#solitaire harlequin

[magnifigal]

"Guess I'll play Solitaire"

Eldar Gambit. Rogue Trader Rogue soon

[reidsky777]

一份委托的存档。🥺🤲独角的魅力…

[metashard]

In the spirit of Halloween never ending, cosplay dump! Pics were taken at FanExpo Chicago, though I took the same costumes to DragonCon too. Gold mask is a Harlequin Solitaire (Masque of the Frozen Stars troupe), white crown is King Minos, and the teal fuck with the mugshot is Trazyn the Infinite.

I even found some photos of my tech priest from DCon '22 while getting these together

Next up: Vargard Obyron. Just a quick pre-biotransference fun thing while I figure out how to make a glaive for the real next target, a certain grumpy nomarch ;]

And a sheepish offering hidden under the cut, because I was tired, unintentionally still tipsy, out of practice, and couldn't see a damn thing out of that mask:

[mistresssheo]

Nocturne of Oblivion

"The key unlocks a door that then will lead,

To one that only happenstance will free.

Your chance I'll be, to me the bolts will cede,

Your part comes next - to break the bonds and flee."

I like him, even though I usually don't understand half of what he says, but somehow my RT understands him. XD

[lore-pls]

Today was A LOT but when I came home @fourgods-nobrakes gave me a lil man to build and everything was okay.

[possessedopossum]

Liratirael as a solitaire. Who could have thought that the manwhorest manwhore of all local corsairs and the infamous art collector will end up playing Sailan'tresh?

[stearleart]

Solitaire 27/01/24

Digital portrait of one of my favorite Aeldari units, The Solitaire.

[verbosemoth]

wait hold on isn't this how the solitaire squaring up to the custodes went guys

[feybride]

Did you guys know i am into WH40k? Have some memes.

[holylustration]

Do you love the Nocturne of Oblivion? Do you love the arranged marriage trope? Would you like to marry a Clownyboy?

This is your story. You won't be disappointed.

And with chapter two, we're now on Ao3!

[magnifigal]

Solitaire Deadpool alcoholic marker test.

[painting-warhammer]

Solitaire in the style of Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

Just in time for 4/13! Commentary under cut.

The Lessons Learned

#1: Learn As Much As You Can Before Letting Your Mini Anywhere Near A Brush

As first figures go, this was honestly not as bad as it could have been, but I am an outlier. (and the second figure would be much worse.) Since the proverbial canvas was so expensive, it was a lot of "measure twice, cut once."

This was the main thing I used, and save for the face looking like chewed-up bubblegum, it came out relatively okay for a first try. Overall, this guy's a legend and this would be far from the only video of his I would reference.

#2: It's Okay To Be Inspired

What really hooked me on Warhammer in general is that you can paint things in your style. This is appealing at first, but if you're not an artist, you're going to be exposed quickly in the worst way possible, and that's by the color wheel theory. If you don't understand contrast and coomplements, all the technique in the world won't save your figure from looking like an eyesore.

This is where "established" characters that you are mimicking end up being your saving grace. If canon material is your bag, that works: You certainly won't lack as far as exact guides then! But in my opinion, you learn a bit more by improvising and trying to make something similar to an established character. Chances are they're popular because they have an appealing color scheme. As it happens, Vriska's various blue motifs really complement her orange, which is something I never realized way back when.

Also, reinterpretation was inevitable. I had initially considered freehanding the sun symbol on her lapel, but when everything was smaller than my pinkie, I just settled for making her jewels yellow. The real masterstroke was taking the Harlequin's Kiss weapon and recoloring it as the Warhammer (oh hey) of Vrillyhoo.

I just took the general colors and used Spiritstone Red on the rounded bits, and made something analogous to it. It's still the neatest part, imo.

#3: The Best Way To Start

For every color, I had a swatch. I had one base color, which I then doused in a shade, and then added one layer paint as the main color and one shade lighter for highlights.

#4: How To Make A Shiny Figure

There's a special paint called Ardcoat that puts a glossy texture on, but something that's a little more muted that gives a shine is... shade paint! I didn't shake the paint pot enough and created a fun glossy texture that you can see on her knee. (I learned how I accidentally did this by asking at my local Warhammer shop, lol)

#5: Don't Be Afraid To Make Mistakes

I'm sure there's more than just this wrong with this figure, but the Solitaire is supposed to be leaping off that little rock there. There were glyphs where I was able to put in a glowing line of Baharroth Blue that was watery enough that it filled in the little gaps on its own. It looked fantastic once...

