yes, the title of this work is a play of "A bomb in yo face" which is a catchphrase from Jesse's the witcher 2 'let's play'
(huge wall of text - and some additional pictures - under the cut ) - click read more
I’ve never
been a gamer type of a person. Every since I was a kid a thought of possibility
of my character dying by my hands was so terrifying I let others play games
instead. I just sat next to them and watched how they handled the situation. I
especially liked to sit by my cousin, since he not only played the game but
also gave me small lectures and various “fun facts” about history of the title
he was currently going through.
But I’ve
always WANTED to experience those
games! Games nowadays are very complicated (not only manually!), spiked with
moral choices, heavy themes and ambiguous consequences. To me FPS’ are the
hardest games imaginable! So to learn their story I have to rely on others…
thus comes my ‘need’ for ‘let’s play’s!
There are
two ways of handling ‘let’s play’s –
either a gamer does not comment at all and just goes with the flow, or is
actively commenting his actions. I don’t mind any of those. Yet I’m more picky
about the second option. Maybe it’s because I hate how my own voice sounds
(especially recorded), so I just can’t stand when such commentary is done poorly.
I first
came across Jesse Cox’s videos through his YouTube Channel at the time when all
parts (or most of it? I’m not sure now) of his ‘Jesse becomes a badass in The Witcher 2: Assassins of kings’ were
on-line. Every since then, his videos are accompanying me one way or another.
One of the
reasons why among dozen of people who make ‘let’s
play’s, so far Jesse is my favourite is that he is not a professional gamer
(is there even term like that?). It’s a little bit like sitting next to a goofy
friend and watch him play (except I can’t literally see the guy) – it’s very
similar to all those times I watched others play as a kid. Nostalgia much?
Maybe…
The second
thing I like about Jesse is that he does not run blindly through the game. Of
course his obsession over loot gets a little bit annoying at times, yet thanks
to his exploring, side quests are done, homework on lore is done and I’m happy
to watch it.
I tried
(and still am of course) to watch other people play games. I remember one time
I wanted to see playthrough of ‘METRO 2033’ (since I am a fan of the ‘METRO 2033’ book, nowadays I’m
dying to see METRO: LAST LIGHT! playthrough). I especially wanted to see a Russian-dub
with English-sub version of said game. I found only one man playing it in that
combination yet he was so annoying that I only saw few of his videos before giving
up. And here goes Jesse’s another quality, he’s goofball all right, but, (as
far as I know) he’s not a moron.
Ok, sometimes he has this moments of
weakness – mostly when addressing to female audience. Yet, I’m accustomed to this
douche baggy type of comments. As every person Jesse has his haters, no denying
that, but I’ve never seen him ranting about them at his Vlogs (I rarely watch
them though, so maybe I overlooked that part). He fixes his attention to his
fans rather than be angry at his haters. I respect him for that greatly. And
yes, I know that he made that one desperate tumblr note – but we all have worse
days.
When I
first heard Jesse’s voice, I imagined him to look different… more Toby
‘tobuscus’ Turner -type of guy. But since I was working on his bust, I think I’m
more or less over it. Sometimes I made a remark that once I finish this piece, I’d know
Jesse’s face better than he was.
Jesse’s
voice is not only accompanying me during meals - when I have free time and fork
at hand - but also when I have more manual tasks, like school assignments, drawing
comics or just doing some minor housework. One of disadvantages is that in some
cases I don’t know what is happening in the game because of that. That’s why,
recently, I’m slowly replacing his videos with various audio books while
working – although I wish Jesse did some of audiobooks in the future! That
would be great!
For some
time, my ex-roommate associated my laughing to a laptop screen with Jesse’s
videos so anytime I did so, she was exclaiming to me stuff like: “don’t tell me you’re watching videos with that
American actor again!” then I had to either confirm or deny her statement
 |
| 1 of 3 sets of reference photos I've been using |
At
the beginning of my work on this bust, when it was all just a brownish,
shapeless mud on a few sticks, lot’s of people were asking me who am I sculpting
anyway. At first I just tried to shrug the question off. But since someone commented
that “is it a bust of the Pope?!”* I had to deny. “It’s a bust of Jesse Cox”– I answered, since hey!
That’s the truth! but that lead to some awkward conversations in which I had to
explain how I know an actor who doesn’t really act that much. Right now, if
there are still people around me who don’t know whom portrait it is, I have
that little speech prepared to sum up everything my peers need to know in just one
sentence.
Sometimes
I’m asked if it is a commission.
No, it’s
not.
I might not
be a popular artist (Bah! I do not feel like an artist at all) but even I know
how much any form of appreciation means for people – especially when a person
him-/her-self (actor, singer, dancer) not his/her work (paintings, comics,
sculptures) is the topic of commentary. Since Jesse’s also a comedian, the line
between cheerful and mocking laugh of his audience is rather thin in his case.
So let’s
say I’m paying a homage (can you pay a homage to a person who’s still alive?)
to a guy. And even tho I know he get’s a lot of fan arts, letters, comments and
even, freaking, songs (I’m using one of them as my ringtone!) I decided to use my skills and well… simply sculpt the
guy.
So I did
it, here you have it.
I hope you
like it, if not then *pff*… I can’t do much about it anyway.
* there
were more comparisons to various other people. My mother said that Jesse looks
like a philosopher. One time I was asked: “did he achieve anything?”(as in, is he a researcher? did he get an award?) Others, when I told them Jesse is an actor, asked me excitedly: “did I see him in any movie?!” to which
I had politely specify that “he is a voice actor” and so on. Most people were all like: “I don’t know him” to
which I patted their shoulder and replied “It’s all right. I would be very
surprised if you did”
On a side note: My sculpture teacher, told me that Jesse has a
kind of a Roman nose (yet he referred to those flat noses which are almost at
the same line with one’s forehead, which could be found at ancient
painting/vases/etc rather than an ‘Aquiline nose’) wide cheekbones and an
“inverted egg-shaped” forehead. Wait! what?!
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