KING OF THE HILL PROPS
SUMMER 2019
PROJECT TYPE: PERSONAL
PROJECT GOAL: FABRICATE PROPS OF FICTIONAL PRODUCTS
If asked to name a guilty pleasure TV show, I would probably name Mike Judge & Greg Daniels’ 1997 cartoon King of the Hill. I was struck with the idea of creating real-life versions of a couple of the iconic, fictional brands mentioned throughout the series.
The challenge in this recreational project came when trying to track down images and information about these products. It also became an experiment in designing label and packaging for print.
ALAMO BEER BOTTLE & NECK BAND
Alamo Beer, a staple for the Texan natives of King of the Hill, almost exclusively comes in cans. I decided to create a bottled version. While scouring fan pages on the internet for examples, I found slogans to adorn the label. The remainder of the text was taken from a real beer bottle.
Musician Willie Nelson guest staring in the episode Hank’s Got the Willies, one of the only images I could find of Alamo in bottles.
MANITOBA CIGARETTE PACK
Beginning with a basic template, I synthesized details from King of the Hill with the designs of popular cigarette brands. I color dropped the distinctive red directly from screenshots.
As I finalized its look, I had consider how I would go about assembling the pack. I placed discrete lines throughout the design to demarcate cuts and folds. Once printed, it was only a matter of carefully cutting along said lines and folding the package in the correct order before gluing.
Manitoba 100s packs from the episode Keeping Up with Our Joneses. The design of the pack varies greatly as it appears throughout the show.
The emblem that appears on the card is the BLUE FLAME OF VALOR, the highest honor in the KING OF THE HILL world of propane.
STRICKLAND PROPANE BUSINESS CARDS
As the final part of this project, I made a business card for Strickland Propane, Hank’s employer. While no such card appears, the fictitious company’s prevalence throughout the show made including it a no-brainer.
Strickland being a cliché blue-collar workplace, I designed the card as Hank Hill himself may have: a simple layout, a red-white-and- blue color scheme, and the slogan in a basic script font.
KING OF THE HILL © 1997, TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION
