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Evening all.

There have been a good few Dakka members take up brushes for full or part time commission work, so I was wondering if you guys could share some experiences.
What're absolute musts, in your eyes? What to avoid?

I'm going to be offering very small commissions (one at a time) coming July, as I have handed in my notice at work with no job to go to. It's not to pay my bills, but to keep me busy while looking for work.

Is a website a must? or do facebook pages work pretty well these days?

I'm only going to be offering (capped at 20) squad and HQ services, mid to high tabletop standard, or low end display pieces, as I'm trying to stay affordable (to myself and others).
Later on I may look at offering repair services and what I call "Get it Done" days where I shove people through a project they've been dragging their heels on and do it with them.

And of course, the obvious question, what the hell do I call myself? Buttery Paints sounds like a specialist service from the back pages.

So long as you have some form of easily accessible way to show your work, explain what you do, and what it costs to do it, you're fine, whether you choose a discrete page, facebook, or whatever else. You need to be able to effectively showcase 'here's why my work is worth the money I'm asking for it.'

Not an issue; I used to make Wordpress sites for a living.
I'm just wondering whether people prefer the integrated social media, or the old fashioned site.

Progenium Painting

Ecclesiarchy

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
Not an issue; I used to make Wordpress sites for a living.
I'm just wondering whether people prefer the integrated social media, or the old fashioned site.

I think it kind of depends on you, and how willing you are to be visible.

I have a friend who is a full-time commission painter and basically drums up most of his work through word of mouth, having some miniatures displayed in various local stores, and through facebook posts on both a business site and trading groups. He has no dedicated website.

Then again he mostly paints domestically, the bigger guys who have large international followings almost always have websites because it is just easier to facilitate those relationships that way.

Cheers, winter. I live in a very small town, the only FLGS is GW itself. But I do have friends who own various gaming stores around the country, so I could always drop a mini or squad in with a card when I'm passing.
I suppose it also comes down to whether I want to field quotes and messages via email or by Facebook. My personal FB account is very private, but I do run pages.

I'm under no illusion that I'm offering the best, but I can certainly do tabletop and a bit above, which is the market I'm aiming for.

My experience in opening a commission service was pretty progressive.

I started painting a little over three years ago. After about two years, I wanted to paint more but didnt want to constantly blow money on GW stuff, so I started picking up good ebay deals. Id paint them, then turn around and sell them for a small profit (nothing to write home about).

I never considered doing commission stuff until I was asked locally. Then I started tagging my ebay stuff with the "I am available for small commissions" line. That actually drummed up a lot of business, and it helped me work out the logistics, rates, and overall practice of doing commission work. It was bumpy at first, I'd undercharge and end up hating the project because it wasnt worth my time, or I'd get taken advantage of by clients because I didnt set up the project in EXACT written terms. But all of this was good, because I was getting to practice painting in a commission oriented state of mind plus learn how to deal with people over the internet with money involved.

This year I basically had no break in commissions with multiple clients. With my eyes on the horizon of getting out of the military in a few months, I knew now was the time to get 'established' so I could facilitate a larger workload next year. So I decided on a name, paid for a silly logo, and made a SquareSpace page. It was good because now, instead of copying and pasting my draft of my business practices to every new client, I have it all in one spot plus a portfolio.

My only tips for success in the endeavor, are know your niche and know when to say no. I KNOW I am not able to offer high end services the likes of someone like winterdyne for example, and I advertise myself as a mid tier painting service. I CAN paint higher end stuff to my ability, but the time to cost ratio goes up very fast and I dont think it'd be worth it to the client at that point. The other point is that especially starting out, you'll get a lot of people who ask for your rates, then try to get you to go lower. Dont do it. I think its important to establish a positive feeling with the work and learn how to calibrate how much you charge in the time it takes to do a project. I'm not saying be greedy, Im saying be fair to both you and the client.

I have no idea why I just wrote an essay, but thats my experience as a relatively new but highly active painting service.

It's very much appreciated, Zach. And I think it actually sums up a lot of my sentiment. I can paint to a mid level display standard, but I cannot paint like that economically.
If someone absolutely wanted me to do something special, it'd be an hourly rate on the clock in between paid work.
I do enjoy creating concept pieces and working with people, but it's not a viable way to do it.
I will also offer single RPG character painting.

I've bought the Space Wolves starter box, and am going to paint that to my upper level TTS and use it as my main example.

A lot of my finished work (see blog link in sig) such as the Kelpie is very niche and was developed over weeks.

I'm not a commission painter, but i used to create Tattoo & decal templates and my only advice and/or question is; Are you willing to make your hobby into work?

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying you shouldn't try it at least - maybe it suits you. But, it can destroy the love for a hobby if done as a job.

The only real advice i can give you is; learn to say 'no' to a potential customer. Don't go above and beyond to please your customers.

Yeah, I know that balance. I used to run a small business of making custom clothing based on conmission.
Sometimes I had to just turn things down as they were ridiculously complex or expensive.

I can do much more painting when it's for others, I find.

Personally, I find a site is better, outside forum pages I don't really do social media so a site that can function as a showcase/blog and host a contact form page (saves posting my contact details directly, clients fill out the form, it comes to me via email, I then email back in person) is the most efficient way. Though I don't know if Facebook can do something similar, I've no experience with it.

In terms of the job itself, a few things/standards I hold myself to.

- Communication is key. Make sure you know exactly what the client wants prior to accepting the commission, and be very clear about how long it's likely to take (better to overestimate than underestimate), how much it'll cost and how/when you want to be paid (I say Paypal is best, half up front as a deposit, the rest plus postage on completion and approval).

- Following on from that, keep the communication going throughout the process. Share WIPs regularly is the project is going to take more than a couple of days, be open to feedback/requests and keep the client up to date on when the minis are received, assembled, painted, varnished, sent ect. Clarify any areas you're unsure about before doing anything (a few people seem to give very specific painting instructions, but no ideas on basing!).

- Be consistent with your pricing. Whether you're going by hourly rates, flat per-model pricing or 'tiers' of quality, set that out on whatever you use as a base site and stick to it. Personally, I have a flat rate based on model size, whether that model takes 1 hour or 5. I don't operate different tiers, everything is simply done to the best standard I can manage. Also, keep postage costs in mind. Most services (mine included) add the cost of postage, but make sure this is clear, as you don't want to be dropping an extra charge on an overseas client at the last minute when you realise it's going to cost half as much as the commission itself to get the models sent back!

- Be prepared to turn stuff down. It might seem like throwing away money, but if there's something you can't or don't want to paint then it's better to be up front about that than disappoint a client later on. For instance, I have a hard limit on the number of models I'll do at once, what scales I will and won't work with, what ranges I won't paint (at this stage, WarmaHordes is the only thing on that list ) and that kind of stuff. The rule of thumb I stick to is that if I don't feel I can do it to a standard I'd be happy with myself, I won't take the job, and I'll typically refer the client to another painter I think might suit their needs better.


That's about it for the basics, best of luck with it! Commission work, even with the small quantities I do, is very rewarding, you get exposed to new minis and ranges, get cash for doing what you love and it's another motivation to really push yourself as a painter!