Alternate MK9 Ermac costume

[muscleman71]

I'm new to the forum and pretty much new to the practice of prop making. i was looking around for any Mortal Kombat character costumes, but had no luck. because Ermac is my favorite character in MK9, and his alternate costume is more visually appealing to me, i decided to replicate the entire thing to the best of my abilities.

this will be a long process but i'll try to do it right!

here are some reference pics i took from the game (all necessary credits to MK9 developers be given here) and what i have so far...

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

I will be watching this one. I love MK costumes. I did a Scorpion a few years back (combined the Deception mask with a hybrid of his costumes) and really like what they did with just about all the ninja in MK9. Might be tempted to revisit if your Ermac psyches me up!

 

[muscleman71]

really? if you have a picture of it, i'd like to see it. this is my first major project and most of it will deal with fabric so i'm going to have to learn how to design the outfit from scratch. i agree on the MK9 ninja designs. all are very cool. thought about doing the main scorpion costume after but lets not get too far ahead haha. i'll be working on this as often as possible.

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

really? if you have a picture of it, i'd like to see it. this is my first major project and most of it will deal with fabric so i'm going to have to learn how to design the outfit from scratch. i agree on the MK9 ninja designs. all are very cool. thought about doing the main scorpion costume after but lets not get too far ahead haha. i'll be working on this as often as possible.

I will see what i can dig up; i know i dont have many.

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

Sadly, here's the only picture I can find of the Scorpion, taken for a Kotaku halloween event thing.

Actually, I used the mask from Armageddon (not Deception) as the inspiration design, but instead of keeping the cheeks all yellow and sunken in, I blacked them out - I don't remember why.

As you can see, the rest of the costume is basically the MK1 outfit but with the bracers and knees and shins more like those from Deception. My goal was to flesh it all out like in Deception but I ran out of time, so kept it simpler.

This was back in my early days of making costume pieces from scratch, same year as my (craptacular but passable) Samus build.

 

[muscleman71]

not bad at all. i like how you used tabi shoes (if thats what they are called, i don't remember exactly. the mask is unique. most people just use the bottom part of a paintball mask. i have only seen one samus helmet before. maybe it was yours.

quick question. how do you post the pics like you did? i don't want thumbnails, but the full size in the window so i can describe each one as you scroll through

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

Sure thing, i posted the pic on photobucket first, then linked to it here using the IMG tags (in square brackets, not angled like HTML).

 

[muscleman71]

Thanks Primo.

so after filling in what i thought was too deep, it allowed me to realize the mask is still not proportional to the game.

i have to do some serious shaving down on the sides/cheeks. i'll be doing that tomorrow

 

[Sakin]

I have to agree, his alternate looks badass, specially his mask. But this one wont be easy, due to all the shiny red fabrics he uses on his costume and mask.

 

[muscleman71]

@Sakin:
No doubt about that, but i think i have most of the materials figured out. for majority of the costume i will be using pleather layered on top of a black cotton for comfort. it appears most of it is made out of leather (which i will not be using)

its cheaper, and gives a very close look to the material used in the game.

and for the armor, a semi-gloss spray paint should be no problem. i will be using 'Hardcore Spanish Montana' which i have much experience from my stencil projects.

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

Pleather might even be too heavy for the hood - I'll have to play the game a bit to see that and the robe/cape, but it almost looks like satin would do there.

 

[muscleman71]

yeah, i thought about using satin at first, but i know it is very difficult to work with because of how easily it can fall apart. i'm not very skilled in clothing design, so i thought about going with something tougher.

heavy? yeah maybe so. i guess i'll have to find out throughout this build.

on a further note, i don't have a specific deadline so i have all the time i could possible need, thought i would like to finish it asap.

 

[muscleman71]

quick update. started to sketch out the hood template on some white cotton. Used photoshop to make some reference photos

more coming soon

 

[muscleman71]

so this is the actual template for the hood

gotta go look for the other materials tomorrow and put them together

 

[CyberPaddy66]

One piece of advice, your template for the hood is flat and as soon as you join it and put it on a 3d head it will totally deform from the original shape. I tried making a medieval helmet liner and each time I though I had it worked out the finished piece was either way too small or puckered up in all the wrong places, try tacking your template together and seeing if you can still get your head into it before continuing onwards.

 

[muscleman71]

yeah i know what you mean Paddy. after the reference sketch, i actually did that and re-sketched the final design with the folds and 3D shape on that same blue-head armature. unfortunately in my excitement, i took it apart without taking a picture.

the last picture is the actual 3D template. I have very little experience in clothing design so i may have to go back to the drawing board several times.

 

[Kenosha Kid]

I found this rather quickly after a google search

DawnPages -- Hoods

 

[muscleman71]

Thanks Kenosha Kid! that link was rather useful!

 

[muscleman71]

so here is what i have so far. i came up with the general shape of the hood after several hours of pinning and unpinning. i'm pretty satisfied so far.

 

[Kenosha Kid]

That looks so sick! Can't wait to see it all trimmed out and the face mask complete.