fighting
Kreating The Kollector's Edition Kover for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Posted by Adam Barenblat at 8:00 AM on October 11, 2008
Alex Ross, comic book artist and designer for the collector's edition cover for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe walks us through what it took to make it. The video shows a time lapse of that illustration. It's refreshing to see that the cover art, unlike so many today, was not created in Photoshop and the results are pretty impressive. You'll be able to pick up your copy on November 11th for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
togovero
Posted 9:22 AM 11/10/08
He's a very technical monster.
togovero
Capp
Posted 9:20 AM 11/10/08
That deserves a "holy shit"!.
I wonder how long the actual time used is. I'm sure it took a long time, but it just looks awesome.
They could auction that off easily i bet
Capp
OddOne
Posted 9:15 AM 11/10/08
Oh em gee. Alex Ross is amazing. Seeing this is amazing. Now I feel amazing. Always loved his work. So amazing.
OddOne
Hauler
Posted 9:15 AM 11/10/08
I'm a big fan of Alex Ross's work and this is obviously no exception.
Hauler
cracker_vizzo
Posted 9:11 AM 11/10/08
wow, that's some serious talent, very impressive.
cracker_vizzo
benderbendingrodriguez
Posted 9:09 AM 11/10/08
@Earthslide: Not true, there are freaking AWESOME fatalities in the game.
benderbendingrodriguez
yashichi8bit
Posted 9:08 AM 11/10/08
Impressive.
yashichi8bit
Earthslide
Posted 9:08 AM 11/10/08
Awesome stuff. I heard no fatalities in the game. True?
Earthslide
benderbendingrodriguez
Posted 9:06 AM 11/10/08
Oi
benderbendingrodriguez
휘성
Posted 9:04 AM 11/10/08
@taftsearlobe33: Yes , Yes he is. Really nice man in person as well.
휘성
taftsearlobe33
Posted 9:01 AM 11/10/08
Alex ross is a god.
taftsearlobe33
dry-roasted-peanuts
Posted 9:40 AM 11/10/08
@Earthslide: There are fatalities, but the gore content is incredibly tame for a Mortal Kombat game.
+ Watch video
+ Watch video
dry-roasted-peanuts
ThickSkinned
Posted 9:40 AM 11/10/08
@taftsearlobe33: I felt that way after checking out Kingdom Come. I urge anyone who isn't familiar with Ross to check it out. Easily one of the best graphic novels ever.
ThickSkinned
infestedDemon
Posted 9:39 AM 11/10/08
I was on the border of should I get this and should I not, and this has just taken me. Consider me SOLD
infestedDemon
fearing
Posted 9:32 AM 11/10/08
Sweet, a poster of this should be the pre-order bonus. Eidos gave away a really nice Alex Ross poster for pre-ordering Justice League Heroes and I reserved it just to get the poster(game was actually kinda fun too).
fearing
Ping5000
Posted 9:32 AM 11/10/08
I am drawn to Alex Ross.
You can kill me later.
Ping5000
icko
Posted 9:32 AM 11/10/08
epic
icko
DukeOfPwn
Posted 9:28 AM 11/10/08
Anyone know where I can get this as a poster? Anyone selling high-quality prints or such?
DukeOfPwn
DragonSphere
Posted 9:55 AM 11/10/08
Agreed w/ pretty much everyone here, lol. Ross's work is always gorgeous to look at.
DragonSphere
KeroseneClimax
Posted 9:45 AM 11/10/08
Alex Ross is a comic book legend. Seeing the making of one of his works was amazing. Ross and Alan Moore should do a collaboration someday.
KeroseneClimax
Connobi
Posted 9:45 AM 11/10/08
Alex Ross is the most talented comic book artist... no, artist period - on the planet! If anyone can draw as good as Ross I have yet to see it. Plus his comic books are just brilliant!
Connobi
hitokirimaru
Posted 9:44 AM 11/10/08
@ThickSkinned: Only problem is that he won't draw any DC character who's not Silver Age. They got him to draw Wally in Justice by not telling him it was Wally.
hitokirimaru
Tom Clancy's Samuraidino
Posted 10:21 AM 11/10/08
*sigh* why do I have the feeling that the cover is going to be better than the game....
Tom Clancy's Samuraidino
skrame ☆
Posted 10:10 AM 11/10/08
@dry-roasted-peanuts: I love that Joker clip. I hadn't seen it before.
skrame ☆
trailingedge
Posted 10:04 AM 11/10/08
I wish I could own a original art from him. Great stuff
trailingedge
Poison
Posted 10:40 AM 11/10/08
@KeroseneClimax: Impossible.Considering the amount of time Ross' art needs and the extense of details Moore likes to put in his scripts... That'd be the graphic novel that never got finished.
Poison
Poison
Posted 10:39 AM 11/10/08
Away from the fact that I, as so many others, love Ross' art: did anyone notice the blurred out Wonder Woman pic around 2:25? And why was the coloring skipped so much? That's the most interesting part!
Poison
sanzen
Posted 10:54 AM 11/10/08
Beautiful artwork indeed, and a lot of effort and skill in it as well.
Just a shame that the game, I expect, will be pretty damn terrible.
sanzen
ZeeBeeEss
Posted 11:21 AM 11/10/08
Why is this not the actual cover to the game?
Dummies.
