Character Appearance Changes

Written by Adam.

This is mostly a curiosity piece as only someone with many years of issues could actually discover and compare drawings from many years. Most will come and look at the artwork on the pages; some may wonder what years the drawings were from. Well, I'm here to help you give an idea of when drawings were done...this is only a general guide. Printing changes and different inks can be the result of some of this, so its not a 100% guarantee, but there are things to look for.

A very important note--I cannot "date" Lorin Thompson's work--he kept the art of Ranger Rick so consistent from 1970 onward, I cannot reliably tell any difference in his drawing of one character to the next over the span of many years. So unfortunately, this page isn't going to contain his art for that reason.

However, Alton Langford's work on the characters is a different story, and there are things to look for when determining when your favorite picture was drawn.

Ranger Rick is one of the easier ones to determine the year of. What you need to focus on is his raccoon mask. When Alton Langford drew earlier pictures of Rick, the mask was entirely black. This was the case till about 1986, when it started evolving into a black-brown blend seen by the early 1990s. Going forth into the later 1990s, you can further tell differences based on color....Ranger Rick's sandy yellow fur became more of a bright yellow by the later 1990s. Having spoken with Alton Langford, he never intended to change colors or anything, so my assumption on this one is as the inks and printing processes changed to become more environmentally friendly, the colors changed as well.

Ollie Otter is another easy one to tell when the picture was drawn. Again, it may be a printing thing with the inks, but the differences in color make it very easy to discern its age. Ollie is a much duller brown in earlier drawings, and gradually gets lighter as the 1980s progress. By the early 1990s, Ollie almost has taken on a bright burnt-reddish brown color, and depending on the drawing, he looks slimmer, or smaller. By the late 1990s, the Ollie's colors have entirely changed, away from the reddish brown to a cream brown. One thing that did disappear for the most part is the obvious color difference in Ollie's chest fur. While still present in the late 1990s, compare it to the drawings in the 1980s...it is no longer obvious that Ollie has lighter fur in various areas of his body.

Of all the characters in Ranger Rick, Boomer Badger is clearly the one that has the most obvious changes. Being the naive, brash, crazy one of the group has certainly changed the way Boomer interacts with the environment around him. In the 1980s it was his attitude that stood out, and Boomer very much looked like a badger--pudgy with long claws, and a dull sandy color. By the 1990s, Boomer's personality had grown and he now interacted with the human environment the most of any character, wearing clothes, playing with toys or video games, listening to loud music through boomboxes, setting off fireworks--you name it, Boomer was the one to do it. However, this change also required Boomer to act much more humanlike, and therefore, he is drawn almost like a person throughout the 1990s. You very rarely see him walk on all fours, and he has lost all of his badger stockiness that was seen in earlier drawings of him. Still can't get over the fact that Boomer actually could pass for Lil' Wayne or some other rapper with all that bling.

Unfortunately, for fans of other characters, there are no obvious differences in appearance of the other major characters used in Ranger Rick's adventures. Scarlett Fox, outside of the very first drawing Alton Langford drew of her in 1983, has looked very much the same over the years. Generally speaking, if she's walking on two legs, its a mid to late 1990s drawing. Before that, she was generally walking on all fours or sitting down in drawings. Same goes for other characters like Sammy Squirrel or Cubby Bear. The two-legged walk is more common in the 1990s drawings than the 1980s. Outside of miniscule differences in the way the eyes are drawn they look very much the same as they did when they were first drawn. Like Lorin Thompson before him, this is a testament to Langford's ability to consistently draw the characters. The changes represented in the three above largely come from the change in direction of the stories and the requirement of the characters to interact more with the human environment rather than trying to avoid or stay away from it all the time.

Its really neat to view, and for a few characters anyway, you have a way of putting a date to your favorite picture!