Unfortunately, I overfilled my brush and it sloughed over into the other creases and ruined the whole effect. I also slopped Mordant Earth onto the stones and made it too ugly.

But that's just it. As much prep work as I was going in with, there was always going to be a mistake, and on a personal psychic level it feels bad when you make it. It ruins a whole day of painting lol. And you can't really stop those emotions, but you should at least try.

#6: You're Not Married To Your Army

It's inevitable that getting your first figure leads you to think about a whole army of them, but I had this distaste in my mouth when I thought about making more than one Vriska. For one, I didn't like any of the other Harlequins or Aeldari, or more importantly, I couldn't think of fun color schemes for them. The thought came to mind to make the ships similar to the Batterwitch/Condesce, but they were too similar color-wise (and even in the symbology!) where it just felt redundant. I get a special kick out of making something different from the boxart, because that's the point in my opinion.

I coped for a while: Green stuff or 3D print horns for the other figures to make them trolls? Suck it up and just use Vriska's color scheme for the others? In the end, I just gave up and called this a practice run. This is still my favorite figure. I'm just happy the first one turned out so nicely, relatively speaking, so I don't really have a lump of paint surrounding what was once a figure like a lot of first-time painters.

But no worries. Because I'd definitely fuck up the next one. 😅 That's for a new post.

[metashard]

Behold! Emo theater kid!

Eldar Harlequin Solitaire, Masque of the Frozen Stars scheme. I may have gone off model in a few places. That's what I get for buying off recasters I suppose :/

I'm approaching minimum workable product now that the ruffled shirt came in and wanted to do a movement test. Yes I'm taking pointe shoes to a convention, yes I will regret it, yes I have a backup plan just in case, no I will not use it.

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

There in fact exists a "Culexus Harlequin." Not a real Culexus, but basically, Cegorach grabbed a random Blank and gave him all the Harlequin training and he can do all the Harlequin stuff.

Every other Harlequin treats him as normal, and when the other Eldar ask "why is there a human in your middle" they act offended.

That'd be peak Harlequin behaviour. They never explain it, they refuse to explain it, and they gaslight anyone who questions it into thinking they're the odd one out. It becomes an unspoken rule when dealing with that particular troupe that you just don't point out Black Hole Billiam. It agitates his best friend, the Solitaire.

[wyn0rrific]

If you're still doing requests and if you want to, please could you do a Solitaire, they're one of the eldar Harlequins who play the role of Slaanesh and sometimes end up being consumed by her/him. I just read Mask of Vile and the Solitaire ate a drukhari's soul and i started to like them.

No pressure if you don't want to

omg hi another eldar request

i've been wanting to learn more about harlequins ever since i got into 40k they just look so cool eek

these guys look super sick I love their masks !!

[holylustration]

Oblivions Kiss please!

A thief. A thief in the von Valancius palace. In the heart of the dynasty.

The letter opener in hand, you approach. You could call for the guards, but why disturb their evening? You have faced worse. 

“Identify yourself!” you say, brandishing the blade in the figure’s direction. 

The figure shoves another object - a piece of rock - into its cloak. 

You take a step forward, a hand raised to touch the intruder’s shoulder. But you find the intruder stepping away, swirling around you, much faster than you. There is the flutter of a coat, and you feel the rush of air behind you, something approaching your neck. You duck and turn, knife still readied, and find a strong but long fingered hand redirecting you.

The figure’s other gloved hand comes up to cover your mouth. 

“Merchant mine,” comes a familiar voice in greeting. “Hostile intent meant I not.” 

“Arebennian,” you try and say against the fingers. “Nocturne of Oblivion.”

“Quite so, and yet not! All players are we.” The hands released you, allowing you to turn and look up at the seven foot Aeldari Solitaire staring down at you. 

You can see now that the coat bears the familiar yellow and indigo checkering and the mask bears a grin, though the smile it wears maintains a hint of menace. You are well aware of the stories of harlequins, their legendary speed and agility. And a solitaire is amongst the deadliest of all. “Well,” you say, “what are you doing here? And what am I supposed to call you?”

“Call me as you wish; that name be your truth.”

“Nocturne, then.” You watch the masked face incline its head. “But what about why you’re here?”

Nocturne gestures to the walls around you. They’re filled with Aeldari artifacts, and you realize in that moment that he was probably pocketing things that belonged to his people. “Well, I, in turn, come in trade, O Merchant.”