Welcome to another Artist Highlight from the As You Wish Helmet Project! This helmet along with 49 others will be displayed a Star Wars: Celebration VI in Orlando, FL from Aug 23-26. Starting Thursday, August 23 these helmets will be auctioned on eBay by the Make-A-Wish Foundation with 100% of the proceeds going to support Make-A-Wish.
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Artist Overview
Artist: Jesse Lincoln and Anthony Mestas
Website: Sideshow Collectibles | Specialty manufacturer of licensed and proprietary collectible products.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sideshowcollectibles
TDH: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Jesse: I was a nerd when nerd wasn't fashionable. I have always collected action figures, and still do. I owe my collecting bug to the original Star Wars trilogy, that was what fed my hunger as a kid. Because of that, I work in the industry that I do. I got my professional start in the FX industry back in '95 at Rick Baker's "Cinovision Studios". From there I went on to working in the "Collectibles" industry. I am now going into my 8th year working at Sideshow Collectibles.
Anthony: I have always been into building and painting scale models. But unlike all the other kids who were building cars and airplanes, I was building universal monsters, and dinosaurs. I never lost interest in building models, well except for the few years I was in high school (girls and all). As things would would go, I started doing commission model building work for collectors, and then onto painting life sized dinosaurs for various museums. Not only was I building for collectors, I was a huge collector as well. Everything from action figures to Japanese resin figure model kits. All of this has lead me to my current career, Paint Coordinator at Sideshow Collectibles.
TDH: What drew you to the As You Wish Helmet Project?
Jesse: I love tinkering, and model building. Having the chance to customize a 1:1 Bobba Fett helmet, and adding my own spin, how could I say no?
Anthony: The enjoyment I get from model building, and challenging myself to come up with ideas and new modeling/painting techniques. Oh, and Boba Fett being one of my favorites Star Wars characters!
TDH: What was your inspiration for Game of Clones?
Jesse: There were a few ideas that Anthony and I were bouncing around. I am a fan of The Lord Of The Rings movies, as well as the Game Of Thrones HBO series. The medieval design elements have always been an inspiration.
Anthony: The funny thing is that Jesse and I are always throwing around ideas when it comes to various art projects, weather it is customizing an existing piece or a creating a one of a kind personal art piece. This project was the perfect subject matter to bring our ideas to fruition.
TDH: Tell us a little about the process of creating this helmet.
Jesse: It took a bit of brainstorming to come up with the basic concept. The main hurtle was deciding if we were going to keep with the "helmet" theme. That was a big factor. I had some interesting ideas on utilizing the helmet as an architectural element.But we figured, it's a helmet...why fight it?
Anthony: We went with altering the helmet, yet keeping with the overall design. We were taking a risk at doing a medieval type helm, it is a very obvious train of thought. So we pushed the design by adding an ornate crown, as well and filigreed embellishments to the helmet. We wanted to create a piece that look as if it could have existed in the real world. A "museum piece".
TDH: Now that the helmet is finished, if there is one thing you could change or do differently, what would it be?
Anthony: I think I can speak for the both of us when I say you can never have enough time for a project like this. We went into the concept with some very elaborate designs. The original plan was to have the entire helmet look as if it had been etched with elaborate filigree. Much like the Italian, and Spanish ceramonial suits of armor The back was going to have pictograms tell the story of Bobbas battle with the Sarlac, yeah...that was the plan. With that said, Jesse and I are still considering making our own Boba helmets that follow through with this original idea, now that the R n D has been worked out.
On a side note, we want to say thanks for giving us the opportunity to participate in the "As You Wish Project". We are honored to be able to contibute to such a great organization. It was a blast!
TDH: With your helmet finished, what is your next project?
Anthony: Our next project has yet to be decided, but we are planning on displaying some individual projects at the upcoming "Son Of Monsterpalooza" show, being held this Oct in Burbank.
The finished Game of Clones helmet:
Click images for a closer view. This helmet will be available for sale via eBay starting Thursday, August 23 with 100% of the proceeds going to support Make-A-Wish.