ZeeBeeEss
chaos_isnt_here
Posted 11:40 AM 11/10/08
holy crap that was awesome.
chaos_isnt_here
Shachihoko
Posted 11:35 AM 11/10/08
Ross is one of my favourite artist all time along with Jim Lee HTK, Kevin Llywellin, and Shawn Barber.
Shachihoko
victor-hvgo borges
Posted 11:33 AM 11/10/08
Uh, let me be the dissonant voice. Do ya?
I think Alex Ross art style is kinda (unconfortable) similar to that Mormon magazine illustrations...
You know, happy white people sitting in the grass playing with childrens and feasting with delight.
The glow effect, the "photographic prettyness"...
I just dont dig the guy style...
Joe Satriani plays some guitar really well, bot not for me, also...Do you know what I mean?
My 2 cents, please dont hate me.
victor-hvgo borges
ShizzleBeef
Posted 11:26 AM 11/10/08
Alex Ross is amazing! I bought his Mythology book he released. Really impressive stuff. I need to start painting in gouache.
ShizzleBeef
HT Tenrai
Posted 11:25 AM 11/10/08
@Earthslide: Nice try, troll.
HT Tenrai
Earthslide
Posted 11:44 AM 11/10/08
@HT Tenrai: Look who's talking! In your face! ass.
Earthslide
y2julio
Posted 12:21 PM 11/10/08
If only they put this much effort into making a real Mortal Kombat game. If they made a rated M Collectors edition, I would buy it but a Rated T Mortal Kombat? That's like a Street Fighter game without Ryu.
y2julio
banana_ridah
Posted 12:08 PM 11/10/08
As nice as this cover art is, it's for a MK game. And given MK's track record, that's like using a $100 bill to wrap a piece of shit.
banana_ridah
siamgx
Posted 12:44 PM 11/10/08
Some of his original works go for like 25,000 dollars!
its amazing.
siamgx
Koztah
Posted 12:43 PM 11/10/08
@Connobi:
Frank Frazetta is still alive, heathen.
Koztah
lv1shinobi
Posted 1:36 PM 11/10/08
Technical wise, he is very good. I actually prefer Steve McNiven's line work. And I pretty much grew up on Spider-man, so I really like Mark Bagley's artwork. While not as realistic as Ross, it's every bit as good.
lv1shinobi
GrrSnort
Posted 1:57 PM 11/10/08
As much as I love Alex Ross' paints, I really miss his pencil work...
He does a great job no matter what the subject, though.
GrrSnort
ハリセンボン
Posted 3:29 PM 11/10/08
@trailingedge: My friend studied with his teacher at the chicago academy of art, and the teacher had a huge collection of Alex Ross' paintings and stuff that he had worked on as a student.
ハリセンボン
shrek187
Posted 3:53 PM 11/10/08
That is actually some beautiful cover art. Really blends perfectly. I can stare at thar for hours in awww.
shrek187
VenomMelendez
Posted 2:05 AM 12/10/08
@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino:
Your psychic now? quick give me next weeks lotto numbers.
Really though it all looks good so far.
VenomMelendez
VenomMelendez
Posted 2:03 AM 12/10/08
@dry-roasted-peanuts:
Look fine.
If anything it makes them look more realistic unlike MK's usual slapstic death's.
VenomMelendez
Daisuash
Posted 2:28 AM 12/10/08
This artwork is as awesome as the PSM covers Joe Madureira did way back when MK4 was released; Neat stuff, Alex Ross is really talented...
Daisuash
SafiaTaygete
Posted 9:47 AM 11/10/08
Yeah, that pic of Wonder Woman is prolly blurred because it's someone in his family. Ross generally uses family members as models to get the pose down.
SafiaTaygete
lucifer_goosifer
Posted 11:22 PM 13/10/08
First off, what's wrong with Photoshop? Is it more "authentic" to create art on a wooden frame wrapped in fabric? Is this like those people who won't listen to music on anything other than vinyl because they insist "the soul of the music" is lost when you listen to it on CD?
And second @Connobi: You need to expose yourself to more than comicbooks before you go around making silly statements like that. Alex Ross isn't a "comicbook artist". He's more of a classic artist who's just slumming it. He "draws" like a first year art student but because he's not talented enough to make it as an actual honest to gawdness artist, he's settled for a life of mediocrity...drawing picture books.
lucifer_goosifer
dry-roasted-peanuts
Posted 1:50 PM 14/10/08
@VenomMelendez: It's Mortal Kombat. Realism has no place in the franchise.
dry-roasted-peanuts
TrilbyGabsta
Posted 8:56 PM 15/10/08
@lucifer_goosifer:
@lucifer_goosifer: Photoshop's digital art, so the amount of control you have over what's done is far greater than that of non-digital artwork. You can set things like effects, or copy-pasting people into a lineup and have the main amount of the work done by a computer rather than relying on any actual artistic skill of the person designing the cover art. Also- digital artwork can be duplicated since it's basically just stored data, whereas non-digital media is unique in its design and thus is more valuable overall. It still takes talent to make good art with photoshop, but it takes more to make it without it. The way that you talk about him "drawing picture books like a first year art student" makes it seem like you should have some artistic knowledge, but it's apparent that you don't, making your opinion rather moot. Comic Book Art is a particular style. Just because his chosen medium isn't the extreme realism, or abstract interpritations of a so-called "actual honest to gawdness artist" doesn't make it any less impressive.
TrilbyGabsta