So, for this weeks COTW we're going to look at one of the most creative and unique creators still active on the machine, Harlekin (/Harlequin/ Tarkarra/ Tarkabarka). Here's the piece in question.
Now, of course there are many things to talk about here, so we'll focus on a few things.
First off, the perspective. Harlekin is very good at doing weird perspectives, birds eye view is one he's very good at. A very good way of doing unusual perspective/ position parts of limbs (such as thighs and biceps) is to use female-heads and then resize them, as you can see with the biceps here. This can also be used for foreshortened arms and crossed legged thighs.
The bike is very well made, out of numerous different items, a good example of thinking outside the box when using items. In the construction here I can see items from headgear, items-right, body-mech and insignias. I'm not sure about how the front wheel and handlebars line up, but still, it's not that noticeable, and it still works.
The main thing, apart from his posing skill, that is interesting about how Harlekin does characters is how he does faces. The manga/ anime style is very hard to do on heromachine with conventional items. The way this is done is by using insignias to create every aspect of the face (which he shows how to do in this series of tutorials http://www.heromachine.com/forum/tips-tricks-how-tos-and-guides/lick-and-tricks-with-harlequin/).
I'm sure we'll cover Harlekin again, because there are other aspects of his art that aren't best demonstrated in this piece that I'd like to talk about, such as his shading and clothing design, but for now I'll just end with that.
