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Hello dakka,

I've had a few people approach me lately asking if I am willing to paint their models. I've been thinking about it and think utter would be a fun way to pay for my 40k habit.

Negotiating prices is uncomfortable though. So what are some rules of thumb you use for price? And if the model is forgeworld?

best thing to do for people approaching you is to make them provide the models. then you just figure out what you want to charge for painting based on complexity and quality. i dunno what cost is good for that though.

My suggestion would be to search through this forum. This question comes up really frequently, and there are a number of commission painters here who have provided really good answers.

It sounds like you are just going to be doing this on the side and only looking to fund your own purchases (not paying the bills), so you the things you need to consider are the following:

1. Are you going to be offering multiple levels of quality? Or will you just be painting to your "standard"?
2. How long does it take you to paint a model to your "tabletop" standard?
3. What are you willing to charge for your time/resources/etc.?

The other thing that gets mentioned a lot by commission painters, is the differing images in people's heads of what a commission is worth. And that more often than not people who look to get their stuff painted, seriously undervalue the cost of what you are going to be doing. If it takes 10 hours to do a model, and you want to pay yourself say $15 USD an hour, that costs $150 and potentially $20-30 for resources.

You can "priceshock" people out of jobs, and probably will if you want to pay yourself well for your time.

 Smotejob wrote:
Negotiating prices is uncomfortable though. So what are some rules of thumb you use for price? And if the model is forgeworld?

There isn't really any reason FW stuff would be any different unless it's going to take you longer to do, if it takes longer to do then charge more, simple as that. If you're actually ordering things from FW for them, then obviously you have to consider the shipping of the items, but ideally I think you'd want some upfront payment to cover those costs.

I don't know of any rules of thumb, the main suggestion I can make is think *seriously* about how long the project will take you. If you're getting the models on the sprue, be realistic and think about how long it takes you to assemble them before painting (including cleaning mould lines and all that jazz). Then be honest with yourself and consider how long it's going to take you to paint them. Try not to be unrealistic, you don't want to quote people a price based on it taking you 20 minutes per model when it actually takes you 2 hours.

I'd then base my price off the amount of time I expect to put in to it. I think many (if not most) commission painters earn less than minimum wage when considered on an hourly basis, but it's up to you to decide how much you're willing to get paid per hour of work (which is why it's so important to be realistic about how long it's going to take you to do it all).

Also consider the cost in paints and brushes. If you don't already own the paints you are going to use for a commission the price can add up.

Also be realistic about the size of the project and whether you actually want to take it on. If it's a huge army that's going to take you 300 hours and you can only invest a few hours a day, that's ends up being a 3 month project. So really think about whether you want to take on the project in the first place.

I agree with everything that has been said, also some have packages ie. #1just base #2base and shading #3 base shading and highlights #3base shading highlights and detail etc etc etc.

KINGPIN54 wrote:
I agree with everything that has been said, also some have packages ie. #1just base #2base and shading #3 base shading and highlights #3base shading highlights and detail etc etc etc.

With this, be aware that even just doing the basecoats from assembly is usually the majority of the work involved - a lot of people think that you can assemble a model decently for 10 minutes work. This isn't the case.

Working on pre-assembled models can cost more in time / effort than it saves, especially if the cleanup hasn't been done properly or if the model needs to be painted in subassemblies. I only work on unassembled models.

Over the years, I've found the cost of paints / tools to be pretty much irrelevant when compared to time.