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Hello commission painters of Dakka,

What price do you charge for your work?

I'm interested in hearing everyone's experiences with commission painting as I'm looking to get into 40k painting on the side

Well, pricing is dependent entirely on what people are willing to pay. This in turn is dependent on what you're offering. For very basic, clean, 5-color basecoat only work, a competitive rate would be around $5 per 28mm based figure, such as a Fire Warrior or Guardsmen. Add in an all over wash, two layers of simple line highlights, and a good rate would be $9 a figure. These are all just ballpark estimates however. And of course, A more well-known, established commission artist with a good reputation will probably charge more for the same level of work that you do. That's the advantage of having an established "brand", so to speak.

You should upload some shots of your work to this thread. Would make it easier to help you figure out pricing guidelines.

~Tim?

£12 per hour.
Most materials are covered within that price.

 Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:
Well, pricing is dependent entirely on what people are willing to pay. This in turn is dependent on what you're offering. For very basic, clean, 5-color basecoat only work, a competitive rate would be around $5 per 28mm based figure, such as a Fire Warrior or Guardsmen. Add in an all over wash, two layers of simple line highlights, and a good rate would be $9 a figure. These are all just ballpark estimates however. And of course, A more well-known, established commission artist with a good reputation will probably charge more for the same level of work that you do. That's the advantage of having an established "brand", so to speak.

You should upload some shots of your work to this thread. Would make it easier to help you figure out pricing guidelines.

~Tim?

Good idea! I only have a few pictures of my work, I'll upload them below.



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Termie Librarian conversion with magnetised storm bolter/hand

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Some Tyrannic war vets

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An example of basing that I do

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I give up man, how do I upload images from the Dakka gallery?

Copy the text that has the <> on the edges.

There are a bunch of links listed when you view an image, the links you copied were the "Dakka Articles" one, use the one under "Forums".

That's better!

Termie Librarian conversion with magnetised storm bolter/hand




Some Tyrannic war vets




An example of basing that I do

Few things regarding what you're showing now:

1) Show photos of complete models, not WIPs.

2) Use a backcloth / backdrop, not your hands, unless you're trying to show a particular manual process (this is how I file, this is where to put a knife).

3) Well lit photos, under a good lamp. Be consistent, people want to see variation in paintwork, not photo circumstances.

4) Is this basic, quick work? What's the working time (thus cost)? Without information like that, clients will walk on by, unless you're doing very high level work, for which they're willing to pay anyway.

For what you're showing, the going rate is very low; Sternguard to that level won't get more than around £4 per model, max, and that's if you're very lucky.

You've not said whether you're doing this for a little bit of hobby money on a local / for friends basis or to support yourself. It's a very different playing field for each - one you can get away with what you're doing now (both in terms of quality and presentation) and one you can't.

Hey there, I'm glad to see you are interested in this side of the hobby.

I do all of my selling on ebay. I've just started and establishing a brand is difficult.

I charge based upon how much other people are charging from the top to the bottom and I try to (objectively) assess where my models fall into the spectrum.

I take into account a long term strategy and try to price my models at a fair price regarding what is currently available. I do add on a small premium with the intention of building on a reputation to establish a brand. I'm selling older models I've painted with some touching up, I take clear and bright pictures of all four sides, front, back, left and right and do not hide mistakes.

So far so good but I'm having trouble moving a particularly big ticket item. I don't believe the quality of the paint is the issue however when you are trying to sell a model I think there is a threshold where the price exceeds the models utility and then it becomes more of an art sale, and baby, its a hard economy to be an artist.

I can tell you that the the quality of the paint job, accurate pictures and an accurate description are important because eBay is the ultimate meritocracy.

If you have some local chums that you can work some projects for and build a portfolio then by all means, it can only help your cause.

winterdyne wrote:
Few things regarding what you're showing now:

1) Show photos of complete models, not WIPs.

2) Use a backcloth / backdrop, not your hands, unless you're trying to show a particular manual process (this is how I file, this is where to put a knife).

3) Well lit photos, under a good lamp. Be consistent, people want to see variation in paintwork, not photo circumstances.

4) Is this basic, quick work? What's the working time (thus cost)? Without information like that, clients will walk on by, unless you're doing very high level work, for which they're willing to pay anyway.

For what you're showing, the going rate is very low; Sternguard to that level won't get more than around £4 per model, max, and that's if you're very lucky.

