Cerridwyn1st Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I regularly take commissions on painting. A guy at my LGS was asking me what I charge to paint models. I pointed out several finished and progress pieces. Three were in a glass display case at the front of the store, the others I had with me as I'd been working on them while playing a game. “The Roman Chariots were $50 each, $75 for the troop in my basket here, $90 for the GW dragon. That single mini you see there was $25. It just depends on the level of detail you have in mind. What are you interested in?” “On second thought,” he answered, “I think I’ll just paint them myself.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattmcl Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Wow, and you're prices are reasonable if not low. Do people think we're all Jester? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slidedog Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 If that scared him, let him paint them. Those prices seem very reasonable, maybe too reasonable. Some people just don't get how long it takes to do a decent job, let alone how long it takes to learn how to do a decent job. Maybe once he paints a few he'll be back to talk to you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengar Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Your stuff is well worth that price range, Cerr. There's a fella on another painting forum that takes commissions. He is "tabletop" to "tabletop+" in terms of painting quality, but most of the folks at that site aren't really into minis/painting, so what he does is ample for their needs. His pricing is $2-5 for a character mini, $10 for a larger humanoid (i.e. ogre) then "ask for quote" for a large figure like a dragon. this includes prepping, priming, painting, and sealing. I was going to start soliciting commissions from some of the people on that site until I saw this. There's no way I can compete with such a low price. For me, I couldn't take a commission for less than $15-20 because I have so little time to paint as it is. In all honesty, I'm a better painter than him, but I ain't a GD winner type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versutus Vulpes Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I read this and I thought - that's pretty cheap... And then I realized this guy probably has an army of 30 GW guys he wants to be the envy of his gaming table... Personally I can do maybe 1 unit (5-10 minis) a month before I start wanting to hurl stuff out a window. Too repetitive and I futz around too much so it seems to take forever. Maybe as I get better and faster I could try to do it... but for now - this is just a hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerridwyn1st Posted April 17, 2007 Author Share Posted April 17, 2007 Oh, and I had also mentioned painting a set of Circle Orboros Druids for $35 - the base price of the box. The one for $25 was Krugar, a Shaman (or some such), also Circle of Orboros. He had Privateer Press figs that supposedly were already assembled. I would probably end up disassembling them and re-doing to my liking. You guys might get a chuckle out of this. I charged a client $15 to assemble and prime a Privateer Press Trollblood Blitzer. Anyway, I figured my prices weren't bad given the quality of the product. If agreed upon pricing for WIP and finished commissions scared him off, good. I used to charge $10 for a nice D&D character mini. Then I saw the quality of product someone else was cranking out for the same price. I promplty jacked the price for a nice character to about $30 and dropped the quality for a $10 mini to just a bit better than the competition. I'm still getting commissions and the other person has decided the painting for money isn't worth the effort. Your stuff is well worth that price range, Cerr. Thanks Kengar. There's a fella on another painting forum that takes commissions. He is "tabletop" to "tabletop+" in terms of painting quality, but most of the folks at that site aren't really into minis/painting, so what he does is ample for their needs. His pricing is $2-5 for a character mini, $10 for a larger humanoid (i.e. ogre) then "ask for quote" for a large figure like a dragon. this includes prepping, priming, painting, and sealing. You can ship your models overseas and get it done rediculously cheap. But then there's the shipping costs and the risk of loosing your models.I was going to start soliciting commissions from some of the people on that site until I saw this. There's no way I can compete with such a low price. For me, I couldn't take a commission for less than $15-20 because I have so little time to paint as it is. In all honesty, I'm a better painter than him, but I ain't a GD winner type. You know, Kengar, it would depend on what you are offering in relation to your pricing. No matter what his pricing is, you can still get customers if there is something you can offer that he can't. Timeliness, security, better quality, whatever. Whether or not it's worth the hassel to you is another matter entirely. I'd take commissions from locals before I went to the trouble of having stuff shipped, but that's just me. I could proably get more if I accepted commissions from people outside my area. I prefer to avoid the hassels of shipping, getting paid, making sure the person gets the stuff and is happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sazabi Reverse Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 