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Hi there. I would like to know your thoughts on what makes a good commission painter for all things miniature wargaming. I am asking because I am 17 and currently studying art and graphics at sixthform and I just thought randomly that I should put my artistic skills to good use whist I am studying, so why not start doing commissions. I know it's harder than it looks and a lot of effort has to be put in, but I am always trying new artistic pursuits to push my creative boundaries. Thanks for reading and please post below!

p.s. for some shameless self promotion check out my painted minis in my gallery and don't forget to rate: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-44886-21770_Painted%20Minis.html

What makes a good commission painter is the ability to paint decent quality minis at an absolutely insane pace.

The problem with commission painting is that if you take the amount people are actually willing to pay for painted minis and divide it by the number of hours it takes for you to get them done, you're basically working slave labor. The only way to fix this is to charge more (in which case it will be tough to find any buyers at all), or your need to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes you to paint a full army, so that the income per hour is worth it (and so that you have enough throughput over the course of a month to actually get paid enough to make it).

If you want to be a commissioned painter, forget about color design, and start learning how to speedpaint.

Ailaros wrote:What makes a good commission painter is the ability to paint decent quality minis at an absolutely insane pace.

The problem with commission painting is that if you take the amount people are actually willing to pay for painted minis and divide it by the number of hours it takes for you to get them done, you're basically working slave labor. The only way to fix this is to charge more (in which case it will be tough to find any buyers at all), or your need to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes you to paint a full army, so that the income per hour is worth it (and so that you have enough throughput over the course of a month to actually get paid enough to make it).

If you want to be a commissioned painter, forget about color design, and start learning how to speedpaint.

the hourly sucks. if you're aiming to do it as a job then ya, good luck, you probably wont beable to pay your bills. as something on the side it's cool tho. the fact that your 1. painting models. 2. working from home and 3. your own boss all make it attractive inspite of the low hourly.

i disagree about speedpainting. it is one route to take. you can speedpaint armies. or you could try to go for the amazing jaw droping display models that sell for like 150+ for a single figure. i actually think those single figure guys make more usually. painting to such a high level takes alot more skill than rushing an army. alot of rich people are looking for top quality and they dont mind paying for it. when you're that good you could potentially be contacted by model manufacturers who want a good picture for their website.

Hmm, thanks for the replies, I am thinking of doing a few commissions here and there to help pay for the hobby.

In order to get clients interested in the first place, you'd be wanting to take A-1 photos of the painted models, so as to best show off the level of workmanship. I feel like many of the photos in your gallery don't help you achieve this goal. If you're serious about pursuing this perhaps some sort of good camera and a lightbox (is that the word?) would be a sound investment? Or maybe you have a friend who would know?

Yeah, my camera is not the best - it's a 7mp Canon camera, several years old. Although buying a new camera is not a problem, there are plenty of cheap decent ones on the market and I can build a light box.

I use a 5mp Canon. The camera is not as important as good setup - lighting, backsheet, TRIPOD.

After that, some photoshop (I use paintshop pro) to correct the image as necessary. Make sure the image on the screen is what you see in front of you and it's all good.

Edit: 99% of my photos are taken at night, using the same daylight (ring fluorescent) lamp I paint with and a simple paper gradient backsheet.

Your probably better off painting really good versions of popular paint schemes on popular models, then sell them on eBay. It's less constraining, and you don't need to find clients, just people who want what you're selling.

What would you recommend for a light box, a home made one or a professional one? Also do you use white light (daylight) bulbs?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Squidmanlolz wrote:Your probably better off painting really good versions of popular paint schemes on popular models, then sell them on eBay. It's less constraining, and you don't need to find clients, just people who want what you're selling.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about that in the end It gives me alot more flexibility in what I paint as well.

Squidmanlolz wrote:Your probably better off painting really good versions of popular paint schemes on popular models, then sell them on eBay. It's less constraining, and you don't need to find clients, just people who want what you're selling.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about that in the end It gives me alot more flexibility in what I paint as well.

I'm probably going to do the same with Grey knights because they are relatively cheap and there isn't very much variation between units so once I get the painting down, it'll be pretty easy.

A light box is important but what you need to focus on more is making sure your pictures are correctly color balanced. This will allow the picture to be true to color of the mini. You select the correct color balance from the menu of your camera. If your shooting regular light bulbs you want to select tungsten. If your shooting fluorescent bulbs then choose that in the menu system. Use a white background, and 2 lights set about 45 degrees and about 1.5 feet from the mini. Make sure you use a tripod for this, because 200 watts of lights maybe a lot of light, but when you deal with photography its hardly a drop in the bucket. If you have any questions on the photography part pm it. Its what I do for a living.

ruff wrote:A light box is important but what you need to focus on more is making sure your pictures are correctly color balanced. This will allow the picture to be true to color of the mini. You select the correct color balance from the menu of your camera. If your shooting regular light bulbs you want to select tungsten. If your shooting fluorescent bulbs then choose that in the menu system. Use a white background, and 2 lights set about 45 degrees and about 1.5 feet from the mini. Make sure you use a tripod for this, because 200 watts of lights maybe a lot of light, but when you deal with photography its hardly a drop in the bucket. If you have any questions on the photography part pm it. Its what I do for a living.

Ok thank you very much ruff