Sweeney Todd: The Demon Customizer of Fleet Street

[Mark Brooks]

I went and saw Sweeny Todd a few weeks ago and, while I'm not a huge musical buff, I really REALLY loved this movie. It's visually stunning and the acting was spot on. It's like a bloody gory horror movie set to music. By the time the credits rolled I knew I was going to be making a custom of Sweeney and already started going over in my head how I would go about doing it.
As soon as i got home I hit e-bay and found a serviceable Johnny Depp head sculpt though it wasn't perfect and had facial hair. I ordered the head and set about finding all the pieces of the costume. A pair of pants from the Robert DeNiro heat figure, retailored confederate vest( changed from single row to double breasted), and a shirt from (ironically) a Jack Sparrow fig and his costume was almost complete. I took the DeNiro socks and clipped the ends off so they could serve as Sweeney's gloves.
I sanded down the facial hair on the head sculpt and began using sculpy to make the hair. I was my first time sculpting anything so it was a lot of trial and error but I ended up happy with the results. I painted the head using flat skin tone and then shaded it with crushed pastels and a brush which I find easier than paint or airbrush. Lastly, I sculpted the holster and, using a piece of fake leather, attached it to the belt as well as sculpting his trademark razors and using cut out aluminum for the blades. I found an old warn out black sock to cut a strip out to make his scarf. I even had to sculpt tiny buttons for the vest but it would have looked incomplete without it. The head turned out to be a tad to big for a regular body so I ended up using a Sideshow body since they tend to have more height and bulk making the head look more natural.
To top it off I sculpted a base to resemble the warn out floor of his barber shop and then splashed some red paint on it to resemble blood.
I've never been a big customizer and always considered myself more of a modifier in that I take already existing figures and repaint the head or retailor the clothes. This is my first try and a completely built from scratch fig so I welcome any suggestions you might have.

Thanks for looking!!
-Mark

First try at sculpting the hair(took 2 more tries to get it right)

Base after baking and painting

Finished fig

 

[Shai]

SUPERB..BRAVO.

 

[automaton]

wow! beautiful work!

 

[Customikey]

I bear witness to the birth of a new and very talented customizer. BRAVO! I love what you've done, and you've shown remarkable felicity of talent in this one figure. Looking forward to more.

 

[Ryan1982]

you are an artist, my friend. truly great work for this being your first sculpt. very good job on finding/ fabricating the parts to bring this to life.

 

[Buttmunch]

Fantastic job, especially for a first attempt. The hair looks pretty good, although a bit 'stylistic,' but I think it really works for the figure. The only thing that looks off to me is just the skin tone. He isn't pale enough (at least in the pics). He was almost white in the film.

I love the base as well, and the blood is a nice touch. Now get going on a chair and pie... uh... I mean victim... uh I mean... uh... customer.

Appearently NECA has the prop replica license and is making the razor(s). Hopefully a figure as well. If not, lets hope Sideshow or Hot Toys makes one for the rest of us.

 

[galactiboy]

I really like what you did, looks great... and the base is an excellent idea and looks superb

 

[DarkArtist81]

I bear witness to the birth of a new and very talented customizer. BRAVO! I love what you've done, and you've shown remarkable felicity of talent in this one figure. Looking forward to more.

Ditto that!! Fantastic work! I am using that same head for my own Sweeney, but to see it done so amazingly.... really does raise the bar! For this being your first, I cannot even begin to imagine what the future holds.

Where did you score the shirt and vest??

 

[Darklord Dave]

Most excellent work! Great job on the hair and the base is inspired.

 

[TOE]

great job on the hair and paint.

 

[uscmhicks]

amazing job!!

 

[Rogue Trooper]

Very nice, great use of parts for the costume and the leather pouch for the razor is really impressive.
Hope to see more work for yourself in the future.

 

[Shai]

This is the pic that represent it the most,I think.Very ''Deppish''...Oh, and thread rated: excellent

 

[icruise]

Excellent job! I'm interested in how you did the hair, since I've been working on sculpting hair myself, with limited success. Did you roll out the individual "hairs" and apply them to the head, or what?

 

[IrishJedi]

Mark, that is awesome!

Adam really needs to organize a 1:6 customizing get-together at his place soon.

 

[The Ringer]

Holy Crap Mark that looks amazing! Bravo!

 

[Mooncat]

Absolutely superb looks like a high end production figure

 

[Cocoboloboy]

Excellent job! The custom detailed base really adds a nice touch to the set up too.

 

[p!tu]

WOW!!! Brooks!!! Thats insane!!!!! Pure Awesomeness!!!!!

 

[Memnoch]

Well.. let me just say WOW for a first time attempt that is amazing. The hair is sorta snake like but again, for someone that usually keeps their work at repaints or retailoring..wow. That is seriously.. wow. Wish I had talent like that, or it was for sale, because my girlfriend would seriously love that doll. Hope to see some more of your work soon!