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This is my first real post with questions, I I have chosen the correct category.
I decided to make painting my full time job. As such, I am building a website to showcase my work, get commission jobs and sell my work.
Where I am concerned is the marketing aspect.
I rebuild and paint kustom toys like go karts mini bikes etc. Airbrush T-shirts, and models. Do you think that its okay to build one website and branch these categories off into their own pages or is it too much and not "targeted" enough to a specific audience? Should I build a website separate for each branch of painting? If you were looking to commission a Warhammer painter would it bother you to have to click on the Painted Models section of the site to get to my comish prices?

It wouldn't bother me, but you can always create different landing pages mapped to different domain names and still use a unified website.

If anything showing off a broader set of skills as an artist should be in your favour.

Watch out though, most "I want to paint for a living threads" are full of disappointment.

I always thought of commission painting to be more word of mouth and forum based.

i dont think it would be a big deal to have one big website with a ton of pretty pictures and galleries segregated out by different things like war gaming and t-shirts.

but im sure some one with more experience can help you out here.

Thank you guys. Yes sir. I am aware of the heartache and disappointment but thats ok you could say the same thing to singers and actors. Sometimes you just gotta go for it. Either if you guys recommend areas or sites where I can look for work and not break any rules?

There are many commission painters who showcase their work in the Painting Showcase forum here. Cool Mini or Not comes to mind. Show some stuff on YouTube. Facebook. Go wild. =]

I worked in marketing and advertising for years. I can give you my thoughts.

If I could sell a client good "word of mouth" marketing I would be a billionaire.

Basically the fanciest website, the slickest flyer, the most eye catching advertisements dont stack up to recommendations or word of mouth from regular people, associates or friends.This is especially true with small businesses that sell services not products.

When you are offering a broad range of services, like you are speaking about, you have to think of...1. What is your target demographic? 2. Where will you make the most revenue? Do they go hand in hand? If not, how do you get that balance?

I always suggest specializing in one area first, then expanding out once you have a good base of customers. Being all over the place makes people question (sub-concisely sometimes) how good you are at the one thing they are interested in. While its all painting I assume someone looking for a mini commission would not impress with T Shirt art, and vice versa. Whichever vertical makes you the most profit and customer base is a good place to start, then expand into the other areas in order to build up the base. Yes, its all painting, but it is different.

Anyway, long enough ramble. Just something to think about.

What the guy above me said, wanna know how to get commissions? Just go to your game store with awesome painted models and just mention you are thing about doing commissions. If need be do a few for free to show it off

Thank you very much. I apreciate the input
And the long reply is nice.

With repaints of collectors' toys, you're selling quality product to explicit collectors. Repaints generally aren't play-toys, they're display pieces.

If you're already doing this, you're probably quite up to par on modelling and painting techniques to do higher end gaming commissions.

Paint, paint, paint, and post your work (even repaint toys are probably OK, but t-shirts and go-karts probably not) in the showcase forum here. You'll get honest feedback and advice (whether you like it or not!).

As for your website - a section or gallery for each genre you do is probably wise.

Thats great advice. Thank you. I guess my only other question would be to build a website that is just a showcase of my work a.k.a portfolio in which case I'll do a drag and drop and post links to places where my items can be purchased like ebay or craigslist or create a c-panel website with a shopping cart where my items and commissions can be purchased on site. It's a big step for me and Im a little on tge fence about it.

Personly as a person who has used commision studioes i would say there is 3 things that will make or break a studio.

1: paint job quality.
2: price
3: prossessing time (the time it takes to paint the job and how long time the customer have to wait before it is his/her turn)

Allso an aspect you have to be aware of is you could risk getting burned out from all the painting.

If i was you i would start small whit the commisions.
Find as many as you can of the clubs/official miniature company stores in your city and ask if you can display some models you have done under your logo/brand.
It might not yield mutch but it should give you enugh to see how you can handle it.

Kromehawk wrote:
Either if you guys recommend areas or sites where I can look for work and not break any rules?

If you play boardgames, post pics of completed base game sets as painting threads on BGG, and mention that you do commission painting. I think that's how BenWax did it, although boardgamers are notoriously cheap because they don't know how much work goes into it, but also because they're fine with a lower paint job quality than most wargamers, and don't need conversions or other special services. If you do choose this route, you can do something like paint a base game, post pics, and sell your painted base game and other painting services for cash or trade plus unpainted miniatures from the base set. That way, anyone who bought the game and wants to paint the miniatures doesn't have to wait for you to paint their set. If you have multiple buyers, you can even have a closed auction, choose from multiple offers, or even line up multiple commissions at once and paint the boardgame miniatures assembly-line style. I know some conventional painters who balked at this idea, but the buyer will get a fast turnaround and knows what he's getting since he sees the product before purchasing it. You don't want the headache of a buyer who sees your work, asks for a commission, then wants his money back because he claims the miniatures you painted aren't as good as the pictures you showed.