Harlequin Player Step by Step Tutorial

I had a request for a step by step tutorial for my Harlequin technique, so here it is.  I like to do tutorials, but I always think to do them after the model is finished though.  I hope people find this guide helpful.

After a nice white primer coat the model is ready.  I prefer to use white for most of my painting these last few years.  I find I paint better using a white primer.  It forces you to paint the entire model.  

I knew from the start I wanted the entire back of the coat to be diamonds and nothing else.  From there I picked out where all the black was going to be.  I left most of the future red and blue areas unpainted.  I hit up the belt with Shining Gold, pistol with Ushtabi Bone, hand flesh with Elf Flesh, sword blase with Ironbreaker, hair with Bright Magenta, ribon Genestealer Purple, rock Deneb Stone and shoulder pads with Flash Gitz Yellow.

The next step is where to real time consuming part comes in, the diamonds.  I start with a centrally located diamond.  

From there, I extend the lines of the four sides of the diamond.  You can maintain a unifrom distance just keeping a strait-line and maintaining distance. 

Then, you make hash marks that are where your next lines are going to be.  I visually see where they need to go, but guidelines can be used as well. 

Then just connect the hashmarks.

Once the hash marks are connected you can extend those lines out like the previous step.  That process is continued until the entire coat is filled.

The other side is done by extending the lines from the previously done side.  The top part has top priority of matching up.  

Then, highlight the edges of the diamond field in black.  I do this to give me a nice visual of what i'm working with. 

The pencil lines are now lined with black.  I can skip this step from time to time.  I like to do them when I feel like I can't maintain my blue and red.

This takes two coats.  The priority with the first coat is covering all the white and not going into the black too much.  The second coat is to get a nice even color.

A similar process is used for the red.

The final step is to go back over the black lines.  If you feel like the diamonds aren't as sized right as you like, you can make the black lines a bit thicker where needed.

More basecoating is up next.  I hit up the hood with Genestealer Purple and filled in the red and blue body parts.

Now onto the washing phase.  The red is washed with Baal Red and the Blue hit with some Guilliman Blue Glaze.  I like the Glaze on lighter colors.  Washes can overpower the color and make it too dark.  Guilliman is also used on the purple and magenta areas.  Agrax Earthshade on the pistol, Nuln OIl on the sword and backpack, and Reikland Fleshshade on the gold.

Highlighting is up next.  I like to use either base color for highlighting as seen on the blue and pistol areas.  I'll use contrasting for metallic (Mithril Silver) and Black (Codex Grey).  In addition to highlighting, I started black lining the area between two colors.

All the gems are hit with red and the ankle bracelet in gold.  Magenta and Purple are hit with some Skink Blue Dry Paint.

I wash all the gems with Nuln Oil.  I am careful to get a bit on the outside to create a nice black area around the gem.  The Codex Grey is hit with a heavy Nuln Oil.  The recesses of the mask are now done with some Guilliman Blue.

A white dot is added to the gems and then the entire gem is hit with some Gloss Varnish. The base is also painted black to prepare it for basing. 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  I might do one for the Skyweavers as well.