"Do people really pay to have their miniatures painted?" Topic

I don't mean that insulting. I know I can't paint that great but I wondered if painting services get a lot of business. Also, why would someone pay? I thought part of the whole point was to paint them yourself and the wargame with them.

Thanks. I've just wondered about it.

Some folks dont have time or the skill to get the quality they want. Some people cant paint due to physical limitations like bad eyesite. Others just dont care for the painting but like to play.

Chuck

Yes – people do. No, you likely won't get rich at it. They pay because they don't want to paint there own – or because they want a level of painting that they can't achieve (quantity or quality or both).

Some people paint only, some people paint and game, some people game only.

I think this is really three hobbies in one:

Research
Modeling
Gaming

Some people only enjoy one or two of those.

I send out plenty because I don't have time. I still paint. But I'm too slow.

the older i get the worse my eyesight is, so used to paint quite a bit, now not so much and rely on paying folks for some stuff.

More than three hobbies, as modeling and painting are separate activities, and terrain is a different set of skills, tools, and attitudes that miniatures themselves.

I pay others to paint my minis because:

1/ I want big armies but don't want to spend a lot of time painting. I don't really enjoy painting, and I certainly don't enjoy painting hundreds of figures.

2/ I don't want a huge pile of unpainted minis which are likely to always be unpainted minis.

3/ I would rather spend my free time with my family than painting my minis.

4/ The people I pay do a better job than I do.

5/ They do it for such a reasonable cost I have to really like painting to do it myself. I paint easy stuff, like robots, bugs, and 6mm. But 25mm Naps get sent to a real painter. It takes me a couple of hours to achieve what I can buy for $US5, and I price my time at more than that.

But that's just me of course.

Fortunately for me, yes.

We're booked for the next year. So yes, they do.

I enjoy painting, but there are some painters whose work/demeanor I like enough that I would consider having them paint a warband or maybe some RPG characters… more to have that connection to an artist I enjoy than because I wouldn't/couldn't do the job myself.
There's a guy on Youtube, General Splatton, who I've been thinking of hiring to paint my Slann warband… mostly cause I like his videos and he recently started taking commissions.

If money/space were unlimited I'd start a collection of minis painted by different folks… maybe the same mini… just tell them to do what they like. Kind of like the Dunny's from Kid Robot.

I can paint miniatures, but I don't get a ton of joy from it. Some part of me takes more pleasure in having completed forces than in looking at unpainted lead piles, so I split my resources by painting what I have time and inclination for while also paying other folks to paint parts of my collection. I am not bothered by having a mix of painting styles, so for me a mixture of self painted and commissioned painted miniatures works well for me.

Jeff

I can't paint anymore. I can do washes and highlights. I have never considered painting part of my hobby but an necessary evil. I always considered painting to be laborious. I love to study uniforms but hate to paint.
VR
James Mattes

I'm too cheap to pay for painting services; considering how often I actually play games with them, that's probably just as well.

Yes they do, although very, very occasionally one tries to get away without paying.. Kinda like eat and run at a restaurant. :-)

Fons
MMPS

I can paint now & enjoy it my mate can`t bought ready painted army he s up & running I `m still painting. There a firm Blue Table Painting who does 3 levels of detailing on your models whats not to like?

I haven't paid anyone to paint figures, but I did buy a handful of painted figures off of ebay once. They were painted up fine, but I did add some highlights here and there. They were my first Foundry phalangites & were at a decent price – not much more than unpainted IIRC. Best, dean

I won't pay for people to paint mine becuase

* my budget will not stretch to it even for the low end paint jobs

* it feels like cheating

* A lot of the stuff I've seen pro painted isn't actually very good. The stuff that is good is even more out of my budget.

* I'm actually not that bad a painter so I have to pay a lot for a paint job close to what I could do myself.

* there are all those nasty stories about people dissappering with peoples miniatures and money never to be seen again ( granted that works both ways with people ripping of painters)

The thing is all though it seems very expensive to get miniatures painted from my point of view I know a lot of pro painters are barely getting minimum wage for their work.
In the age of Army painter and dip just about anyone can get a decent looking army out in a resonable time now IMO for a lot less than paying a pro painter.

Yes

I am not very talented at painting and am incredibly slow at it.

I have a friend who can paint quite quickly, to a consistantly high standard for a reasonable fee. It makes far more sense to use him to paint the figures so that I can then base them up and use them. However, all figures that I send to him have had all the flash/mold lines removed, hands drilled, spears cut to length etc as I am paying him to paint them, not prepare them. This leads to a speedier turnaround and a better paint job. It also means that I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have at least spent time prepaing the figures and not just sent them off as they came from the manufacturer.

Steve

Every single one of us pays, either with our time (time = money) or with money/trade.

Personally my time is very limited, as is the space I have for painting. I have to set up on the kitchen table, paint, then put everything away each session. Add in being a geographically single parent with a full time job and horses and dogs to care for and I often feel like I barely have time to get the things done that NEED to be done, let alone find time and energy to set up the paint area…

I can paint, even paint decently, but I have definitely paid to have a good painter knock out minis for me whan I want something for a game/project and don't have time. I've recently also been selling off excess and have accepted painting service in trade for stuff.

