Ye Jacobites by Name
(Robert Burns version)
Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear,
Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear,
Ye Jacobites by name,
Your fautes I will proclaim,
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear, you shall hear
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.
What is Right, and What is Wrang, by the law, by the law?
What is Right and what is Wrang by the law?
What is Right, and what is Wrang?
A short sword, and a lang,
A weak arm and a strang, for to draw, for to draw
A weak arm and a strang, for to draw.
What makes heroic strife, famed afar, famed afar?
What makes heroic strife famed afar?
What makes heroic strife?
To whet th’ assassin’s knife,
Or haunt a Parent’s life, wi’ bluidy war?
Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,
Then let your schemes alone in the state.
So let your schemes alone,
Adore the rising sun,
And leave a man undone, to his fate, to his fate.
And leave a man undone, to his fate.
A friend of mine was doing some home brewing and so I decided to make him a beer bottle label as a Christmas gift. He is a huge admirer of Scottish culture and history and so I did some research and settled on a Jacobite rebel as the central image.
Here are the rough sketches from the start to the final image used on the beer label…
Eventually I dropped the sword sheath on his belt and just went for the basket-hilt broadsword in his right hand. I thought it made him a bit more menacing and rebellious.
I also decided to give him a darker beard and hair color which ended up in a lot of finely drawn lines.
The tartan pattern was tough. I initially tried creating the pattern and then overlaying it using layer manipulation, but it ended up looking too much like a trick of modern graphic design and less like a traditional wood block engraving.
The pattern’s complex weave also ended up taking away from the volume and surface of the kilt, so I ended up simplifying it into a generic window pane plaid. Maybe if I had a bit more time, but still it came out pretty well for the time I had put into it.
Hope you enjoyed the illustration and the peek into my method.