of The Miniatures
Not many people have heard of Crunch-Waffle Miniatures. They've been around for about two years now. They launched their line of miniatures and skirmish game at Gen Con SoCal 2005, where I met Dan and Andy, the owners. They are really cool guys, and they have a very unique view for the gaming industry. See, Dan is an anthropologist (like myself) and has decided it would be a cool idea to mix different mythologies with historical figures and tribal settings. It's a very unique blend of history meets fantasy! For anyone who is a culture enthusiast or armchair anthropologist or sociologist, I highly recommend looking at this game and the line of miniatures.
This set of minis is their first set of Waggamaephs (pronounced like wagga-meef). They are about the size of a Halfling, maybe a touch smaller. They are rambunctious little guys who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Unfortunately, due to their ADD, they don't make very good watchmen in adventuring parties. But do you need a rogue who also provides comedic relief? Or how about a barbarian who is great at weapon-improvisation? Then playing a Wagga in a game is for you! Rogue and Barbarian are the favored classes for these cute yet ferocious fey.
Though Dan says they are supposed to be brown, I enjoy painting my Waggas in a variety of colors!
Materials
For paints, I stuck with Reaper paints. I have decided to stop using Vallejo for a variety of reasons - namely, they seem to ruin my brushes! Reaper Master Series paints are great because they are already formulated with other chemicals. I only add water to them, nothing else.
Paints:
Brushes:
- Winsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature — sizes 0 and 1
- Winsor & Newton Series 7 — sizes 0, 1 and 2
Palettes:
- Two flower palettes from Dick Blick Art Supply
Basing:
- Elmer's White Glue
- Golden Pumice Paste - Fine
- Static Grass (can find at any local game store or online)
Miscellaneous:
- 3 x top to a primer can
- Silly Putty (to affix the mini to the primer can top, so you don't handle the mini during painting)
- Superglue
- Toothbrush
- Dish Soap
Prep Work
Crunch-Waffle has great casting and sculptors. I have not yet had a mini from them that needed a ton of prep-work. In fact, this batch took maybe about five minutes total of filing mold lines. The rest of the prep-work included washing with an old toothbrush and some dish soap, letting them dry for about an hour, and then gluing them on bases with superglue. I then added pumice paste to the bases.
Methods to the Madness!
As I said before, I've painted these cute little guys before. I don't like painting them in neutral colors because, well, everyone else seems to do that! Instead, I decided to go with teal fur and tanned skin. (The other ones I had done before, I had done the skin in matching colors to the fur, just lighter. I wanted to try something different on these guys.) I also wanted to put more blue Waggas out, there just to annoy Dan! I do so enjoy painting Crunch-Waffle minis in odd colors. They just seem to be very suited for it.
Techniques
Everyone always asks, how do you paint fur and hair so well? Well, it's really simple - you just have to be patient. To paint hair and make it look really convincing and soft, you are going to use feathering for adding highlights.
For those who don't know what feathering is, I'll do my best to explain it: You are going to load the tip of your brush with your highlight paint. You are going to want this to be really thin. When the brush is loaded, I blot the excess off on a paper towel just so it won't run. Then take just the tip of your brush, and start making short swift movements in the direction of the hair. You don't want to use the full size of your brush, just the tip. You will have to rinse it out, reload, and also create a point frequently while doing this. Make sure it's a fine point, too.
Don't worry about the lighter paint getting in-between the strands of hair. You'll get to that later.
You're going to want to highlight up to your lightest color. For these guys, it was pure white. Once you've highlighted up using feathering and reducing the size of the highlights, you need to let it dry really well.
Once dry, take your darkest shadow color and turn it into a glaze.
Many people are still confused by what a glaze is. Most painters know what a wash is, correct? Just add more water, so the paint is a bit thinner. You want it thin enough so that it will run into the cracks easily, without covering the highlighted area. Glazes are used to soften highlighted areas. You are going to paint it on, though, not slap it on like you would a wash.
Here are some photos to show the different stages:
Basecoat
First stage of highlights
Second and third round of highlights
Highlighted up to white
Added several layers of glazes to the fur to soften the highlights
When the fur was done to my satisfaction, I added dark lining using RMS Brown Liner. It works wonders, and I use it on every model now! Love the stuff! If you don't have a bottle, I recommend going out and getting at least one. I also have used the grey and blue liners that come in the triad. The brown liner is very versatile and has many uses!
When the dark lining was done, I went back and touched up the flesh before adding highlights to it. I also made sure to complete the eyes.
The way I paint my eyes is very simple, and anyone can do it. First, paint the whole eyeball black or dark brown. Once dry, paint a smaller oval of white, leaving a ring of black/brown around it. Once the white is dry, add a pupil (using a dark color); and if you want, add a reflective dot. There is a step-by-step tutorial at reapermini.com - it's listed under The Craft section, called Bette Davis Eyes.
I highlighted the flesh using the RMS Tanned Skin Triad. I used just those three colors. I used the layering technique to highlight the flesh. You are going to want to thin your paints out, so the highlights go on nice and smooth. If you get any chalkiness, you are probably still too thick - just basecoat again, and then give it another go. You will probably have to build your highlights, too, since as the paint will be thinner it won't be as noticeable.
Paint Recipes
Fur:
- Basecoat
- RMS Deep Ocean
- Highlight 1
- RMS Marine Teal
- Highlight 2
- RMS Surf Aqua
- Highlight 3
- RMS Surf Aqua + RMS Pure White
- Highlight 4
- RMS Pure White
- Glaze
- RMS Deep Ocean, very diluted (only using water)
Skin:
- Basecoat
- RMS Tanned Shadow
- Highlight 1
- RMS Tanned Skin
- Highlight 2
- RMS Tanned Highlight
- Darklining
- RMS Brown Liner