Between my wife and I, we earn enough that it can be cheaper for me to pay someone else rather than pay with my own time.

I have been ripped off a couple of times, but I've been ripped off over other things in life too.

Yes, I dont get enough time to paint. Plus the eyes are not as good now. My painting is still pretty good but I am happy to pay to get some done. A mate paints them for me at mates rates so its pritty good.

I have plenty of money, but not much free time. In addition, my time is worth a lot of money. It's cheaper to pay someone else to do it. I like to paint and still do, when I have time. This year, the last time I scrounged up 4 hours to paint was back in early June. It's just the way it is with having a high pressure job and having a wife and three kids. If I had more free time I would paint more for sure.

I don't like painting certain things, mainly my 15mm infantry, so I pay a friend to paint them for me. I love painting armor, buildings, ships, planes, pretty much anything non-human, but the infantry becomes tedious after a while so it frees me up to finish armies faster when I just need to focus on say my 100 Soviet tanks and not my 150 Soviet infantry in addition…..

I'm glad they do-a rather large portion of my collection was paid for that way.

i'm glad they do too!

I smashed my left leg up and can't currently work at my day job, and probably won't be working for several months. The small amount of money painting brings in is really making a difference.

regards

jim

Writing as someone who used to run a painting service, you can certainly do well enough.

I now use a painting service myself because I had eye problems and I can't concentrate for more than an hour or so at a time on short-range work without giving myself quite bad headaches. Plus I get too many "Oooh a squirrel" moments…

As I need figures to oppose my lovely 1806 Prussians, I get someone to do them. He's deaf and recently had a heart attack, but he can see much better than I can. :-)

When I concentrate, BTW, this is what I do:

Ian

Yep, the older I get the less time I have and the more time it takes me to paint.

Nice job, Ian.

I'd pay someone to file and sand the figures! (Seriously, anyone interested?) But for me, the painting is the juice.

Yes. My painting skills aren't anywhere up to the standards of just about everyone else. I don't have the time to paint all my figures. Plus I've been dealing with tendonitis in my forearms. At one point it got so bad, I couldn't hold a paintbrush and a single figure.

Now if I can only win the lottery, then I'd ship out my entire unpainted collection and get them finished in one fell swoop.

Ted

I've never used a painting service, I paint for others when my private schedule permits and if the models are interesting enough.

I honestly don't get why it seem to annoy other people is someone uses a painting service and don't paint their own models.

My current customer was able to paint his own stuff up until recently when he was struck with an ailment that makes his hands shake so much he can no longer paint any miniatures by himself. So his buddy for whom I had painted models previously turned to me and asked if I would be interested in painting up a small Mordheim gang for the guy.

Does that still count as cheating?

If I knew a reliable painting service here in Sweden and had the cash to pay them (being a student I don't have the cash) I would sure as hell pay for having 15mm stuff painted up. I strongly dislike painting 15mm, but I like playing with them.

I have in the past. I have adapted my painting away from three shade painting to army painter dips, which has doubled my output. But time is a premium for me now. So I have order figures from painting companied in Hong Kong via Ebay.

Cost me a dollar a 15mm figure, for figure, painting and basing. Thats enough to make anyone use figure painters!

Jaz
6sided.net – Blogs, Image galleries, groups.

Lots of people want figures painted (and I only do 10mm & smaller) but not everyone wants to (or can afford to) pay for the service. I've been at it for 5 plus years now and have never had an empty order book but have to turn down a large number of offerred commissions as I just don't have enough time.

Whilst I'd rate my quality as 'good wargaming standard' many of my clients are at least as good at painting as I am, they just don't have the time to build the large armies that they want and are lucky enough to have the cash to indulge themselves occasionally.

I doubt anyone will make a fortune painting wargaming figures and most of us probably charge less than we'd like to. The perception with many people is that we are overpriced but those of us that are professional and reliable still have to make enough for it to be worth our effort while we compete with those who just use it to help them buy their next army. It isn't easy, believe me.

not everyone …can afford to pay for the service

That's me in a nutshell. I paint well enough and sometimes enjoy it, but I would sooner be gaming and reading while occasionally checking the mailbox.

Its not that I consider the services overpriced; I'm just underfunded.

Yes.

My hobby is wargaming, not painting.

Rick

I agree with Prince Rupert, but then I occasionally take on painting jobs so I'm not against people paying to have figures painted. I've done work for a few people on TMP as well as a lot of work sublet from a friend's painting service.

I get a lot of painted figures on eBay, and I have had painters do stuff for me. Ebay is more reliable, however, and I have stuff that I gave to people to paint over ten years ago that I don't expect to ever see again.

Personally, I find I rarely have time to paint. And when I do paint it has always been last minute, crunch time stuff for some event and it costs me so much energy that I can't stand to paint anything for a long time. Like trying to paint 800+ African tribesmen and their shields (which take just as long as the figure itself!) Sometimes it is just too much!

