could you give me some advice about commissons.

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Some_Call_Me_Tim?**

You might want to consider developing a unique painting style - if people really like that style and you're the only person offering models painted that way, people will be willing to pay more. That's what I tried to do. It would've worked too, if I hadn't been overambitious and taken on too much at once.

~Tim?

**GMMStudios**

Ailaros wrote:
reizingsun wrote: and make a small profit arround 4.50

Good luck with that.

The problem that up-and-coming commission painters have is that they have to compete with more established ones. More established ones have airbrushes and lots of experience with them, which allows them to fill HUGE orders at razor thin margins, and make up the loss on volume.

At least at the moment, you're not doing that. The only way to make any real money on low volume is to be an insanely good painter. Go and win a golden demon, then perhaps you can put up a shingle.

Otherwise, it's going to be small peas. I've done commission work before, but it's just been from friends at my FLGS, and I've been largely paid in bitz. Enough to feel proud of, but not enough to run a serious business off of.

If you're really serious about doing commissions, I'd write a polite email to the guy who runs GMM studios and ask him some advice about getting started. It can be done (and he is proof), but it's going to take some investment in equipment and a lot of time beefing up your skills before you can get to the point where you're making more than spare change.

: ))

I wish I had more time to browse Dakka. You all are always so nice to me. I run into these threads every once in a while and blush a little that people say nice things and have heard of me.

I'm glad you guys think so highly of my work. That's the kicker. Do it because you enjoy it and like to make stuff. If you have to ask if its possible, you care to much that it be possible. Just do it.

It's not very smart, but I'm more heart than brain : )

**reizingsun**

Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:You might want to consider developing a unique painting style - if people really like that style and you're the only person offering models painted that way, people will be willing to pay more. That's what I tried to do. It would've worked too, if I hadn't been overambitious and taken on too much at once.

~Tim?

I`m sure that a "unique'' painting style will develop the more I paint

GMMStudios wrote:
Ailaros wrote:
reizingsun wrote: and make a small profit arround 4.50

Good luck with that.

The problem that up-and-coming commission painters have is that they have to compete with more established ones. More established ones have airbrushes and lots of experience with them, which allows them to fill HUGE orders at razor thin margins, and make up the loss on volume.

At least at the moment, you're not doing that. The only way to make any real money on low volume is to be an insanely good painter. Go and win a golden demon, then perhaps you can put up a shingle.

Otherwise, it's going to be small peas. I've done commission work before, but it's just been from friends at my FLGS, and I've been largely paid in bitz. Enough to feel proud of, but not enough to run a serious business off of.

If you're really serious about doing commissions, I'd write a polite email to the guy who runs GMM studios and ask him some advice about getting started. It can be done (and he is proof), but it's going to take some investment in equipment and a lot of time beefing up your skills before you can get to the point where you're making more than spare change.

: ))

I wish I had more time to browse Dakka. You all are always so nice to me. I run into these threads every once in a while and blush a little that people say nice things and have heard of me.

I'm glad you guys think so highly of my work. That's the kicker. Do it because you enjoy it and like to make stuff. If you have to ask if its possible, you care to much that it be possible. Just do it.

It's not very smart, but I'm more heart than brain : )

Thanks for the advise but its still a good idea to look before you leap. Also just wanted to say that your display pieces were a huge inspiration to me.

Archer wrote:A piece of advice I heard a while ago that I thought was useful was to get a bunch of models together for sale and post them all up on eBay or similar. See how well they sell and it should give you an idea of demand.

You could even keep that up after (fingers crossed) you start getting commissions to hopefully subsidize your income as every now and then someone could pick up a model off eBay.

Yeah i just sold all the models I put up on Ebay last week.