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Reptile from the Mortal Kombat games was the first secret character ever in a fighting game, and from 1992 till today he is one of the more popular MK characters.

In the games, Reptile’s appeareance was changed multiple times, in the fifth Mortal Kombat the developers even changed him to a character looking like Lizardman from SoulCalibur.

As part of the FGE project which is about drawing fighting game characters, especially the unpopular ones but also about re-imagining them, the artist “Bulletproofturtleman” redesigned Reptile.

I asked him a bit out about his work and his motives and inspirations for this quite great looking design of Reptile!

Please click on the illustration to see the original sized version!

Visit also the gallery of Bulletproofturtleman at dA!

Specifically for this piece, I wanted to show off Reptile in his elements, and I thought having him hang over on a tree by a vine waiting above for his next potential victim would be a good way to show that.

At the same time, the open space created by area by the acid pond and the lighting peaking in through the tree branches from above almost creates this feeling of freedom in the tree heights that Reptile resides in.

As for the acid pond, I keenly remember Reptile making use of his acid to burn through more than a few faces, and I thought something like that would be like a hot spring to him.

This one took a lot out of me, but I enjoyed the result. Initially my ideas for this one weren’t just to really paint Reptile, which many have done with his different renditions, but to create my ideal look for Reptile.

Reptile, being a ninja of the jungle, I wanted to illustrate that in his character as well as combine elements of my own style to make him stand out from a Reptile any other artist may create.

I gave him a bit of an urban punk feel with all the straps, buckles, and even the hood, but also wanted to keep it fairly recognizable in comparison to the original Reptile, so when they see this piece, they can instantly recognize it as him.

Tools: Adobe Photoshop CS5, bamboo tablet

Why Reptile?: I’m a fan of the Mortal Kombat ninjas. If you think Mortal Kombat, you most likely think Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Scorpion, Subzero, Sonya or Kitana, but not always Reptile.

Reptile is pretty awesome as an acid spitter, and being green, I feel that he has the most suitable tactical camouflage out of the ninjas, and somehow that is not really important in their role as ninjas.

Why did I choose Reptile? Scorpion and Subzero are my favorites, but I feel as though those two get tons of fanarts all the time, and Reptile is pretty badass as well, and deserves some fanart to show just how badass.