I buy painted, paint my own amnd fix other paint jobs. It all depends on time and money available.

The people that I paint for tend to have more money than time or ability. Also, I paint for people who also paint themselves but want a particular unit to be a centerpiece for the army.

At the moment I'm painting a full set of Dreadfleet, then I'll be painting a small Ogre Kingdoms army, then another set of Dreadfleet. So, yes, people do pay to have their miniatures painted.

jayadan.com

If I could afford it I think that I would have somebody else paint my gaming miniatures and I would work on display miniatures for fun.

I pay to have mine painted for the most part. I still enjoy painting some things but if I want to play a game without spending a year painting a couple of dozen figures then I send it out. Two simple reasons:

1. My hands tremble very badly, a side effect of one of the reasons I'm a disabled vet.

2. I'm too old to play with ugly toys.

The manager at my local game store supplements his income with painting. Just by the many squads and units of miniatures in various states of completion at any one time, yes lots of people do. He only paints to one high quality level and he way undercharges for the work he does. Because of that, there is no shortage of people wanting stuff done from what he tells me.

I don't pay anyone to do it for me right now, but if my eyesight gets poorer I may considder it. I've been nearsighted most of my life, so hopefully my close vision doesn't go out any time soon as well! I'm a very slow painter, but I've been taking a more dedicated approach to painting. So much so that in the past three years I've painted more miniatures than I had in the previous nineteen. That being said my painting rate is much lower than my purchase rate, so as my lead mountain, or more accurately these days plastic mountain grows, I may at some point pay someone.

I did once, and was not happy about the paint job.
So I decided that I would rather be slow and do it myself that pay someone for a paint job that I did not like.

Does that still count as cheating?

No of course not…

I was talking from a purely personal point of view ie for me personally using stuff someone else painted doesn't feel right and feels like cheating. Even more so at a tournament were people get points for well painted armies – but that's a different debate.

What other people do with their hobby is up to them personally I won't pay to have miniatures painted but that's just me.

On a related issue, if anyone would like to pay me to drink their beer for them, I charge very reasonable rates…

I think about the hobby in general all the time. I think about games, scenarios, rules, what game to run at a convention etc.. The only thing I never think about is painting a miniature. I dohn't see a mini and say "Your pants will be blue."

Like so many here I find I enjoy the hobby but not the painting and let me just say "Thanks" to all of you who take my money and paint my figures.

I have painted for others. I have comissioned painting from others. Now I am -again!- taking commissions to paint for others.

I do enjoy painting. What I do not enjoy is painting a zillion-time the same miniature. When I do it's because someone is paying me for doing it. Otherwise, when I can afford it, I rather prefer to paint single figures -usually 54mms or larger figures, for exhibits and for the joy of painting- and comission my armies to other painters.

By the way, I do not give a damm if my opponents army has been painted by himself or if he did commission it. However, I feel 'cheated' if he presents to the game with unpainted miniatures or way-over-what-is-acceptable proxies i.e. British SYW minis posing as, say, 1870 Prussians (example taken from a real life event!)

I have never considered painting part of my hobby but an necessary evil. I always considered painting to be laborious.

James summed it up for me. I'll paint some, but I prefer to have others do it.

About twenty-five years ago, I joined two friends to try to make a go of painting figures by mail. I can't speak for others, but for me, having the pressure of painting other people's figures (and having no time for my own work) temporarily spoiled the fun of painting.

It also didn't help that my two partners and I had different painting styles and ideas about how our business should work. A minute ago, I wrote some stuff about the whole experience, which I just now deleted (in summary, one guy took advantage of the other guy and myself.) So if I were to do it again, I'd do it solo.

Like other folks have written, I never have been a very fast painter. At the risk of sounding boastful, I was good at it at one time, but I'm out of practice at the moment. There's probably no way that I could paint figures for others and have it be even marginally profitable.

A buddy of mine made an astute observation years ago. This isn't very flattering, but he said that in some ways, wargaming is a poor man's hobby. It isn't nearly as expensive as some other recreational activities, plus people can save money by doing things themselves. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But from my own experience, a lot of gamers (myself included) seem to be cheapskates and just don't want to (or can't) pay a lot for painted figures. Maybe I'm wrong: perhaps there are some customers out there who can make painting figures worthwhile. I just haven't met them myself!

Echo most of what's been said here. I really don't have time right now, as job is very demanding (Executive..), also, my eyesight has changed. When I do paint, it is larger figures and command types.

If I don't paint theme they're not my army.

I paint to hide from my family and avoid responsibility. I hear the wife pounding around upstairs and hope she doesn't come down looking for me. Good thing she thinks the basement is too gross to enter unless it's an emmergancy.

I'm a former jeweler and avid scratch builder, so I like taking the time to re-pose figures and do conversions. I wargame but enjoy creating armies more than playing with them.

For me painting is a necessary evil. I have used painting services, and have bought figs already painted, too; but the vast majority of my collection I have painted myself, slowly and painfully. Too many projects, too short attention span!

Most of the gamers around here just play with naked lead, by the way.