The H Man | 27 Jan 2018 11:36 p.m. PST |
I was just wondering what is the cheapest paint job people have done or have had done. I offer $1 USDAUS per figure jobs. Granted, you get what you pay for, but I still wonder if I am not just plain nuts in offering it! What's the cheapest job you may have done in the past, or have had done for you? Has it been worth the bother? I feel there should be an option available for all budgets, and some people just don't have the money for more expensive paint jobs and should still be able to get their figures painted, if they can't do it for themselves. Also for grunts and board game masses higher standards can be both cost prohibitive and not really necessary. Thoughts? |
Editor in Chief Bill | 28 Jan 2018 12:02 a.m. PST |
…but I still wonder if I am not just plain nuts in offering it! Maybe it is like doctors that offer some percentage of their work for charity patients? |
JimSelzer | 28 Jan 2018 2:22 a.m. PST |
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Project Vehemence | 28 Jan 2018 2:24 a.m. PST |
Here in the UK, the National Minimum wage is £7.50 GBP. In my work of painting I aim for £8.00 GBP, with the extra that builds up used for photo time, and time taken to wrap the models for postage. If we are taking 28mm, then I can speed paint most at 15-20mins. So we are talking £2.50 GBPish per mini, else I may as well be stacking shelves in a supermarket to pay my bills. The trouble then becomes keeping the speed constant. Its a very tough slog to keep speed painting for 6-8hrs! I love painting, I love what I do. I am proud that I have built up my own business from scratch. For me those type of commissions are often not worth the stress which diminishes my passion for the work. Chris My website - marchingincolour.blogspot.co.uk My Facebook page link |
The H Man | 28 Jan 2018 3:31 a.m. PST |
link The last pic of the napoleonic soldiers. They were, 54mm, so I charged $2 USDAUS, but show a similar standard, ignore the odd bases, as the chap based them later himself. There is the choice between a few neatly applied colours or more colours, being more speedily applied (The napoleonics being the later) . That way your not trying to do a top notch paint job for cheap, as that could only end badly. I always seem to end up doing a bit of charity on most orders, mostly by charging less than I should. I always put myself in the clients shoes when pricing. Bad business maybe, but no one has complained thus far. Also remember these people are often gamers who play socially and have friends who may have figures that need to be painted, perhaps with more money available for them to do so. Karma. |
Idaho Wargamer | 28 Jan 2018 6:32 a.m. PST |
I think those look really good and I applaud you for your consideration of others. As you say, not the best from a purely profit/business aspect, but your efforts are getting more painted minis out in the world to game with and that's always a good thing. As for price, I had a whole WH Fantasy Dwarven army painted by a local fellow for $2 USD a mini. He had a night watchmen job and could paint between doing rounds, so he wasn't asking top dollar, it was something to help him pass the night as much as anything. It was descent job, just base colors, no shading other than a quick ink wash at end. He didn't paint areas you can't see when they're down on the table and that made me grimace a bit at first, but when they are down on the table ranked up they look absolutely fine. So ya, others are painting for similar prices but not when it has to be main source of income. And I hope Karma does reward your generosity. |
whitphoto | 28 Jan 2018 8:27 a.m. PST |
My best friend was reluctant to get back into wargaming, so I offered to paint his 28mm armies for $2.50 USD a figure. I do a real solid tabletop standard job after assembling them and he loves it, gets lots of compliments. I'm not particularly quick, but I get them done quick enough to get some games in with him and it's a great way for us to get together as we're getting older and family's and careers get in the way of hanging out. |
korsun0 | 28 Jan 2018 9:12 a.m. PST |
A dollar a figure is damn cheap, what scales do you do? The pics on your ad show some nice stuff, and if I didnt know how much you charged I would certainly not have guessed at a buck each. Do you have an email or prefer the contact through the link? Cheers Jon |
Extra Crispy | 28 Jan 2018 9:50 a.m. PST |
The cheapest I ever paid was $0.75 USD for 15mm figures. These were Civil War so very simple uniforms. The paint job was neat (coloring inside the lines) with no shading and minimal detail. Faces were flesh with a wash. Bases were painted and I did the final basing myself. If you paint 25mm for a buck, I have some figures to send you! |
Timmo uk | 28 Jan 2018 11:52 a.m. PST |
I have some 28mm AWI plastics kicking around here. I use them as my crash test dummies for checking that a batch of doctored matt varnish is drying really matt. I've quickly covered these in wet blended brown /dark brown kind of colours. Other than dabbing in a monotone face and the backs of the hands that was all I did to them to test my varnish on. Then a thought struck me – they actually wouldn't look that bad on the table based tight so they were a dark mass. Other than assembly they would be so fast to do and wouldn't need varnish as it would be so simple to touch in bare spots. Painting time per figure – ten minutes tops! Drop down to 15/10/6mm and the technique would work better and change period and it could work even batter to depict dark rabbles. I therefore concluded that I spend far too much time painting every last button on my figures, except I enjoy that. However, if you didn't then why not paint an entire army as an impression, if the period or troop type means they were a rabble, paint them as such. The cheapest paint job I've ever done for somebody was £6.00 GBP about ten years ago. |
robert piepenbrink | 28 Jan 2018 4:55 p.m. PST |
A figure for a figure, but a long time ago. Dollars were so different then that the money would be meaningless. |
New Jersey Devil | 28 Jan 2018 6:16 p.m. PST |
I use a young lady in PA. Her name is Shirley, and She has painted almost 1,000 15mm and 28mm figures. I am somewhat on a budget, and the good thing about this young lady(I have no idea how old she is…)is she works within my budget. I can't say a bad word about her or her service. If you'd like, I think I can PM her email… |
The H Man | 29 Jan 2018 12:41 a.m. PST |
Speaking of such I hope to be supporting soon, so TMP messaging should become an option. For now I can be contacted through gumtree. If your ok giving an email on tmp, I can get back to you that way also, as another option.
Jon and extra crispy. The last pic of the napoleonic figures is closest to my $1 USDAUS job (they were 54mm, so $2 USDAUS each). The other figures in the pics were at higher prices $10 USDAUS+. I paint anything, any scale. 28mm is the bulk of it, but have done 2mm-54mm, even larger and most scales in between. |
korsun0 | 29 Jan 2018 8:19 a.m. PST |
Sure mate, my email is: my tmp username at yahoo com au Cheers Jon |
Ironwolf | 29 Jan 2018 3:48 p.m. PST |
I forsee a lot a new painted miniatures hitting the gaming table in the near future! lol |
The H Man | 29 Jan 2018 4:00 p.m. PST |
No problem. A message should be on its way. |
New Jersey Devil | 29 Jan 2018 5:14 p.m. PST |
I believe Mark(extra crispy) uses Shirley, too.(that did'nt sound right…) Mark? At any rate, she can be contacted at: shirley1@aol.com |
R Lee S | 31 Jan 2018 5:53 p.m. PST |
I was hoping to get in contact with Shirly but that email dosn't work |