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Hello,
I have been trying to hawk my wares as a commission painter for a few months now. The commission painting thread is pretty poor for finding painters, and it's against the rules to post in the Swap Shop asking for money for painting. I figure the best way to get consistent commission work is through word of mouth. However, how will you get word of mouth if you can't get an initial buyer?

I've been contacted once or twice, and contacted a few folks in the interest of getting a gig, but no dice. So, my question to the painters here on Dakka is how did you get into this business, and how do you keep going?

You need to advertise yourself. For example, a link in your sig that announces you paint on commission and leads to samples of your work as well as all the the essential information would be a good start.

Maybe go to your local gaming shop and advertise yourself there, ask the owner to recommend you or something. That's what my friends did and it got them a decent amount of business.

you'd also need a decent website to convince your customers that your a legit operation.

It's not against the rules to post painting services in the Swap Shop, though we had hoped it'd be easier to see whose services are available by consolidating them into a single thread. If you've any good recommendations for improving the Painting Services List, I'd love to hear them.

With regard to getting yourself out there:

I agree with Bookwrack's suggestion of making a custom sig/banner advertising your services (like user: Grognard)

I think your best bet within Dakka is to start up/maintain a P&M blog with all of your newest projects/whatnot. This helps in multiple ways:
* keeps people up to date on what you're up to
* let's people know that you're still active/not going radio-silent.
* exposes your painting to many more people who may not be actively searching for a Painting Service, but who may keep you in mind should they require some in the future.
* lastly, it lets people actively see how you paint - sometimes its just intriguing as hell to see the process behind it all.

I know seeing P&M projects of folks like NAVARRO and jamsessionein and insaniak and GMMStudios definitely get me intrigued regardless of whether or not I'm seeking out commissioned works, but they're certainly some of the first names I think of when I consider getting some work done for myself.

I don't paint, just convert, but the principles are the same...


First off: you need to show off your work.

Set yourself up a website with a gallery of your work. It doesn't have to be anything too fancy... there are a ton of free PHP-based software packages out there that let you build a website in a couple of minutes. But make sure that it's spell-checked, and has all the information that people might need if they are considering making use of your services.

Get decent photos of a range of your painting. Make these look as professional as possible... Take your photos against a solid background, preferably the same background for all your pics, and check out photography tutorials if you're unsure of the best way to get good pics.


Post on forums. You can't always post that you're a commission painter looking for work, as some forums have rules against commercial posts. But if you watermark your pictures, and have a link back to your website in your profile, people will go and look if they are interested.

Post on Cool Mini Or Not. You'll get rated unfairly unless you're a multiple GD-winner, but people will see your models and again will follow them back to your website if they're interested. Don't post everything at once... posting models regularly keeps you on the front page of updates, where you're more likely to be noticed.

List painted minis on eBay. You won't get as much for them as you would on commission, but it's all about getting noticed. People will buy your work, and will come to you for more if they like it. And even if they're not interested in that particular miniature, people will see your auctions, and if they like your work will ask if you take commissions.


So far as staying in business goes: communicate promptly (something I've always sucked at, unfortunately), ensure that both you and your customer have a clear understanding of exactly what the commission entails before you start it, keep your customer updated on your progress, and most importantly: Charge what your minis are worth.

Don't pay a great deal of attention to what other people are charging. Painting is an artistic endeavour. Your work is different to everyone else's, both in the time it takes and in the execution.

So charge what you think your time is worth. If you're willing to haggle a little for the sake of a little extra business, go for it, but don't sell yourself short. Under-charging will get you more business, but in the end just means more work for the same return, and can very easily wind up with you burning out in short order.

And on the burning out thing... don't take on more than you can handle, and leave yourself time to work on stuff for yourself. Otherwise, it just becomes a job, and you lose your hobby.

Jin wrote:I agree with Bookwrack's suggestion of making a custom sig/banner advertising your services (like user: Grognard)

That's me!! *shameless plug*


I agree with all the above points, but the most important, that I've identified, is communication and networking.

Networking as in getting your name out there by word of mouth, face to face. The interwebs are a great thing, but some good 'ol face-to-face time and showing your stuff off at the local FLGS is invaluable. I'm working a booth at Gen Con this year; but in my off-time I'll be sporting a Paint Monkey T-shirt, have a pocketfull of business cards and a caseload of samples with me as I walk around. So if someone asks me 'what is Paint Monkey Studios?' I can give 'em the 2-minuet drill, pull out some samples and slap a card in their hand.

Communication? After accepting a commission (to the clients specifications, mind you) please don't fall off the radar. It takes a whole 10 min at the end of the day to snap a pic or two and write up an email saying 'Hey, this is what I got done on your project today'. If for some reason you're going to take a little longer, they can see that you are working on it and may have come across some unforseen delay or IRL gets in the way.

But best advice I can give is to just treat your clients the way you would like to be treated, and that goes a long way.

Good Luck!!!!