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So, a little while ago, I received a commission to match some harlequins to an existing Dark Eldar force.  My client, in this case, was very specific about the colors- mostly they would be in black and white, but they were each to have one bright color on them (selected from one of the bright colors on the Dark Eldar force).

Otherwise, the designs were up to me.  I actually highly recommend treating harlequins this way.  Aside from being some of the best minis that the Citadel range has to offer, they really do give you a free pass to go wild with your freehand.  Reigning this in with tight color control is a terrific idea.

Since I don't play Eldar or Dark Eldar, I'll have a little more trouble finding an excuse to pick up some of these minis for myself.  I do play Space  Hulk, though, and I've seen some pretty strong rules for them that could easily be updated into 3rd ed.  Still, they'll have to wait until some of my other projects are finished.

So, here they are:

 









 

Very nice!

Gotta say those look pretty sweet.

Might have to try and make mine have a similar scheme...won't turn out anywhere near this good but I'll try.

Awesome! I particularly like the third, green one.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
* I mean the fourth, green one.

Nice work the first 2 are my favorites.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

When the Harlequin's first came out, this was what I envisioned them to be; not murderous clowns, but sinister characters with eccentric colours.

You, my friend, are ace.

Iranna.

Wow, they look amazing like this. I keep scrolling back up to look at them, they are fun.
Very well done.

Very nice model! Love the Death Jester.

very, very nice.

Although what's with the monochromatic (monometallic?) weapons? They look almost unfinished.

But I'm lovin' that Deathjester

very nice i like harlequins without too much over the top painting on them, it makes them look more menacing than if they have all sorts of crazy patterns and clour shifts it just looks silly and not intimidating at all.

Looks great man.

so far all harlequins I've seen are a blend of lots of vivid colours, I like these more

what kind of paintings did you use?

Awesome models. I've always loved the harlequin models, but didn't really dig the super bright colour schemes. Yours, however, look super.

Very inspirational! You've made me want to paint my two units up! Thanks!

Sweet! Go forth and paint up your two units. I like inspiring that in people.

Nocturne wrote:Looks great man.

so far all harlequins I've seen are a blend of lots of vivid colours, I like these more

what kind of paintings did you use?

Do you mean what paints did I use, or what kind of techniques? The paints I used are mostly P3 (although there was a reaper and Citadel mixed in there somewhere). If you'd like a full list of color recipes, let me know- there's some going to look it up that I'd have to do.

The techniques I used varied some. Mostly, I painted on the broad colors first, then got the basic shapes of the patterns in using some freehand, then went back over it with black lining in order to sharpen things up.

Although I normally use a paintbrush to do the lining, I actually used a micron pen to do it on a lot of these patterns. Essentially, it is the same results, but a little bit quicker.

i love the first green one

I really like the work on the Death Jester, but they all look great.

Seconded on the weapons though... they look like lumps of metal rather than intricate machinery. I guess ordinarily they'd be fine, but the outstanding work on the rest of the models really shows them up.

I really like how the black and white contrasts with the bright colours and the way you've used flame motifs as well. Nicely done and a little different. Thanks for sharing

When i read the thread title, i was expecting something i wouldn't like. But these are amazing.
The contrast between the colour and darkness is really striking, they look great.

odinsgrandson wrote:

Do you mean what paints did I use, or what kind of techniques? The paints I used are mostly P3 (although there was a reaper and Citadel mixed in there somewhere). ...

yep I meant the brand of the paints, Im new to this and I'm trying to learn the different finishes of paints
I'm of those who want to believe that you can do a nice job without the expensive citadel paints.
Thanks mate, keep the awesome job

Yes they are very awesome looking mini's

These are amazing
Well done

So so sooooo awesome!

Absolutely gorgeous colour scheme on them and of course a flawless paintjob!

Thinking of doing something along these lines for mine now... as far off as that is going to be. I was having trouble trying to figure out mutiple colours and somehow b/w with one accent colour never occured to me. I hope you don't mind if I take these wonderful models as inspiration.

The 3rd one down is my fav he looks quite happy as though hes rockin out. Nice work.

Aurelia wrote:Absolutely gorgeous colour scheme on them and of course a flawless paintjob!

Thinking of doing something along these lines for mine now... as far off as that is going to be. I was having trouble trying to figure out mutiple colours and somehow b/w with one accent colour never occured to me. I hope you don't mind if I take these wonderful models as inspiration.

Thanks, and please do. I'm glad they're so well received.

Oh, and you should post yours when you're done with them.

Nocturne wrote:

odinsgrandson wrote:

Do you mean what paints did I use, or what kind of techniques? The paints I used are mostly P3 (although there was a reaper and Citadel mixed in there somewhere). ...

yep I meant the brand of the paints, Im new to this and I'm trying to learn the different finishes of paints
I'm of those who want to believe that you can do a nice job without the expensive citadel paints.
Thanks mate, keep the awesome job

Citadel paints tend to give a slightly glossier finish than I normally like, but I do use those ones too. I don't think they're the best paint line available to you, though.

In addition to P3, I also recommend Vallejo and Reaper paints. Both brands do a great job with their lines.

On the other hand, I also use Higgins brand inks, Testors line of gloss clear paints (especially for blood) and Duplicolor Sandable Primers.

Damn nice work. The single bright color really stands out on these. I hope your client was stoked to get these. I sure would have been!

These are incredible, how long have you been painting?

kitch102 wrote:These are incredible, how long have you been painting?

Well, I started about twenty years ago with some Monster in my Pockets. Now, there's only so much technique you can learn when you're a ten year old painting rubber 'minis,' so it took a while before I got decent.

Jimsolo wrote:Damn nice work. The single bright color really stands out on these. I hope your client was stoked to get these. I sure would have been!

Oh, he seemed quite happy in his emails. I actually really like working with him, because he tends to give me some great instruction, and just enough wiggle room to expand upon.

those are awesome, I especially like they they generally have the same colors scheme all around, but each have a different spot color. It helps them fit together as one unit, and still helps each of them seem unique as well

Great looking Harlies.