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Hey everyone,

I am just curious what people normally charge to paint figures.

I looked online and I saw between $5 and $12 per standard figure ( a typical space marine with basic colors to Eldar with a 5-6 colors) and $18-22 for larger tanks / flying things

is this about right? I am just curious because I have been painting them a long time and would like to offer my services as a side hobby and just don't want to over charge.

It varies a LOT. The higher quality work can demand...well, silly amounts of money for a single piece. From my experience, your standard figure price is correct. Something like a Land Raider, even at tabletop, can be closer to $40.

Centerpiece level paintjobs (Golden Daemon, etc.) can sell for huge amounts. There was an advertiser on here in the past that was outrageously expensive, but he did terrific work and apparently people were willing to pay it (something like 2-3k for an army, IIRC). If you ask nicely, I imagine some of the painting services that advertise here might be willing to give you ballpark figures on what they charge.

Turnaround time is something I have seen kill off a lot of painting services. You need to be honest with yourself and your customers about how fast you can get the job done. If you say 1 week, it needs to be 1 week. I have dealt with 2 different painting services that promised 2 weeks and it ended up being 3 months each. I will never use them again, and have told every hobbyist I know to do the same. Stuff comes up, sure, but a string of lies and excuses quickly gets old. If something drastic occurs, let your customer know and give them options (returning, discount, etc.).

Hey,

Thanks for the reply. I'll post some pics later and you can tell me what you think.

Thanks again.

Keep in mind quality is subjective as with all art. Most people will expect at least a soft seven on a scale of one to ten, so you have to ask yourself "can I really produce this quality at this speed?"

If the answer is yes then you should start like all businesses start: 1. Figure out your overhead per mini 2 . Figure out how long it takes you to do a single mini 3. Determine what you want to be paid per hour for your time 4. Divide one into the other and add your overhead now you have a price per mini. Voila, business plan.

Doctari wrote:Keep in mind quality is subjective as with all art. Most people will expect at least a soft seven on a scale of one to ten, so you have to ask yourself "can I really produce this quality at this speed?"

Completely agree to this. Also techniques used on your mini's that make them stand out from one person to another, like blending techniques or layering style. What can you bring to my mini that another already established business cannot? I enjoy painting in my spare time, as I find most hobbyists do, you need to realize your market is fairly limited to the people who either don't have the time or wish not to waste their time and because of this you have a lot of competition against already established companies that have the marketing through word of mouth or anything else.

That being said, after looking at about 15 or so different painting services online (through Google, here and Kijiji/Craigslist) your prices are fairly accurate on models depending obviously on the type of quality they would fall under.

Hope all works out for you!

Admin Edit.

Before this thread gets out of hand and any warnings get handed out, let me put this reminder here:

For the benefit of our paying advertisers, our rules explicitly prohibit non-advertisers from advertising their services. This includes things such as mentioning that they paint for commission, responding to ads posted by other members who are looking for painters, posting links to commission/commercial auctions on eBay, linking to off-site ads where they offer commission painting and/or outright offering to paint for trade or sale.

If you are interested in becoming an Advertiser, we offer excellent benefits at an inexpensive cost. I would be more than happy to discuss terms with you. Just shoot me a PM.

For the record, this forum is an acceptable place to discuss the general topic of commission painting & what common, average and acceptable costs are, provided nobody in the thread breaks site rules by directly or indirectly advertising their own painting services or those of any non Bartertowner.

To clarify: You can DISCUSS or MENTION any commission painter/service, whether or not they are advertisers. You may not provide links to their site if they are not advertisers.

Thanks.

Eric