HUGE Sweeney Art Dump

When I title something HUGE, I mean it! :D

Woooahkay… this is a mixture of allsorts from my sketchbooks, mainly conceptual drawings where I’m still figuring out the general art direction, character designs etc…

Ok, I’ll attempt to explain some of these drawings… from left to right; a tester comic panel with Sweeney standing outside St Dunstan’s Church (I’m still experimenting with angles, which are a bit bleh, detail, lighting and shading techniques…), some rough sketches of Tobias looking more and more like Oliver Twist, Mrs Lovett and Sweeney… and mop madness. :D Below these are some more miscellaneous scribbles… a true pantomime moment from the book (yes, I fell back to drawing them as humans for a moment) with ‘he’s behind you!’

Erhem Happy razors… well, you have to have something goofy in there to break it up don’t you? They really do look happy though… lol!

Back to work; early conceptual sketches for some of the other characters in the book including the beadle, reverend, Magistrate Sir Richard Blunt and a nameless Bow Street Runner at the top there. I’m still in two minds as to what species of animal I’ll fix with for these guys. Certainly the Bow Street Runners, I figured, should be fleet-footed creatures of a sort and Sir Richard was going to be a dog, but seeing as I’m sticking with a dog for Thornhill, I thought something different was called for. I’m currently experimenting drawing Sir Richard as a goat instead, as it seems to give him an interesting profile. The book isn’t too descriptive when it comes to Sir Richard, but I have picked up on a few distinctive things… he’s obviously very intelligent, having had to figure out the workings of the criminal mind many times before and being a ‘Sir’, I’d say experienced too. I’m working to bring him across visually as someone who is getting on in years but still has a spring in his step (and the ability to kick some ass), has a sly look about him as if he’s figuring you out and at the same time cuts an intimidating figure. Heh heh… I babble on.

Now to the rest of it… an unfinished conbadge (it was going to be a sampler, but I couldn’t be bothered with it in the end… meh, and Sweeney’s always swinging that razor about isn’t he?) Lol, he’s now cackling madly about something… although he should have two razors (traditionally) and bad colour concepts for Sweeney and his coat, as well as an early design for his fatal revolving chair (it is described as being old fashioned, carved and primarily made of oak with a high back, so here I have something in the Georgian scroll style with ‘death motifs’ hidden in the wood… an hourglass, skull and crossbones etc… I’m still working on it).

Fewh! Aaaand, I think that’s it! =p Onwards!

Note: I realise that the detail may be lost from the larger image due to FA’s size restrictions, so if you should like to see all the fine detail, you can download it from this page: http://leopreston.deviantart.com/ar…..-Dump-83210687

(Artwork © Leona Preston 2008).