Clowning Around (Part 3)

After painting all those earth-toned Brits for Bolt Action I needed the color fix that only painting a few Harlequin minis can give you. So I decided to clown around a bit more. Picking up exactly where I left off in December, I began with some dark gray mid-coats on the black area of this Death Jester

Mid-coat on armor and hair.

Next I applied even more red ink to the hair until I was satisfied with it. Then I used an even lighter gray for the highlights on the black areas of his suit.

With light gray highlights. 

You can see that the other Harley in the background is getting some color added to her mohawk as well.

While thumbing through the Harlequin painting guide, Warriors of the Laughing God, looking for inspiration I came across an alternate painting technique for the rock and ruins that most of the modern eldar figures are often modeled on. Basically you paint the rock/ruin a dark gray then wash it with Druchi Violet and highlight with Russ Gray. It's looked cool different in the book, and since I really am just clowning around with these models, I decided to give it a try...

Rocks washed with Druchi Violet.

So far so good, kind of a neat effect so far...

Russ Grey added to the rocks.

...and I'm not sure, but I think I hate it. They look OK in the photos, but in person it looks like I stuck cheap aquarium rocks on their bases. They don't appear right to me. So I am going to apply gray drybrushing to them to see if I like the result better. It's that or repaint them entirely to look like the traditional wraithbone look. I did like the look of the rocks with the purple wash, so we'll see what I can do to salvage this look...

The Reaper with the golden gun.

I decided my gray highlights on the black suit were just too intense and toned them down a bit with a wash of Nuln Oil. Then I painted gold onto the gun.

The rocks are corrected.

I decided to dry brush those funky rocks with Apple Barrel Pewter Grey and it seems to have done the trick. I can tolerate them now as they are no longer as distracting .

Next I decided to try another technique from Warriors of the Laughing God. This idea was to wash the weapon with Druchi Violet then highlight it with whatever they call Mitheril Silver these days.

Druchii Violet wash on rhe gun.

Mitheril Silver highlight on the gun.

I was very pleased with this effect and I will probably try this on some more Harlequins and maybe my Dark Eldar (whom I am considering for Kill Team).

Next up I finished off the mask and the gemstones that are all over this (and damned near every Goodwin Eldar) model. I changed his main soulgem from a red one to a green one just to break up the monotony.

More details done.

While working on the Death Jester I also completed this trouper by highlighting the red on her mask and adding some Mitheril Silver highlights to her gun and Harlequin Kiss.

Finished, front view.

On her back I finished off her gems and she was done.

Finished, rear view.

The rainbow hued mohawk came out fairly well. This was an experiment as well. I used inks on white to achieve the look of intense hair coloring. Also it's a bit of a call-back to the original paint schemes for these models from so many years ago...

Finishe Death Jester, rear view.

It's always fun to find a use for my old colored metallic paints, especially the Purple one. Here you can see I used it on the lightning bolt effect on the side of his cannon. Also I hand-painted the prism icon onto his right leg.

Finished Death Jester,  front view.

With exception to flock, these first few Harlequin models are done. I was having a lot of fun working on these and decided to prime up some more for the paint queue... coming eventually I guess... ;)