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Hi there, this is going to be a desperately shameful plea for help: ]

So very recently I had a good friend, and roommate loose their long battle with depression. This tide with a job cutting hrs im strapped for cash in a crazy way (got to love those once a day protein shake meals).

Anyway, in my local town i have bin doing quite a few commissions over the years and have won a few local painting contests. I realize that means diddly squat. But. i Was hopping if i could do some commissions for anyone hear to pick up some much needed income?

Im not very good at all this business stuff like how to price or having a website, and i just got a camera. so if there is any one at all out there willing to work with me that would be amazing.

thank you so much for at least reading this, hope ya have a great day.

I hope it works out for you man, it sucks to hear that. That being said, I'll ask around my club and see if anyone is looking to get a commission done. Best of luck

To make even reasonable money at commissions is hard.

In addition to the painting skills (which for the sake of argument I'll assume you genuinely have - most start up commission places, when honestly evaluated on a professional level, don't), you absolutely need the photography kit and practice with it - decent lights, tripod, good backdrop material, camera with decent macro mode, and some photo editing software (gimp is free). Expect to have a steep learning curve (many hours trial and error) to get this sorted.

If you can't show your work well, you can't sell your work well.

Unless you're already reasonably financially stable and just looking to do it for the love of it, I would not recommend it as a business venture. It is far easier to make money with regular work type jobs.

Thank you very much for replying, and your sympathy it is much appreciated . i do fully understand that making any money with commissions is hard but this is sorta a last ditch effort to try and keep me from going homeless. early this morning i had a friend drop off a photography kit (lightbox, lights, background things) and he is letting me have his galaxy sg4 phone to take photos (ill work with what i got). but since ive only done this local i don't have to much experience with it all. currently im requesting people to send me photos of what i have painted for them, since i usually never had the chance to paint my own lol. but hear are a few that i do have:

first up is a buddies PP pressganger gorman de woulf, ill try to get him to send better quality photos, but this is what i got for now




this hear is the mini i won first place a a local 1 hr speed painting competition


and this is a mini for my roomies convergence army, will have to get him to send me a better one as well.


as i go along i will add as many photos as i can. agian anything you can do to help me out would be amazing, wether it be asking for commitions, comenting, or even just upvoating. all help thank you

Painting on a commission basis is hard to get into. Usually you make very little money at it till word of mouth gets around and you have a nice collection of images to showcase your work. Also, the ability to execute some simple conversions on an intermediate level will help you get the business you want. If you are that strapped for cash and facing homelessness, I think there are better ways to make a buck than just painting miniatures.

Nice paint jobs, though. It's just not usually enough to have a good paint job to get the type of business to pull you out of a financial slump. I'd find a second job or something if things are that dire.

Your painting looks good but you need better photography. As winterdyne said, if you can't show your work you are going to struggle to sell your work.

The problem with painting miniatures is that it pays a horrid amount of money for the amount of time you need to put in to it. The amount of time you have to put in to a high standard model that will sell for good money for most people results in a piddly amount of dollars per hour. Alternatively you paint to a lower standard and just try and paint armies for people who don't have the time to paint it themselves, in which case people are usually not willing to pay you much per model, so you need to be able to paint really fast to make it worthwhile.

Basically to make commission painting even worth having a look at you need to be able to paint significantly faster than most people and even then the pay is far from awesome.

I basically came here to say the same things that Winterdyne said. Since he's already said them, how about if I try to help.

This is a video I put together to help improve miniature photos. It covers some basics, but it looks like it might help you. I keep meaning to do a follow-up but I haven't gotten to it yet.




I would also recommend getting some sort of web presence. Websites don't have to cost much and can even be free. These days, if you're willing to put in a modicum of effort, you can put together a basic website for free.

I wouldn't worry about the website. You get more enquiries from posting on forums and facebook.

From what I can see the paintwork looks reasonable, but you need to work on getting the models in focus in the shots; you need sharp, clear, images to sell. However, this has the downside of making flaws REALLY obvious. As your photography improves, your work quality tends to as well - it has to as even slightly rough lines which look fine in the hand look gak in a photo that on screen is double the size of the actual model or more.

Yeah that's why I don't take good photos of my minis, flaws I can't even see when I look at the model closely stick out like a sore thumb in good photos, it's so depressing to paint something you think is perfect then take a photo and see all the flaws

same, i can have a good looking tabletop mini. add a 10MP DSLR and a 16 inch 1920 moniter.

if thers a smudge, gap or mistake it il find it!

winterdyne wrote:
IYou get more enquiries from posting on forums and facebook.

While that is most definitely true, having a website isn't about outward marketing. It's about establishing ones self as a reliable business entity and not just some random person who is likely to vanish with your minis once they've been handed over.

Of course, this doesn't have to be a website per se, but it should be some sort of home on the web. It could be a A Facebook Page, Tumblr page, it could be a YouTube channel, it could even be a Dakka blog. A place where people can go to find out about your services.

okay one thing i need to say: im not trying to turn this into a job, just need some cash to get through the next few months, moving on. um tryed a few things, how are these photos:

Well the pictures are still not the best quality.
What are you using to take photos with your phone? If you can borrow someone's DSLR with macro lens (not a lot of people have them tho since macro lenses run about 500 plus lol) lots of people have point and shoots with decent macro functions tho

Anyways I think the painting is pretty nice so I'm sure people would pay.
The thing is like everyone is saying getting people to buy it. You could always try selling stuff at your flgs if the owner allows that (mine does).
To make it more profitable why not try and score some super cheap models on eBay or the swap shop and then paint em up real nice then sell them at the flgs? Might make it more profitable for you since you need the cash.

