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Hello Dakka

I've been quite busy painting and modelling over the last year or so, and now I'm wondering if I could do some comission painting. Thing is though, I dont know much about it really. Am I good enough? How much money should I ask for? How do I find customers? Do I use my own paints or will people send theirs along with the minis? Is my location a big problem? (im german, and most wargamers dont live in Germany, so I'd have to have the suff shipped for a lot of €$)

I do know that I should provide the customer with a lot of WIP information and always have some kind of up-to-date showcase for everyone to see what they'd be buying.

Comission painters, can you help me with this?

Here are a few shots of current minis:



Converions:

Nice models, but I would be careful about turning a hobby into a job. When suddenly you have deadlines and a person waiting for work it loses the charm of it. It becomes a job. My advice, just keep it for you. If you have a friend or even a guy at your FLGS that wants one done, then great. Maybe you have someone that loves to play but cant hold a brush to save his life. Then maybe after you have good feedback from local customers you can start to look for buyers. For now, keep it fun.

SkeTcHy LaRRy wrote:Nice models, but I would be careful about turning a hobby into a job. When suddenly you have deadlines and a person waiting for work it loses the charm of it. It becomes a job. My advice, just keep it for you. If you have a friend or even a guy at your FLGS that wants one done, then great. Maybe you have someone that loves to play but cant hold a brush to save his life. Then maybe after you have good feedback from local customers you can start to look for buyers. For now, keep it fun.

Thanks for the reply, i can see your point.

But I dont really want it to become my full-time job yet, I rather want to try it out and see how it works. Sorry I havent made that clear in the first place.....

well, do you maybe have some suggestions anyway? I'm quite interested.

cheers, Melin

you could try painting some models and selling them on ebay, should be easy to make double the price of the mini.

Skippy wrote:you could try painting some models and selling them on ebay, should be easy to make double the price of the mini.

yeah, why not? I'd have to look for popular minis though, and paint them in a common sheme I guess... but i think ill try!

Yes, you cant go too crazy, its good to find popular models and paint them in the gw colour scheme. It is at least under your control tho, no time limits or crazy clients, and some are bloody mental in my experience!

Characters sell really well for me on ebay for me.


*edit* your models are really good btw!

I agree with Larry completely.
I did commission work for quite awhile, got some permanent customers...
...but it gets tedious quick... It's generally a low paying, hard job and enjoyment out of modelling/painting quickly withers. It looks like you like to take your time with conversions and paintjob - I'm the same way. Doing newest characters is neat, but my clients soon started commissioning giant armies - working on 200+ skellies gets old fast and unlike in your hobby you must do it all by the deadline.
I still would do some neat single model work, but that's not "work" per say - earnings are not steady.

As for the specific advice - be realistic, honest with your customer. Go an extra mile in your work, at least at first - you want to pleasantly surprise the guy. This is how you make that customer return for more. Discipline yourself - you are taking on commitments. Do not be overly ambitious - do solid work on time, rather than amazing one, but late. Establish good working flow - be efficient with your time. Know your limits - or you'll burn out.
Usually I communicate with the guy as often as possible. I tried to give him finished minis/updates on regular basis - that keeps him happy through the entire project.

Never tried Ebay painting, but make sure you figure out how much money you'll make per hour, after the expenses, before committing to this.

Augustine, thanks for the helpful peply. i see your point.

I wanted to to it small scale, to get to paint some different models and earn a little money.... If i get any customers in the first place. So how do you attract buyers? And how much should the service cost?

Well, you're probably good enough for most commission painting. In general the majority of commission painting done is tabletop quality. The pieces you have shown are of higher quality than most commissions will call for.

Do you have an airbrush? Commission painting does NOT pay much per hour, and you probably won't be able to break minimum wage without an airbrush. Most people aren't going to pay you to paint their cool HQ's (those are fun to paint), they are going to want you to paint troops. Lots and lots of troops. You need to approach it as a job. Assembly line painting and consistency are key.

Go the extra mile on your first few jobs. Again, you probably wont be making minimum wage. Get them done in good time and do some extra touches.

Entry level prices for commissions are 2-3$ per model.

As for finding work, ask your FLGS if you can put up an bulliten in the shop. Talk to your friends. Look for those occasional, adult gamers int he store who don't have much time for painting. You need to put yourself out there.

Very nice models. Way better than mine.

It's best to just make a thread showcasing your work and letting people know you'll paint their stuff if they PM you, etc. Kind of like this one.

Start cheap, for a variety of reasons. First, it makes you more appealing to customers, and will net you more business. Second, you can decide if you like it or not, without too much financial stress influencing you to continue. I find that when I made more money, it was harder to refuse work, especially when it started to get over a hundred bucks a job..

If you're really desperate for business, do free commissions to get your name out there and some testimonials.

I didn't really like doing commissions, because I didn't have enough time to paint my own stuff, and because I hated being rushed into doing a good job. I might still take a commission every now and then for interesting project, but that's about it. It wears on you, especially when you look at your army and realize that it could have been so much better if you hadn't had taken those commissions ..

I'll echo what someone said about doing comissions for local FLGS guys. When you can see the person's reaction and meet them face to face, it helps a lot, rather than just exchanging packages. I've had a regular customer from dakka for over a year and a half, and I still have no clue what he looks like.

hey riplikash and samus, thanks for the good advice!

MrMerlin wrote:Augustine, thanks for the helpful peply. i see your point.

I wanted to to it small scale, to get to paint some different models and earn a little money.... If i get any customers in the first place. So how do you attract buyers? And how much should the service cost?

As it had been mentioned, either locally or on the net, you attract business by:
1) Having your work out there - exceptional and attractive to the potential customer. Winning some modelling/painting awards is a plus.
2) Making your willingness to do the commission work known clearly.

Once that's done - just sit and wait, while making more/better stuff to show off.

Pay, in my experience, is negotiable on individual basis - though that will probably not work in online environment.

Ok thanks again, ill do what you said and try it out. Maybe ill be able to get a few customers here, though i dont have to be worried about a flood of willing buyers; where i live, gamers are rare....

But thanks a million for the helpful advice!