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Hey Dakka, I've always wanted a painted army but dont have the time or skill to paint one myself. Do you guys know any reliable, good, and reasonably priced painters?

Thanks.

What do you mean by reasonably priced? That might help narrow the field a bit. Assuming you play Space Marines, for example, what are you willing to pay for painting a ten man tactical squad?

Anywhere from 1-4 dollars per model. I know some of the higher end studios get to upwards around 5 - 8 and thats a bit much for my blood.

even at 4 dollars per model, I cant think of any reputable studio that will paint for that. 6 would be DIRT cheap for low quality.

I hate to plug myself but I just did a tutorial on selecting a painting service. so check my sig for my channel.

But i can tell you 1-3 is not going to happen 4, dont expect more than a can of spray paint. Simply put no one paints for those low of prices.

I'd be very surprised if you'll get someone painting anything that looks half decent at that price. You might be better served looking on ebay for painted armies that people are trying to get rid of.

At $1 you have to think the painter can't be spending more than 10 minutes on the model (probably less), including assembly and cleaning mould lines and undercoating.... I don't think anyone would do anything for $1 because it takes about 5-10 minutes just to assemble most models let alone paint them. At $4, someone might be spending 20-30 minutes on a model, which is probably only enough to assemble it, roughly clean the mould lines, spray a basecoat, pick out a few details in a solid colour then wash it... which isn't going to look great.

But I'll be interested to see if anyone can come up with a decent painter who will paint for such small amounts of money.

Depends on what army.

Abzapp wrote:
Anywhere from 1-4 dollars per model. I know some of the higher end studios get to upwards around 5 - 8 and thats a bit much for my blood.

Best of luck, man.

Yeah, I think your scale is way off. Low end is going to be around 10 a model (and that quality will be pretty poor), higher end starts at around 25 and goes up and up and up... And that's for ordinary marines.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
At $1 you have to think the painter can't be spending more than 10 minutes on the model (probably less), including assembly and cleaning mould lines and undercoating.... .

Even 10 minutes is too much... That's $6 an hour. Less the cost of the paint. I sure as hell wouldn't be working for that.

 insaniak wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
At $1 you have to think the painter can't be spending more than 10 minutes on the model (probably less), including assembly and cleaning mould lines and undercoating.... .

Even 10 minutes is too much... That's $6 an hour. Less the cost of the paint. I sure as hell wouldn't be working for that.

At $1 a model all you'd get is someone willing to dunk the miniature in paint. Assuming you'd supply the paint!

What's the point of getting an army commission painted if you try to do it so cheaply it will look like a 6 year olds art project? I thought commission painting was for having stuff done to a level you aren't capable of, or at least tabletop+ just in a shorter amount of time.

Want my advice mate?

If you really dont want to paint, find a guy who paints to a good standard.

Choose a unit/model you want to have painted first. Probably best to do a squad at a time.

Get a quote, save up and then get the unit done. May as well get them done to a good standard.

Then slowly get it done unit by unit. Make sure you have the same guy doing it too.

Eventually you will have a lovely army. It will take time and money though. Its better long term than paying for a 6 dollar a model job. Most people can paint to even the medium standards of painting if they practice for a while. So if you are gonna pay for an army, go all the way.

I started doing some local commission for the gaming group as most of them aren't interested in the painting aspects of it. As I like to play games with fully painted armies and terrain, I started offering my service.

I charge MSRP x 1.5 for infantry; x 1.75 for walkers/termies; x 2 for vehicles and HQ. This include cleaning mold lines, magnetize options, painting, decal work, weathering, basing, pretty much best I can do as if the minis are mine.

And I still have people wanting discounts for bundles and such(which I said no), trying to negotiate as if they're in a flea market.

What you have to understand is that you are paying for the time spent and the time of training up to the point. You pay for what you get.

I'm really curious to see what kind of paint job the OP thought $1/model would get.

At that point.. Just spray paint your own models and call it good.

I guess my price range is a bit off haha. I never considered that I was paying for time spent, the prices make a lot more sense now.

@tenebre Ill take a look at the video.

What painting services have you guys used?

Honestly, if all you really want to do is have an army have some paint so you are not fielding the "Grey Legion" it doesn't take too long or a lot of skill. Assuming you are doing things with full armor like space marines. Its painting organics, or getting all kinds of little details and highlighting painted that takes skill and a lot of time.

That said, considering the cost of new 40k figs, if you do go this route, and you don't already have your army, see what older/used stuff you can get off eBay and the like.

Just get an Army Painter Spary in the colour of your main army colour and go to town.

Then just got over the whole army with 2 other colours and then use some Dip to shade them and call it a day

Then you have a minimally painted army that you can go back to later to paint details to when you have a spare evening here or there, but is totally tornement legal.

 insaniak wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
At $1 you have to think the painter can't be spending more than 10 minutes on the model (probably less), including assembly and cleaning mould lines and undercoating.... .

Even 10 minutes is too much... That's $6 an hour. Less the cost of the paint. I sure as hell wouldn't be working for that.

