H-B Design: Heavyset Male Human Character # 3

For our third example I picked one that is only identified as "The Rancher."  I have absolutely no idea what cartoon this came from... but it makes me think of a guy from the Central Valley.

Incidentally, the hat was a lot of fun!

Probably it's a case of me drawing the legs too long but once again our "quarters" theory doesn't hold up as well as it might:

True quarters would occur if the bottom of the feet were at about that dotted red line.

There's lots of things I like about this character.  We might want to call him the Indignant Heavyset Man.  I love the facial expression, holding the hand up as if counting off points of dissension.  I like the overalls... and I LUV that hat!

I especially appreciate the head shape.  Here we see both an indent and a "bulge"...

We can see that the upper circumference of the head is smaller than the lower circumference... indicating the indent.

The bulge, though, is like a structural bulge to give strength and rigidity to the skull. 

The head is a classic that works on a rancher, but it would also work as a bank president... or give him a chef's hat and he's an agry chef Boyardee... he could be a cop, a fireman, a mayor, you name it.  There's a lot to be learned from this character.  Study him well.

I also love the shape of the hand being held up.  A friend mentioned that sometimes these simple drawings mask a lot of sophisticated design decisions.  I certainly agree that's the case with this character.  I'd never know how to create him spontaneously... but now that I have him for constant reference I don't need to.

Tomorrow's project will be a character from the Jetsons.  Then we'll try creating a few of our own based on the commonalities from the 4 figures.  Stay tuned.