I once tried doing commission work. I'm far too busy for such a thing right now though, but I was charging not even 10 for things that were waaay more than a $10 paint job was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastl Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 I've made it clear I don't work on commission. I hate deadlines and I only paint what I feel like painting. This is not a good combination when someone is waiting on a finished mini. And they never pay enough to cover your time, unless you're someone like Jester who churns out fantastic minis in the time it takes me to find my brushes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fieldarchy Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Mel, I've run into the same problem. I charge about $50 for my commissions. Most of the time they are between show and table top quality so they can still be handled but they look damn good. Anything better than that is higher. My pricing is based off of what people here on Reaper, especially Anne, told me my rates should be. I had a guy who wanted me to paint 8 space marines. He said, paint them like they look on the box. I said ok, that will run $50 per fig. He thought that was incredulous and he claims he had someone paint them for $5 a piece and they looked like they did on the box. I told him that wouldn't be worth my while since a really nice paint job runs about 10 hours each figure. Some people are willing to pay and others aren't. If someone can't afford the $50 rate then I ask them what they want, the purpose of the mini and see if we can work something out. The 7 I did for the Battle of Macragge set for a friend of mine, he explained, "Meg, I know you are a really good painter and there isn't any one else in town who does a good job as you and is as nice as you. I don't want these to be show pieces but I want them to look good on my table. Do you mind doing a mediocre job? What would that cost?" So we discussed it and came to $35 per mini for the ones I just did. He was happy with what he got and I got paid for my time and the effort that was put into them. It just depends on the person but your rates are reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All-Terrain Monkey Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 For anyone doing commission work, I strongly suggest getting a watch/clock/timer and noting how long it actually takes you to do a mini from absolute start to finish and charge appropriately. If you honestly enjoy painting and don't depend on it to keep your belly round, then feel free to charge low. If you're doing it in any shape or fashion to plump your pocketbook or waistline don't sell yourself short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fieldarchy Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 For me it's not my life source, I paint for fun and a little bit of extra money to do some things. I really don't feel like I can charge a whole heck of a lot though since I'm still making a name for myself and acquiring a customer base. That's just how I feel on the subject. If anyone thinks I should adjust my rates by all means I would love to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All-Terrain Monkey Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 To paraphrase just about every painter of whom I've asked this question, "How much are my mini's worth?", the answer is, "As much as someone is willing to pay for them." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 To paraphrase just about every painter of whom I've asked this question, "How much are my mini's worth?", the answer is, "As much as someone is willing to pay for them." Ditto!!! Word to the wise - it's easier to charge more the first time than it is to raise prices on the same customers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versutus Vulpes Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Also keep in mind the time you will be saving the purchaser. Most of the time people who want armies painted are more interested in playing than in painting (which is crazy to me... but hey whatever floats your boat)... So if they balk at your pricing, ask them how many hours would they be spending to do it and how much is their time worth - as that should also figure into what they would pay. So if it would take them 4 hours to paint a mini at a lower standard and they don't want to spend the 35-50 bucks a mini - isn't the time they are saving themselves worth the 8-12 bucks an hour? S'funny - my friend who I paint GWs for (for free) was all excited - he said "I picked up some skinks for you to paint..." "Um... dude... Painting these armies is killing my soul..." Anyhow - Meg/Cerridwyn1st I think your rates are more than reasonable. And I think anyone who can churn one out for $5-$10 bucks is either a) not very good, b)on meth and can paint superfast, or c) really likes painting and the cost is just to keep out the riff-raff and cover expenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengar Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 For me, my aspiration would be to defray the cost of my hobby somewhat. That coupled with the fact that -for a lot of figs- once I've painted them, I don't necessarily have a lot of interest in them any more. There are plenty I keep to game with, but there are just as many I've painted and never used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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