May 05, 2021 4 min read

Years after its multi-system release, Mortal Kombat has become a gaming icon. Spanning more than a dozen games, two theatrical films, and an endless extended universe of comics literature, the original Mortal Kombat remains among gaming's most prominent titles. How well do you know the background and facts about fighting games' ultimate tournament?

 

1. MORTAL KOMBAT WAS CREATED BY ONLY FOUR PEOPLE IN 10 MONTHS.

In 1991, Midway Games wrangled developer Ed Boon, then 27, and comics artist John Tobias, then 22, to develop and create a battling arcade video game ready for release in 10 months. Advantage and Tobias completed their group with artist John Vogel and sound designer Dan Forden.

 

2. MORTAL KOMBAT WAS ORIGINALLY BASED AROUND JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME.

According to Tobias, the video game began when the manufacturers of Universal Soldier asked and came to Midway Games to develop a video game based on the motion picture. Midway believed it would be more fun if they certified Jean-Claude Van Damme on his own, making a grittier video game more like Van Damme's Bloodsport. That deal fell through, eventually moving the martial arts competition to the imaginary world of Earthrealm.

 

3. JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME MAINTAINED HIS PRESENCE IN THE FINAL CUT.

Still wanting to capitalize on Van Damme's image as the epitomic action movie personality of the time (and to "spoof the entire Van Damme circumstance"), the pair ended up modeling popular Mortal Kombat playable character Johnny Cage-- in backstory, appearance, and character (the character is an infamously conceited Hollywood star), and initials-- after Van Damme.

 

4. Big trouble in little China was a prominent source of inspiration.

Two of the Mortal Kombat characters were modeled after bad guys in the 1986 John Carpenter movie. The video game's thunder god, Raiden, took visual inspiration from the movie's assassin trio, "The Three Storms" (played by Carter Wong, Peter Kwong, and James Pax). At the same time, Mortal Kombat's employer Shang Tsung looks like the film's substantial bad sorcerer, Lo Pan (played by James Hong). Designer John Tobias has said that these influences were a tribute to Big Trouble because the property of both the game and the motion picture was "type of a mashup in between a mythological eastern world and a western world grounded more in reality."

 

5.  Creating a name for the game took six months.

Mortal Kombat didn't have a name for over half of the development period; every recommendation for a title was presumably disliked by at least among the four designers. Names that didn't make it included Kumite (which describes a hand-based area of karate training), Dragon Attack, Death Blow, and Fatality.

 

Let's Draw ‘Mortal Kombat’ Step by Step

 

In this tutorial we used the following supplies:

  • Pencil B
  • Pencil 4B
  • Pencil 5B

     

    All tools used in this tutorial and more you may find at NIL-Tech Amazon Store
    Get yours today, here is a coupon for 10% OFF:

    STEPBYSTEP10

     

    Drawing Pencils - 37 Sketching Art Set

    The NIL Tech sketching and drawing pencils set is a professional-quality art supply with all the art pencils and tools you need to start drawing and creating your beautiful masterpiece. Great for artists and student use. Perfect to use at home, school, office, or travel.


     

     

    mortal kombat 11

     

    Step 1. We begin the construction by outlining the head and joints with circles, and add lines for the shoulders, arms and body. (Pencil B)

     mortal kombat

    Step 2. With the help of the construction lines we outline the arms with circles, and add outlines for the head, then line for the eyes and the hood. (Pencil B)

     mortal kombat characters

    Step 3. Draw the eyes, eyebrows, the beginning of the nose and a mask on the face. Next, draw the lines of the body, palm and arms. (Pencil B)

     mortal kombat 2021

    Step 4. Remove all unnecessary construction lines and draw all the remaining details on the clothes, as well as 2 swords behind the back. (Pencil B)

     mortal kombat x

    Step 5. We sharpen the contour using a soft pencil for this. (Pencil 4B)

     scorpion mortal kombat

    Step 6. We start hatching from the head and face, do it in shape and create a glow effect on the hood. Using a pencil with great softness for this will bring much better outcome. (Pencil 5B)

     mortal kombat 11 characters

    Step 7. Next, go to the left side of the picture, as this will help not to smear the picture with further shading. Stroke in shape and create volume using a pencil with great softness. (Pencil 5B)

     mortal kombat movie 2021

    Step 8. The last step is to go to the right side and do the same as in the previous steps. We finalize all the shadows, making them bright and saturated. (Pencil 5B)

     

    And There You Have It!
    Mortal Kombat Drawing. We hope you enjoyed drawing with us. See you in the next Tutorial!
     
    All tools used in this tutorial and more you may find at NIL-Tech Amazon Store
    Get yours today, here is a coupon for 10% OFF:

    STEPBYSTEP10

     

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