You've not said whether you're doing this for a little bit of hobby money on a local / for friends basis or to support yourself. It's a very different playing field for each - one you can get away with what you're doing now (both in terms of quality and presentation) and one you can't.

You've entirely missed the point buddy, I said I was looking to get into commissioning as a side hobby. I haven't actually started doing this and so pictures are only what I've painted for me and happened to take pictures of.

I was asking how people price their own work so that I could get a reference point for this sort of thing


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Tyronus Fruitridge Powers wrote:
Hey there, I'm glad to see you are interested in this side of the hobby.

I do all of my selling on ebay. I've just started and establishing a brand is difficult.

I charge based upon how much other people are charging from the top to the bottom and I try to (objectively) assess where my models fall into the spectrum.

I take into account a long term strategy and try to price my models at a fair price regarding what is currently available. I do add on a small premium with the intention of building on a reputation to establish a brand. I'm selling older models I've painted with some touching up, I take clear and bright pictures of all four sides, front, back, left and right and do not hide mistakes.

So far so good but I'm having trouble moving a particularly big ticket item. I don't believe the quality of the paint is the issue however when you are trying to sell a model I think there is a threshold where the price exceeds the models utility and then it becomes more of an art sale, and baby, its a hard economy to be an artist.

I can tell you that the the quality of the paint job, accurate pictures and an accurate description are important because eBay is the ultimate meritocracy.

If you have some local chums that you can work some projects for and build a portfolio then by all means, it can only help your cause.

Thanks for the response dude

What camera/lighting/backdrop equipment do you use for your models? Would you be willing to show an example? I have no idea about this sort of thing!

Sure thing. Taken with 16mp camera in auto mode with white printer paper background and daylight florescent task light. I think it's fair to say that the lighting isn't perfect and the left leg is in shadow. The lighting is a wip but I think it's adequate. The dude abides.

I quote with a figure of around £10-£12 per hour. Higher standard work gets more, most jobs seem to work out around £8 or £9 per hour once done (I quote in advance based on estimates for time).

With what you're showing you won't get anywhere near this, it's taken around a decade in the game, plus competition and magazine appearances to get to that. Partly this is exposure / having an extensive portfolio in place, but as much it's knowing how long it takes me to paint something, and also squeezing that time as that's where the money is.

Wait, 10 quid an hour? Doesn't that mean a normal Marine would cost 20 quid?


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If it takes 2 hours to paint one.

There or thereabouts, yes.

It's a case of 'what does 2 hours time get you', here.

'Fast, good, cheap. Pick two' is a rule that works in pretty much any service industry, commission painting included.

 Matthew wrote:
Wait, 10 quid an hour? Doesn't that mean a normal Marine would cost 20 quid?
If it takes 2 hours to paint one.

Thats a pretty standard price. Friend of mine does commission work full time and charges per hour, at $20- $25 AUD an hour depending on the size of the job.

I charge about right for what my work is worth I think, but I'm slow, I don't use an airbrush and paint troops individually - so I get just over £5 per hour. I can get away with that because it's not my main source of income, but after an entry level of skill efficiency is more important than quality for determining profit.

winterdyne wrote:
I quote with a figure of around £10-£12 per hour. Higher standard work gets more, most jobs seem to work out around £8 or £9 per hour once done (I quote in advance based on estimates for time).

Are you able to get new customers to agree to an hourly rate? I have heard from different commission painters that in general they give a flat quote and then work from there. Are you calculating the fee based on your experience of how long a job takes and then giving that as a quote or just an open ended hourly quote?

No, I generally quote a job rate based on an estimate of the time needed. I can't stress how much this requires experience. Early on I was constantly underestimating time. Now, I'm more on the ball, my price is a little higher, my timings are more reliable and I stretch occasionally if the piece warrants it. Sometimes if I think a stretch is needed that goes vastly over budget I'll renegotiate with the client to see if they want it doing or not.

On some jobs, the client may specify a budget, which then in turn limits the time I put in on conversions and the like, but this again is based on estimates of the time involved. For example, if a cut & shut on a marine arm takes me around 15 minutes, I know that for £12 the client can have 4 or 5, possibly more depending on how quick/easy the putty work is.

Olli, you could get way higher than that dude. Buy a frickin' airbrush for priming, basecoats and varnishes if nothing else. Under £100 and will save you that within a year, even with pretty low throughput of projects.