Harlequins, help with painting

[The Wolfguard]

Hi there,

 

So I'm looking to set up a harlequin kill team to see if I enjoy playing them and painting them etc before I see if I want to turn them into a 40k army. I have bought a squad and just for reference I have only really painted things like Death Guard before where being messy wasn't punished too badly...

 

However now I'm on Harlequins I'm really struggling to come up with a scheme that I'm happy with and that I can actually manage to pull off. I am not anywhere near good enough for the diamond technique however the models themselves look a bit plain or "toyish" with what I've done so far ( a  red and blue scheme) are there any simpler schemes which would be good to start on? What would you recommend? I've searched on youtube and google but it always just comes up with guides on how to do the diamond techniques which I'm not looking for yet..

[Kinstryfe]

A couple ideas which you may or may not like, just throwing some out.

 

Maybe go for a "dazzle camo" look? Erratic angles and blocking and the like.

 

How's your blending? With a red and blue scheme, maybe go for a fading or blending effect of orange to red to purple to blue to white. Get a lot of colors in there but in a gradient instead of a pattern.

 

Maybe go with something simpler than a checkered pattern and go with bands of contrasting colors. It may be a lot easier to pull off and you may even be able to use very thin artists masking tape to help.

 

If you can only managed a simpler scheme, perhaps really amp up the contrast. Instead of red and blue, think pairings like orange and teal, royal purple and toxic green, yellow and burgundy, and other high contrast pairings.

 

With a kill team probably being 6-8 models tops, perhaps get the dazzle across the whole team instead of on each model. Maybe pick one color as a spot color and one as a major color to tie them all together but vary from there. For example, all the jewels and spot coloring could be red, and each model could use baby blue as a color. But one Harlequin will be baby blue and navy blue, another yellow with blue vines painted on, one crimson with baby blue bands in places, and so on.

 

Hopefully these get your ideas flowing.

[The Wolfguard]

I like your ideas but honestly I'm super sceptical of my painting ability! I've never tried blending properly and they're models that.. if they look bad.. they seem to look very bad..

 

Right now I've gone for a  cop out of a black based scheme with grey drybrushs.. I like it but it isn't quite what I originally wanted to go for, I saw some pictures of "Monochromatic" harlequins in the shades of black/grey that looked amazing and I'd love to try and replicate that. I wanted to maybe do the capes/flowing parts a different colour, since the majority is black with highlights of grey was wondering about making them actually grey? 

 

I honestly want to get this kill team looking at least tabletop OK before I start to experiment somewhat, aaah, it's hard...

[Kinstryfe]

Try using a different color to tint the grey you're highlighting with. Just enough to give it a warm or cool tone, and it may make the Harlequins look a bit desaturated instead of monochromatic. Good luck with whatever you try. Harlequins are definitely intimidating models to tackle.

[shandwen]

I tried diamonds on one trooper, the straight leg turned out great, but the bent one i couldn't get right. I changed to pinstripes. It didn't look as good, but was better to me than just solid coloring.

Another option is highly noticeable highlighting. Highlight bright blue or pink around all the edges of the clothing, making it rather garish. Try stuff out. They are perfect models for pulling of things that will never work anywhere else.

[Slasher956]

For painting diamonds the cheat way:  (or the way I was painting my 'quinns*)

• paint a darker colour first as a flat colour over the whole area... ie paint one leg dark blue
• using a fine art pen draw the diamonds on area
• highlight or fill in most of alternate diamonds (leave a thin but noticeable line next to two of the inside lines) with a lighter shade of the flat colour
• using your second colour paint all of the remaining diamonds 
• highlight or accent the second colour

*about 12 years ago... they are in a dettol bath now as I want to re-do them in a more uniform manor when I get round to adding some more

 

edit - you can also do half & half on a model,  so pick one side (right in my case) and do that side as a solid colour then the other as diamonds

Edited August 21, 2018 by Slasher956

[The Wolfguard]

So I have started on one and getting somewhere I am happy-ish with for the base coats.. no highlighting or anything yet but here -

 

Paint might look a bit thick because I redid them a couple times and I got to work on the weapons. Was wondering if I need a third colour for the cloth between the legs the ribbon thing and maybe the cape too? Unsure.. any advice?

 

 

I actually did more editing.. if I had not had painted over so many layers maybe this would look decent?

 

 

I did some highlighting stuff which is rare for me might not show up in this.. It might not look brilliant but if I don't try I don't learn right?

 

 

Last pic to try and show some highlighting.. I think the scheme kinda looks good maybe? Like I said.. I need a fresh model to see probably?

 

Edited August 23, 2018 by The Wolfguard

[Kinstryfe]

Good choice on the yellow there. I like it, looking good.

[The Wolfguard]

Oops I forgot to reply! Glad you like it! I'll start from scratch on another squad at some point!

[Troubadour]

I've got some harlies that need painting, and I'm kinda reluctant to do it as the Masques' "uniforms" kinda put me off (especially all those diamonds for a novice painter like myself).

 

Back in the day, I used to enjoy painting Harlies, though, as I'd work out a bit of fluff for each troupe.  What parts they were playing in the great dance.  Some would play races, some concepts, some worlds, some seasons.  So I'd have a troupe of harlies playing "aspects of nature", for example, and give them all different uniforms and colour schemes, but all using a "natural" palette - greens, browns, blue for sky, etc.

 

It could even work for individual harlies as I'd pick a role in the dance for that model and paint them accordingly.  I'm thinking I might change my force to a kill team (as it is only small right now) and do something similar again.

[Dread]

Im just doing solid colors myself. Like 1 leg blue the other white and vice versa on the arms. I gave up on diamonds long ago. Plus who says they have to be that coukd be poke a dots or spirals. Anyhow just have fun with it no stressing out.

[tychobi]

Go to the source. Google clowns.

[Emurian]

Tip 4 diamond pattern, buy a micropen set on amazon for like 12e. You simply draw the initial shapes with the 005 one, fill in the squares with desired pattern colours and then straighten the lines with the 010 width pencil. Drawing the pattern is imo harder then colouring the squares

[MithrilForge]

I like your scheme so far, I too am out of the diamond camp…
I went with all black bodysuits, teal is my main colour that I put on knee pads and shoulder pads (and inside of jackets and cloaks)
My spot colours are red and yellow - the sashes only and everyone’s hair is moot green. Now it’s not fancy diamonds but it looks sleek as well as colourful, I can post a pick of one of them this weekend when I finish her(I’m working on mine right now actually ;-)

I did try one like yours with the quartered scheme of red and yellow… may still do it on a different squad.

Good luck with your clowns!!

Cheers Mithril

 

++EDIT++ are you going to paint the weapons and belts in Gold?... 

Edited March 17, 2022 by mithrilforge