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Hi

Me and a friend are starting commissioning and i'm wondering if it's a good idea or not...

We plan to make a bit of money but don't know if it will take off.

What do you think?

Ty

Emma

don't plan to live off it, buy you might be able to get some lunch or some models every now and then.

it depends on how good and how cheap you are

Me, I'm just using my skills in trade for my Ork army.

I have a buddy who tried to do comissions for a long time and gave up because he just couldnt get jobs in to make the effort worth his while. Your best bet is to just paint up some stuff and flog it on ebay. If you do well in that, i.e. get more than retail for your stuff, then you might considder comissioning, because alteast you know someone out there is willing to pay you to paint and not just buying your minis at less than retail to strip and repaint.

If you can work really fast, and you're good, then it could be a good way to earn lunch money. But unless you work at superhuman speeds, you probably won't be able to make a living off of it.

Agreed, I use to do commission work, I did a lot actually, in college, where lunch money was... more important. I made money faster with real jobs though, vending, carpentry, store clerk...

I think there are 2 kinds of commissions:

(1) Army painting (Which I did)
(2) Single figure painting (Which I did less of)

(1) is hard because the margin is small and the work is just so voluminous. Succesful work gets you, well, more, and you don't make as much per piece. I use to do basic tabletop minis for $2 per paint job (painting only) in units, so I would paint a basic squad of marines for $20, they had to be built and primered, basing was extra etc. This lead me to painting a lot of units really fast (now I teach classes in how to do this) and getting a large backlog. I finally got out form under all that and I don't really do army commissions anymore, I just teach the methods...

(2) is hard because typically you have to be really good to make the big margins that people will pay. This is tough, I would expect to pay a person who had won at least 1 Golden Demon $100+ costs starting for just painting a single piece for example, but I would probably also expect that painter to be able to do all the cool techniques like light sourcing, NMM, advanced skin techniques, wet blend etc. maybe not on the model but definitely have them in their tool bag.

Good luck.

elagamalagah wrote: Hi

Me and a friend are starting commissioning and i'm wondering if it's a good idea or not...

We plan to make a bit of money but don't know if it will take off.

What do you think?

Ty

Emma

My opinion on commissioning is that if you don't have the skill to aquire what you want, practice till you do. Personally I'm not a fan of commissioning and I know a lot of people who feel the same. Really it just depends on your market. And honestly, unless your painting Golden Demon or Slayer Sword worthy models your commissions will make very little money and you wont get a whole lot of business.

I do quite a bit of commisioned work. Have been for the last 10 years or so, to varying degrees. I make enough to fund my hobby/addiction (LOL), and usually a little bit beyond that. You have to start small and build from there, until you have a good enough reputation to charge more. Having a website with good pics helps emmensely, also. I currently have 19 40K armies, as well as a ton of other figs in resin, plastic & vinyl. Having a large volume of work for potential customers to check out, helps a lot! Good Luck!!

If you are going to sell your work, detail is the key. Ya gotta make your stuff stand out. I would say take a look around at the level most other folks are painting their armies both here and at your FLGS. Just figure that you need to be at least twice as good as that to build a customer base. Folks won't pay for something that they can do themselves, unless they are super lazy, or have cash to burn. Plus, if this forum is any indicator, you'll have a lot of competition for painting. So, ask yourself, what makes you different than everyone else? What can you provide to your customer that will make them want to come to you? Otherwise I would suggest keep painting and building your skill. Always try new techniques, and challenge yourself. Come up with projects that you know are beyond your ability, thus forcing yourself to get better and better.

i was drawn to 40k because of the painting so even though my first atempt at infantrie was crap (i started on a battlesuit first whitch i found easyer than the fiddley figures) i can repaint and re do stuff.
with commisioning you have to sit there watching them telling them what you want where which makes it kinda boring.

depends on if you are this guy.

Corpse.... good god was that a joke? Or does no one know?

