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Hey guys,

So, I've recently kicked around the idea of starting a painting service. I've done some commissions locally, but I just wanted to see what the greater interwebz thinks. You guys know best. Please, be honest. If you'd expect more, say it. If you think it's complete garbage, tell my how bad I suck and how cheap my mother was, etc.

I understand that everyone has different standards, but I would be priced REALLY competitively. The best example of my work that I have already ready is a video that I made for trying to sell my CSM army.

Here is the link:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=00W2ve1kJ1Q

I really appreciate the honest opinions. Thanks guys!

Honestly, I can't tell from the video how good or not good you are.

Post some still pictures at higher resolution so we can see.

Horst wrote:Honestly, I can't tell from the video how good or not good you are.

Post some still pictures at higher resolution so we can see.

Will do in the morning! I'm on my iPad, currently. I know that the video isn't the best. I'll get some shots tomorrow!

I can't really vote, as painting is my favourite part of the hobby.

The models look good, with a nice clean paintjob, but they aren't amazing.

However, I do believe that you could make a reasonable amount of money from commission work. There are plenty of people out there who really don't enjoy painting, and you can provide them with a fairly decent looking army that they could feel good about placing on a table.

The video is too low resolution and the lighting is not good for us to tell. Nicely photographed photos will help.

If you're looking for potential clients, keep in mind that presentation is everything. You might be the best painter in the world but if your miniatures are not photographed well. I compare it to having a cute girlfriend/boyfriend but he/she doesn't photograph well or all his/her photos are blurred or taken with bad lighting: you'll have a hard time convincing your friends that you're dating an attractive person.

I've seen what I consider very bad commission jobs that the buyer was very happy with. So it all depends on what you are chargin, what the client wants, etc.
There are a lot of people who don't paint at all, and don't care too. All they want is a decent tabletop paint job. Of course thats a relative term since one persons decent table top, is another persons awesome it seems.
I use to do commissions and charge 100% cost of the mini. IE a $35 box of tac marines I would charge $35 to paint. Basic table top IE colors, all details picked out. Basic line highlights, wash, etc.
However a guy I did commission work for then commissioned someone else to do some terminators, and he paid 200% over the cost of the models. They were basically sprayed, washes, only big details picked out. Many details missed like crosses, skulls, etc. I thought it was a really poor job. However he was just a please as punch with them.

So I say go for it. You might not be able to quit your dayjob doing basic paintjobs, but you'll at least be able to fund your hobby with you hobby.

I voted no. Didn't even look at the video. The vast majority of prospective clients won't look at a link, either.

You need good, sharp, well lit, inoffensively backdropped photos that show your abilities over as wide a range of subjects, textures and tones as possible. These need to be pretty much the first thing your client sees of you. Most won't want to go look at a youtube video.

No, because...

Horst wrote:Honestly, I can't tell from the video how good or not good you are.

And...

winterdyne wrote:I voted no. Didn't even look at the video. The vast majority of prospective clients won't look at a link, either.

So you should...

winterdyne wrote:You need good, sharp, well lit, inoffensively backdropped photos that show your abilities over as wide a range of subjects, textures and tones as possible. These need to be pretty much the first thing your client sees of you. Most won't want to go look at a youtube video.

Because...

heartserenade wrote:If you're looking for potential clients, keep in mind that presentation is everything.

Follow all of this good advice, and I'd see.

+1 to all the above, need some high quality pics.

Here is a lot of good sage advice from "The Man" himself (Les Bursley)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnv6EaFDcPI&feature=player_detailpage

He has a good amount of info to get you started.

Oh and I wish I could have done the cool drop the video into the post thing but I guess my dakkafoo isnt working today.

Edited cuz I hit reply too quick to finish a thought.

No because I won't go to youtube to find someone. People want still frame pictures that can be zoomed in on etc to check the quality.

winterdyne wrote:I voted no. Didn't even look at the video. The vast majority of prospective clients won't look at a link, either.

You need good, sharp, well lit, inoffensively backdropped photos that show your abilities over as wide a range of subjects, textures and tones as possible. These need to be pretty much the first thing your client sees of you. Most won't want to go look at a youtube video.

If anyone knows about commission work, it's this dude. Seriously some of his Spartan-like marines he painted were simply amazing. I've voted no, only because I love painting them and seeing my techniques improve with every model. I couldn't justify paying someone to paint something that would look out of place in my army.

Plus your sales pitch was poor, no offence. People want to see minis, multiple high quality photos, not a grainy youtube video as winterdyne said. You can't ask everyone if we'd commission you but not show us in detail what you're quality is like


That said, don't take any of this in a bad way - I'd rather have negative comments at first so I could approach it properly. Take photos, whore yourself out a bit, and hopefully it'll lead to some extra pocket money for your hobby

the problem is you need to do more than one type of army. sometimes people do great with darker colored models but when faced with bright colors have severe difficulty
the ones you show are great though
for chaos i would commission you

I voted no. Assuming that there was not a huge amount of highlighting I couldn't see because of the video, Everything I saw was solid tabletop quality. If I am giving you a commission, I expect you to do things the long and tedious way for the best results. I'm also going to expect more than just a good basecoat and nominal highlighting (I'm rolling the details into this description too, they seem basecoated well and nominally highlighted)

Now, for your own army, they look great. Good solid tabletop quality, looks nice, does not take too long, simple basing scheme is ok, but for professional work I expect a much more proffesional showing, and much more effort.

I decided not to say 'no' without giving you a chance to showcase your work properly.

If you dont wont or cant showcase properly don't bother starting. No showcase, no commissions.

Agreed.

No vote because I see no work to see your abilities. As nice as a vid can be, it's just not the right medium to project your skills to potential clients. At least not in this business.

Give me something to grade, and I'll grade it

Good luck

Indeed. Presentation is everything in commissions.

You NEED clear, well lit pictures of your work.

This is the same on Ebay. No one wants to buy something without seeing it in some form or another first.

No.
I cannot really see much from that video and i would not pay someone to paint for me without seeiing his/her work first.

I voted no because your stuff seems to lack contrast. You have it on the vehicles because of dry brushing, but I couldn't see any sign of it on the non-vehicle miniatures.

I do commissions only with people that have seen my stuff in person and I find contrast to be the key to getting the sales. The recesses of the model should be dark and the highest points should be bright. It fools the brain into seeing depth and makes the miniatures look impressive, even if it's just a simple paint wash, repaint, highlight.

Contrast and sufficient presentation to show it off (I go with in person viewing of my past work).

Thought I should follow up with this.

If you want to see how to use a video to show off your painting to get commission work, check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQLkpu44Pk