I was assuming some unskilled kid in the USA working on minimum wage. In Australia that $1 would pay someone to open the box and that's about it

Of course you wouldn't catch me working for $6 an hour regardless of which country I'm in Maybe when I was teenager living with my parents and not worrying about rent/bills/etc.

But yeah, at those sorts of prices I'd be checking out ebay. You aren't going to get something awesome painted for that price, but at least on ebay you aren't paying someone by the hour to work for you, which is always rather expensive (whether you're talking about an electrician/mechanic/engineer/commission painter, paying someone to do work for you is never cheap). I imagine you can find ebay armies painted to a similar quality as what $4 per model will get you, but for significantly less than $4 per model.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Toofast wrote:
What's the point of getting an army commission painted if you try to do it so cheaply it will look like a 6 year olds art project? I thought commission painting was for having stuff done to a level you aren't capable of, or at least tabletop+ just in a shorter amount of time.

Each to their own. I've considered getting armies painted to my own minimum standard simply because my own minimum standard still takes me a couple of years to put together a 40k army Changed my mind in the end because I don't really play enough to make it worth while.

That allows almost no time per model. To make minimum wage in most countries, you'd have to paint a whole squad of 10 in an hour

The paintjob you're going to get, you can do yourself without breaking a sweat. Just assemble the model, prime it with Army Painter colored primer, hit it with a drybrush, and then dunk it in quicksahde. pick some random detail and paint it another color and call it a day.

Please don't do this with an imperial knight :\

Well, if you pain for fun then its not that bad even for 2-3...as long i get money for paint back i pretty much get free models for painting.

And with airbrush its almost too easy.

 Big Mac wrote:
And I still have people wanting discounts for bundles and such(which I said no), trying to negotiate as if they're in a flea market.

I'm not sure why you're talking down on trying to negotiate a price. Most people do it for other things so it's not like it's some abnormal activity restricted to flea markets.

Model Painting Done Cheap(ish):

Step 1: Play Necrons.
Step 2: Buy silver spray paint
Step 3: Spray Necrons with silver spray paint.
Step 4: Use Citadel Green and fine-tip brush for eyes.
Step 5: Whole army done in, like, 30 minutes.

 Psienesis wrote:
Model Painting Done Cheap(ish):

Step 1: Play Necrons.
Step 2: Buy silver spray paint
Step 3: Spray Necrons with silver spray paint.
Step 4: Use Citadel Green and fine-tip brush for eyes.
Step 5: Whole army done in, like, 30 minutes.

Step 3.3: Use Nuln Oil or a similar wash on Necrons once they are dry,
Step 3.6: Drybrush with silver.

Makes the process an hour but gets awesome results.

Sometimes I wish I could do that for my orks... Then again, I play goffs so I can't complain.

Yourself.

-

 Psienesis wrote:
Model Painting Done Cheap(ish):

Step 1: Play Necrons.
Step 2: Buy silver spray paint
Step 3: Spray Necrons with silver spray paint.
Step 4: Use Citadel Green and fine-tip brush for eyes.
Step 5: Whole army done in, like, 30 minutes.

The deceptive thing about necrons are that they are very easy to paint but are a pain in the arse to assemble. I once had the same idea, but then I bought a box of warriors and realised the time I save painting compared to other armies is mostly consumed assembling the buggers.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
]The deceptive thing about necrons are that they are very easy to paint but are a pain in the arse to assemble. I once had the same idea, but then I bought a box of warriors and realised the time I save painting compared to other armies is mostly consumed assembling the buggers.

Hahaha true

Then again, with Space Marines you can blow hours just picking which bits to use, because there are so choices available between the bazillion compatible kits!

You all assume someone has to paint like a slave monkey and do it for money. There are painters that paint because they like it.

I personally paint to a decent standard (Not a pro, but I like it and at least pay attention to detail), and because I have an actual job, I take on commissions and accept payment in the form of a box of minis. I generally accept a box of troops for every 30 dudes you ask me to paint, assuming mostly troops and normal sized dudes (Most Warbike/Jetbike models I paint in batches of 10 instead). As a point of reference, takes me 10-14 days to finish 30 dudes depending on theme.

Personally, I do gak like that because A) I get a box of minis for doing something I love to do. B) I get to try out new styles and themes on armies I will never own. C) I help guys in my local area who won't get off their ass and paint, get decent tabletop standard armies. (So I can fight them with my Orks) Nothing I paint is gonna win an award, but it looks like someone tried and at least watched some youtubes.

I'm not saying that what he wants, for a pro painted army, isn't too low. Just pointing out, if you want something that is better than primer or bare plastic/metal, and can find a guy who loves to paint. Ask him to paint of a squad or something and offer him a box. Or what I really love, is having guys from my club come over, sit at one of my painting tables and try themselves. Getting to a decent tabletop army is as simple as a good primer, 4 colors, 2 paintbrushes and a wash. You don't need to do OSL or draw in eyebrows on a 1.5 inch tall dude, but having some good color and a couple variations, then doing a simple flock on the base = 1000% better than nothing.

Cheers!

yeah you might consider asking a gaming buddy, I have a friend who I will at times commission to do some orks, and he charges about that rate