Painting services

[burns flipper]

Hi all,
I have no artistic talent whatsoever (drawing stick-men is about the limit of my ability). I hear there are miniture painting services available, where you send off your minitures for a professional to do it for you. Has anyone had any experience of this, and can you share them here.

Obviously, this is not an endorsement of anyone by Mongoose, and all experiences are individual and should be treated as such.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[super squirel]

I have looked at a few before and found the cost to be too high for me to accept.

So, I just put up with unpainted minis until I can force myself to do it.

Sorry it's not much help, but the cost does seem high to me.

 

[Admiral Phlop]

The cost is high if you are looking for a high quality job. Such as shading and highlighting with high quality. If you contact a painting service and describe the detail you want on your model, then you might be able to get them done for a reasonable price. I have done some painting for others but I don't like to as it cuts into my free time for my own painting and that it then becomes a job. If you look in the ACTA forum and at the Minbari guide it gives detailed step by step instructions on how to get a very nice job done. It is all in practice. You might want to give it a try. Remember the painter is spending 10 to 20 hrs. on a model, sometimes less. He is not getting rich.

 

[Ben2]

You do get what you pay for I'm afraid. Minimum wage in the UK is £5.35 (getting close to $11 if you live in America). To do a squad complete to a high gaming standard, with inking, highlights, base and fine detail I'll end up spending about an hour a model in the squad. So a squad of 5 will be 5-6 hours. So charging a fiver a model to assemble and paint them, considering that my normal job is almost £8 an hour, doesn't strike me as too bad.

Or you could paint them yourself. Is it that you haven't painted before? Or that you are really bad at it? Because no matter how bad you are, if you can do flat colours neatly, then you can paint your force to a gaming standard.

 

[Rob_A]

My normal job is normally £5-8 per 28mm mini. Really depends on the amount of detail and what kind of paintjob is expected from the model. I also only do lots of a few minis, large lots put me off (I mean small, like 3-5 at a time).
And currently, I've only done local jobs.
No pro-painters are not getting rich. I'm not pro, it's just something I do for people.

 

[I was... Mongoose Adrian]

No pro-painters are not getting rich. I'm not pro, it's just something I do for people.

Oh I don't know!
I know plenty of people who make a decent living from painting miniatures, several who earn in excess of 30k a year doing it. I even knew one guy who was flown out to the States just to make scenery for someone out there (and no he wasn't ex-'Eavy Metal or anything).
For me I used to average over £90 a model when I was freelancing, these mostly characters done in a single day. The most I was ever offered was £750 for a single larger scale miniature a couple of years ago now. I do however know guys who can get as much as a grand for a single 28mm!
So I would say there's definitely money to be made if you are v'good, not lazy and have a decent approach to business.

Another point of note is that the average gamer who pays for models to be painted is a single, white, middle aged, male who has a decent job. So subsequently often has a not inconsiderable disposable income, that he's more than willing to spend on painted models that will make his friends and gaming mates green with envy .

On a programme last night I heard someone paid £250000 for the clock that hung in St Pancreas station in London. If you can offer people something unique they cant get anywhere else they will pay the premium . Competition winning models... Magazine featured armies...

The real money is in painting armies for people.
And the biggest difference comes if the person is paying for 'someone' to paint their figures, or are paying 'a specific someone' to paint their figures .

 

[Shadow Queen]

I have painted Minis for Da Boss, just finishing his Hords minis.