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First time hiring a company for commission of some ultramarine 3rd company models and I would like the community's opinion on the company's i.e. any experiences/reviews as I haven't been able to fine much. This is a big investment so I just want to do my due diligence appropriately!

The details are as follows:

1) I am commissioning work done on 3 HQ Space Marine Heroes (Captain/Chaplain/Librarian Link Here: https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Space-Marines-Heroes) and a squad of 5 Tactical Terminators.
2) They will all be assembled and based by the company's and painted to a high quality (more detail below).

Den of Imagination

http://www.denofimagination.com/

I am quoted at $680 all in for Level 5 Quality on the Heroes and Level 4 Quality on the Terminator Squad.

Awaken Realms

http://awakenrealms.com/

I am quoted at $428.74 for "Top" Quality for the Captain and "High" Quality for remaining models.

Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks for the time and help!

First, WELL DONE for shopping around. And well done for asking around as well.

If you're unsure, it's always, always a good idea to find out the rep of the places you're thinking of dealing with.

Both places post regularly on here, both are capable of doing very high standard work.

Both have very extensive portfolios and a long list of satisfied clients.

I've not heard any horror stories about, or mentions of dissatisfaction with either of them.

In terms of price point, what they're actually offering is probably fairly similar in cost-per-manhour.

Unless you're very finnicky indeed I don't think you'd be disappointed with either option.

So, from a professional standpoint, you can't go wrong with either of them. That just leaves personal taste, and whether you like the people you're dealing with.

In terms of personal preference (and in my current mood), I'd probably go with DoI, they tend to run with a tiny bit more brushwork than Awaken Realms, and they're quoting for a slightly more indepth job (higher standard on all 3 characters). AR would be a little more 'airbrushy' (but it's good airbrush work!), DoI a little more 'blendy' and 'freehandy'. Both should come out looking very, very good - just check through the galleries on their sites.

The only thing I'd have a slight concern over is Awaken Realms are running a kickstarter at the moment- not sure how much of their time this is taking up, but it may be worth discussing with them.

There - goes to prove, there are some good commission places about, and there are some clients that think things through. Best of luck with it, and I look forward to seeing these crop up (from whoever you choose) in the showcase in the not-too-distant future.

winterdyne wrote:
First, WELL DONE for shopping around. And well done for asking around as well.

If you're unsure, it's always, always a good idea to find out the rep of the places you're thinking of dealing with.

Both places post regularly on here, both are capable of doing very high standard work.

Both have very extensive portfolios and a long list of satisfied clients.

I've not heard any horror stories about, or mentions of dissatisfaction with either of them.

In terms of price point, what they're actually offering is probably fairly similar in cost-per-manhour.

Unless you're very finnicky indeed I don't think you'd be disappointed with either option.

So, from a professional standpoint, you can't go wrong with either of them. That just leaves personal taste, and whether you like the people you're dealing with.

In terms of personal preference (and in my current mood), I'd probably go with DoI, they tend to run with a tiny bit more brushwork than Awaken Realms, and they're quoting for a slightly more indepth job (higher standard on all 3 characters). AR would be a little more 'airbrushy' (but it's good airbrush work!), DoI a little more 'blendy' and 'freehandy'. Both should come out looking very, very good - just check through the galleries on their sites.

The only thing I'd have a slight concern over is Awaken Realms are running a kickstarter at the moment- not sure how much of their time this is taking up, but it may be worth discussing with them.

There - goes to prove, there are some good commission places about, and there are some clients that think things through. Best of luck with it, and I look forward to seeing these crop up (from whoever you choose) in the showcase in the not-too-distant future.

Thanks for the information and kudos!

I got a quote that I liked from BTP studios prior to reading any reviews and after all the ugliness I saw I'm glad I decided to shop around more!

I am leaning towards DOI for this work and will continue to update this post as the project progresses as a service to those who are in my same position, hope this help!

Thanks again!

Glad to hear you dodged that BTP bullet...the more word gets around, the better. I think you'd be safe with either one. There is only one commission service I see on here that regularly impresses me more than most - but I've no idea their costs/etc.