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I'm really struggling to paint the Harlequins motley. I've looked at the white dwarf where they show using red and black on one of the jetbikes
and its really inefficient to apply to an actual model, also the scale of the diamond pattern is greatly different and doesn't really help when
wanting to use two bright colors.

The problem that I have isn't so much that the colors bleed into one another or anything, only that to get the desired scale ends up with the diamonds
themselves looking bad. I haven't really found anything of use in regards to painting this stuff it seems to just be a void between people who can and
wont really explain how they do it, what they do to make it easier / get the desired look and those that can't and simply elect to not do it.

Heres a pretty zoomed in shot of what I do have:
Anyway. I can do this so far. The diamonds are the wrong scale. But I decided to go through and finish it anyway as when I attempt to go smaller with it
it simply begins to look a mess. Not so difficult to apply to larger or flat surfaces but around an actual miniatures leg it just doesn't work going smaller.

I'm not really happy or willing to accept the current outcome its not 'right' and there in lies the problem.

Well that looks pretty damn decent to me!

But one trick I've found works for smaller patterns is to basically blob in the colours in very rough patterns, before using a black ink pen or black paint to draw the lines between them, thus neatening the edges and giving better contrast. Not sure how it would work on something less flat than what I've done it on, but it might help.

It isn't too bad, I've stripped it off though because I really, really want to achieve this

I'll be practicing with every method told to me, so thank you for sharing that one I'll be testing it shortly.

Bump

When I did that type of pattern for my bret knights, heres how I did it:

1. Covered the entire area in the lighter color.
2. With a mechanical pencil carefully and lightly drew diamond pattern lines (this was easier on bret barding due to the large canvas, so to speak)
3. Carefully painted the darker color into alternating diamonds
4. Clean-up of obvious out of the line painting.
5. In many cases, I could still see the pencil marks, and that gave a nice framing, so either retouch pencil marks, or use a very thin technical pen (drafting pen?) to draw over your pencil lines which should tighten up and make the motley pop.

I used this technique for diamonds, as well as tartan on 28mm infantry kilts and socks.

If you wanted, you could then do almost a touch of highlight in the upper corners of all the diamonds, or a darker shade in the bottom area of the diamond to make the highlight (the last part might b completely unnecessary if you like the look as is)

Another option that just occurred to me might be to hand prime the motley areas in white (or prime the model white), use glazes or washes of the blue, then put down the pattern and then paint the red (or vice versa). Might make the coverage better.

Finally, I know WD has an article on 'how to' paint harlies, might find some useful tips there.

It might be possible to try and lightly score the lines on with a sharp knife before you prime. You could build your pattern that way, just making the lines deep enough to be visible. After you prime, you would still have them there to keep your lines near, and when you wash I bet they would hold the pigment and give you crisp black lines in between. This is only hypothetical though, so try at your own judgement.

I'm not fond of cutting into the solitaire really. Though that idea had crossed my mind. I don't know why they neglected to sculpt in any of the motley, they've done it before just simply elect not to?

Anyway, its looking like I'm going to need to get myself some kind of fine art pent for doing these. Drawing them on is completely new to me but sounds smart. I just need to get them.

Thanks for the input this will be helpful. For me the motley pattern of the harlequins is a must, if I wasn't going to do it, I might as well just get eldar.

I also use a mechanical pencil to draw on the lines before painting. I start with a pale grey and once I'm happy with the pattern fill in the diamonds and then go over the lines with very thin black paint, which gives some nice definition and also tidies up any small slips. Works pretty well (IMO) but working out how the pattern shifts around the bent knees can be a bit of a pain!

This is how it ends up looking:

That is really, really nice, peebs! The weapons are well done too

Another nice way to help draw long, straight lines is a liner brush. They have a very, very long thin bristle, and the advantage is that you can easily pull it in a straight line. If you use a different shade of a similar color as the basecoat to draw the lines first, it's easy to correct mistakes.

Talys: Thank you! That means a lot coming from a painter of your standard!

Sasa0mg: I've just started working on the shadowseer and took a couple of WIP photos, which might be of some use to you. I know I find it much easier to follow a technique once I've seen it rather than just reading a description. Anyway, hope these are helpful:





It's looking pretty messy at the minute but should give you an idea of the stages I use.

Well, that's me wanting to paint Harlequins finished...

Thats fantastic, I'm incredibly grateful for these pictures. Hope restored I can actually see myself being able to do this.