If you have some available, you may make a pretty functional phone stand with Lego
(Flat base, 2 brick high, flat "floor", 1 brick-high on one side, three on the opposite): by controlling the width, you control the angle of the camera. then, remember to use the "macro" function of the phone camera, and the timer to eliminate micro shakes of the camera.

I know that most of this is known, but repeating, sometimes, helps

I have no idea if my local game store would let me sell painted stuff.... must ask thx.

love the idea for the leggo, and didn't even think of the timer... just one thing... where do i find the macro function? im not the goodz with technology... i have a samsung sg4


Automatically Appended Next Post:
O and if i were to pick somthing up to paint and sell, what do you think would sell? 40k wise? warmachine wise? dnd wise? other.. wise? and again thx you guys are all so great!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
O also, i just remembered: i have an amazing way to get strip paint. have used it for 2 years and have taken just about every typed of paint off, including car/ house paint and leaving 90% - %100 of the detail (resan being a little more troublesome as i cant use all my methods)

so if anyone out there has minies they just cant strip, i can do so in mass fairly cheaply, with the option to redo a paint job. and stuff...god i suck at selling myself

The macro function is usually a little flower icon.

Resist the urge to have the model fill the frame, often you'll get better results by keeping it in the autofocus window (usually shows up as a box when you take a picture) and then cropping the image and sizing appropriately.

 degree23 wrote:
okay one thing i need to say: im not trying to turn this into a job, just need some cash to get through the next few months]

I hate to be contrary, but you are trying to turn this into a job. Maybe not a long-term job but a job nonetheless. There are easier ways to earn money in the short term, though.

 Dullspork wrote:

 degree23 wrote:
okay one thing i need to say: im not trying to turn this into a job, just need some cash to get through the next few months]

I hate to be contrary, but you are trying to turn this into a job. Maybe not a long-term job but a job nonetheless. There are easier ways to earn money in the short term, though.

Pretty much this.

I have a few things to add as well. If you are trying to make money by painting, selling yourself by just looking somewhat professional will go a long way. This means stuff like spelling, capitalization, and proper grammar in your forum posts and correspondence with potential customers. Stuff like that goes a long way with people.

Sigh...Alright, fine I'll end it. I will not ask anymore for requests. im working 3 part time jobs now, and I just wanted to get some extra cash to help pay some bills. I'm sry for asking. At no point did I want to start a business and become a professional, I feel I would end up hating the hobby I love. I also apologize for the miss spelling, capitalization, and grammar errors you had to endure. I only get my internet time in the wee hours of 2-3 am. Also i apologize for not having a acceptable camera and using my phone, but since i can't actually use if for anything but a camera right now i guess it will have to do. I will try harder in the future.


That being said, please don't take it as though im mad or bitter or anything. I've just come to the realization that all im going to get is advice, and i sincerely thank you all for your advice that all of you have given me. i will take it, use it (well i hope), and try to pass it on.
Hope you all have better days than I.

No one is saying you can't do it, just that it's a hard slog to make money, especially in the wider internet world where people can check out the competition and pick the best deal out of quality vs price and there is a lot of competition.

You don't need to apologise to us for your camera We are just pointing out if you want to sell your wares, you need to be able to show it off well enough. People are more likely to buy your painted models if they can see exactly what they look like. If you have the skills to paint well enough that it holds up when viewed through a magnifying glass, flaunt it. If all you can show is blurry pics then don't expect to make more than a few dollars per model (a model which might take you and a couple of hours to assemble and paint).

It's always going to amount to a terrible hourly wage, at least one person who replied (winterdyne) is a high level commission painter themselves and pointed out that it was hard to make money doing commissions. I myself have seen some models painted for commissions and thought "I can paint that well" (certainly not winterdyne's stuff, but other stuff I've seen people selling), then I estimate the number of hours it will take me to do and calculate how much per hour I'd be making and decide against it.

That's why I reckon, if you're really hard up for money, instead of spending 10 hours painting 10 marines that might earn you $50, you might be better off spending that 10 hours looking for better paying work. I know an old guy who has almost drunk himself to death and can't work any more and he makes more money busking outside the shopping centre than most people will make commission painting

I think if you're trying to make a quick buck you're probably better off just sticking to your local community and find if there's someone who wants an army painted and is willing to pay.

 degree23 wrote:

That being said, please don't take it as though im mad or bitter or anything. I've just come to the realization that all im going to get is advice

I guess you didn't realize that you made your post in the forum where people come to ask for and give advice about painting.

If you lived in the UK id let you paint my stuff

im an average painter, but dont have the time to paint and prefer to model. But in that I also agree I think commission painting is rather hard to make cash in. As in general I dont think many people realise how much it 'should' cost.

im on a decent wage, trying to make that in a commission would mean charging quite a lot an hour, more than most people would be willing to pay.

But all in all, ask at your local stores? I know face to face asking always seems way more intrusive, but if you took down some of your models (as they do look decently painted - minus the photos, which is simply a practice thing trust, I take photos as a hobby and even im gak at macro work on my models, poor angles never show models well). Show your work to people and ask if they want some models painted for a reasonable price.

With that you may find theres 2-3 people who want say only a SM sgt who they'd like to have a cool paint job, thats only one character each, so a small charge is something they are much more likely to want to part ways with. As imo, if i wanted say my 20 ork boys painted to a reasonable standard, and someone said like £40, id be like 'whoa no way!' as thats almost 2 boxes of boys... but if say I had painted 19 boys and 1 nob was left and you said hey il do a sweet ass job on that nob for a £5 id be more likely to say yeh why not! its a much smaller hit on the wallet for me, its faster for you and your not likely to get fed up.

The problem with internet things is i imagine most people want large units commissioned or large pieces, which then entails a large cost, which then results in large expectations. So those people then go to the 'professionals' and pay a hefty price based upon some very good photo work etc seen on a site.

But whatever happens I wish you good luck