Has to be a joke.

i used to commission alot more. in my younger years when i was just a student, i used to do it to pay for my models. to tell ya the truth you gotta be in it to win it. i got so burnt out painting for other people i stopped a while ago. now i just do select jobs of things that interest me. i wont do armies anymore either.

we have a paint monkey at my LGS who paints very well, but she never gets time to do her own stuff becuase she s always backlogged. i was like that 10 years ago.

know what your limitations are before you get into commissioning.

studderingdave wrote:...know what your limitations are before you get into commissioning.

That's REALLY good advice!

I would get bored or take breaks from work after being asked to do tons of stuff and have a hard time getting back into things. I liked the chance to paint other stuff but 400 napoleonic 13mm figs tires you out and to follow it with 80 similar era Prussians at twice the size and detail in two months is kinda a buzz kill. I loved the cash and could always use the practice, but rarely are you commisioned to make cool models which is my favorite part. If you are building a whole army make sure you have a buyer first and give you all the minis before hand other wise you can end up with a new force of your own if they stop answering the phone or loose they're job. I would estimate times and prices, for basics I would usually charge anywhere from 1.50-4 depending on size and wish. Then Id increase with size and importance of character and model. Tank or giant might be 10-40 all depends on wishes. My goal with marine sized figs at 2.50 was to have 10 done in 2 hours, that may include base coats and modelling clean up. I say 10 in 2 hours cause 5 in one hour really is harder, more models at one time and painting same parts and colours at a time helped speed things up. With the napoleonics I was 40 every 2 hours at about a buck a head, they were black hats white leathers and pants, blue coats bone faces and a couple details in metals. I wasnt asked for golden demon winning and sure wasnt being paid for it, and in a force of several hundreds no one needs that. I would suggest small start don't dive in. Pick up a unit or two at a time and dont let it steal time from your own interests or youll slowly detest the work.

Don't get in over your head. Thats how, it seems to me, most people screw them selves up. Me? I would take on a project, post some kind of regular updates, and then when done look for more work. never get a back log of more than a project or two. And yeah, "Know thyself" is ALWAYS a great first rule. Essential.

your best off trying to speed paint a few units, that way you can work out time and level of painting.
last thing you need is to take on more work than you can handle and end up with a backlog.

not too much money in it, but its still extra money for something some people love doing.

Several people have asked me to paint on commission for them and while it's an ego boost to be asked, I've always declined. It's just not worth the investment of time required for what I would make.

Lately I've been digging through the closet and painting models that I've had lying around for years that I picked up for a song. Then I throw them on ebay. If someone likes the paintjob and they offer me a commission then I might accept it. Otherwise, it's a good way to tack on a few bucks to the final price of an ebay auction as long as your good enough and you can take pics that accurately show the detail.

Oh sure you can make a living doing it. I do. You just have to make a name for yourself, and thats really the hardest part (Im still working on that). If you don't have a name you won't stay booked up, and that is half the battle. If you don't have anything to paint you aren't making any money. Ebay sucks bad unless you are selling fully finished armies and you bought them for 50% off. Then it is just ok. I mainly do it to fill holes in the gallery so it is worth not making 100%.

The other 1/3 of the solution is love for the game. I have been doing this 100% full time for almost a year and a half now (before was part time while in school) and I just don't get burned out. I pop out of bed in the morning excited to work every day. I can't even explain it myself but if you don't have that type of motivation it won't work.

The other 1/3 is speed. You learn as you go and I still am. When you do it full time you get faster quickly. Im not going to say you have to be able to paint X amount of points in a week, but you should have a rough idea of what you make an hour by doing one army. It's not that you rush, it's that you become very fast and just dont make many mistakes. Like I have told many people, its like being a master at firing a gun. It gets to the point the brush is an extionsion of your hand and you can just look in the general direction of the model and you can put it where you want it. So maybe its speed + precision and not just speed.

You also learn ton of tricks to get X looks with X less steps.

So if its something you expect to do on the side, then by all means find a cheap source of minis and sell on ebay. If its something you want to do for a job then it takes a lack of burn out and a quick draw...err brush?

I am a painter in the summer and a hammer freak in the winter. I usually save up all my kustom models, mostly ork stuff, in the summer and around christmas I start selling them. But since GW came out with the new BW's and stompa kits I've really only had luck with city o death terrain sets. Ebay is dead right now!!!