Polish 'Em Off

The dog gave a low growl and sniffed the air.
‘Why, Hector,’ said his master, ‘what’s the matter? Down, sir, down!’
‘I have a mortal fear of dogs,’ said Sweeney Todd. ‘Would you mind him, sir, sitting outside the door and waiting for you, if it’s all the same? Only look at him, he is going to fly at me!’
‘Then you are the first person he ever touched without provocation,’ said the man; ‘but I suppose he don’t like your looks, and I must confess I ain’t much surprised at that. I have seen a few rum-looking guys in my time, but hang me if ever I saw such a figure-head as yours. What the devil noise was that?’
‘It was only me,’ said Sweeney Todd; ‘I laughed.’
‘Laughed! Do you call that a laugh? I suppose you caught it off somebody who died of it. If that’s your way of laughing, I beg you won’t do it any more.’ ~ Passage from ‘The String of Pearls’

I recently challenged Tim to draw Sweeney Todd in an anthropomorphic form (I know, it’s already been done many times… sometimes badly, buuut... ) just for the heck of it.

One catch however, I mentioned that I wouldn’t be doing a ‘Johnny Depp Sweeney’… no sir. Regardless of how much I like Sondheim’s musical and the new Tim Burton film, the Sweeney Todd that really sticks out in my mind is the one that features in the piece (or perhaps pieces) of literature written by Edward Lloyd. The fictional figure of Sweeney Todd first appeared, fully fledged, in a story titled The String of Pearls, and his character in this is the one that most suits the way I personally view him; not as an emotionally motivated figure, but rather, the cold, cunning, ruthless and downright scary fiend that I remember hearing about years ago. When I first heard the story of Sweeney Todd, it actually scared me (oh come on, I was much younger, ok?), because it sounded so gruesome… his victims were literally powerless and unsuspecting. Unfortunately, that element now seems to have been lost, and Sweeney is no longer seen as the diabolical ‘Jack the Ripper’ type character.

Aaanyway, as things go, it’s back to basics…

‘The barber himself was a long, low-jointed, ill-put together sort of fellow, with an immense mouth, and such huge hands and feet, that he was, in his way, quite a natural curiosity; and, what was more wonderful, considering his trade, there never was seen such a head of hair as Sweeney Todd’s. We know not what to compare it to: probably it came nearest to what one might suppose to be the appearance of a thickset hedge, in which a quantity of small wire had got entangled. In truth, it was a most terrific head of hair; and as Sweeney Todd kept all his combs in it – some said his scissors likewise – when he put his head out of the shop-door to see what sort of weather it was, he might have been mistaken for some Indian warrior with a very remarkable head-dress.’

LOL! Still makes me laugh… so, a guy with hair like a hedge… I chose a fox for my ‘anthro’ version, as… well, you know… ‘Tod’, being Old English for ‘a fox’… and it suits his sense of cunning. His hair is crazy, shaped like demonic horns (because he is, after all, 'The Demon Barber' ). He’s a little cracked, with a squint in one eye (another identifying feature) and another thing… oh, look! He’s wearing silk stockings! Why do we identify Sweeney Todd with the Victorian era when he supposedly lived in Georgian times? Muh? Ahahaha, oh well. ‘Nuff said… that pig fellow in the background is about to go for a trip, but he’s pork anyway. He can take on the pies.

I had way too much fun on this sketch… but I fear I could never draw him sideways with that mop!

(Artwork © Leona Preston 2008 /
‘The String of Pearls: A Romance’ © Edward Lloyd)


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