kahn and fearing his wrath seeing the Shokan take his throne.

Kintaro:

The goal was simple. Don't make him look like a adorable kitty cat.
Have him resmble a Tiger but don't forget he is a Shokan. So don't go crazy with the feline attributes.

How to make him look as imposing as his was in MK2?
Make the chin look greater via a main of facial hair and don't over do it with the stripes.

Drahmin:

So a lot of people give one of my favorite characters shit.

Some criticisms i think are fair like his design was to simplistic for something of his status in the realm of hell.

So when redesigning him i thought. Okay maybe ramp things up a bit without losing what makes Drahmin, well, Drahmin.

So I approached him thinking, you know it would really make sense if he was one of Shinnoks Champions in the war of the Netherrealm invasion. A nearly unstoppable, sadistic, vicious brute. It could have been great.

So with that I decided to give him a bigger design. Make his physique bigger and make him appear more ominous.

I will post a full picture of him up here some time when I get all the details finished.

But overall I wanted him to look like this abominable festering heap of mincemeat due to him having devoured so many souls over time that his body is made up more of their flesh now than his original body (because when you die in hell you don't die) and the passage of of time has misshaped him into this abomination that is more instinct and cruelty now then it is a sentient thinking creature.

I had these moves in mind where appendages from those he's devoured who still live within him would form and would thrash out at the opponent. Think Venom and how you would see him make extra appendages extend from his body to hit enemies.