Cultist and Commisions

Recently I asked a friend if he would front the funds to get his cultist painted. I wanted to run a test of sorts. The test was, can I speed paint a bunch of troops for real cheap? So he paid for the materials and I got to work, I figured his cultist would be the perfect opportunity to learn how fast I could actually get this done and to test out that Army Painter Shader. Also, my friend got quite a steal!!! =) Turns out, models to this level can be done fairly quick and the shader works for this level of quality. I'd say for table top, this is pretty good. I'd field this!

It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that. What you're probably thinking is "70 models wasn't easy, of course not, that's a lot of models Greg!" ... No, that wasn't the "It wasn't easy" part. It's harder to paint with less attention to detail is what I meant. Speed painting is tough. You basically pick the colors and do as little as possible to get the most out of it. That's what I did with these guys. I got it down to about 10 models every 5 to 6 hours. That's pretty good I think, and these didn't come out too shabby for that amount of work. I could maybe do it faster. The reason I say 10 models every 5 to 6 hours is because I did them in batches of 10. I prefer thinking of models in batches rather than per model. So I guess you can say I was doing 1 model every 30 minutes.

Something I learned is that when doing models EN MASS like this, you really should organize them. What I mean is, pull out all the models that are similar and paint them at the same time. Assembly line model painting can be tedious and becomes a ritual, and when every model you pick up is different, there is more room for error. As I found out, I'd forget to apply paint to certain details like swords or tabards. So organize your models if you can and paint as many similar things as possible in a batch. It should help keep you error free.

I also learned that while the Army Painter Shader is awesome, there is still room for some dry brushing. I didn't dry brush everything, but I definitely did it for the darker portions of the model and felt that was needed to help make the model pop. I also discovered with the Army Painter Barbarian Flesh base spray, that the browns turned out really well if I painted them thin and let the pink show through in some places. It helped give highlights where needed.

So, commissions. I've been considering it. I've been looking around at a lot of sites and with the help of friends I've found a few suggestions. I'm honestly a bit terrified of it, but the web pages say that's a good thing too! I'm going to look into an electronic form of sorts soon perhaps, and from there I'll start accepting commissions. Now, the tough part with art and commissions is finding a price point that people are willing to pay to get their models painted. Let's take the above example of 10 models every 5 hours. I want to charge between 7 dollars per model at this quality level. That does put it at roughly 14 dollars an hour of my time when I'm being most efficient and it did take me 2 weeks to complete the task. Though understand that for this paint job specifically, I spent about 60 dollars to accomplish it and that doesn't include paint cost. Of course if model complexity goes up, I'll ask for more. It just depends. I was thinking between 5 and 10 dollars per model based on complexity. These guys had a lot of different colors so I'd put them in the middle. I'll probably charge an extra 2 dollars per model if I need to assemble them, and a dollar more if you want painted sand/rocks on the base.

This isn't what I'd like to be doing though, not entirely. I think what I'd rather be doing are characters, pieces that take time and should look really good. That and vehicles, or monsters, or hell if you want a really cool piece for your desk? That too. These of course, get pricier.

+10 dollars for iris! (kidding)

Something like these guy will likely cost somewhere between 35 and 45 dollars + model cost. I tend to spend most of a day to finish a single model to this quality. It takes time. The variable comes based on complexity of course, and what you're asking me to do and what extra bits I might need if they don't come in the box.

Airbrushed, dry brushed, detailed and magnetized.

And then there are vehicles. These are by far more time consuming and complex, taking a few days to complete. Especially if you want magnets, which I may not agree to right away. Depending on the model, I may ask anywhere between 50 to 100 dollars + model cost for this. [The land raider definitely being close to 100! Tau Devilfish probably more around 60 or 70.]

It should also be noted that I paint the model as is. I want to experiment with damage, wear and tear, things like that, but I'm not confident enough to actually be paid to do that yet. I'm more than willing to design extensive bases though, and so some limited conversion work, it's just stuff that needs to be talked out ahead of time to figure out what I'm confident with or not.

Again, I stress, you're paying for art here. Not only are you paying for art, it is a unique piece of art. As unique as canvased paintings. This isn't digital, I can't make prints of these things, they have to be assembled and painted one at a time the hard way, and once they go out the door that's it. The next one I paint, even if its the same colors, will not be the same. That is why the price is high! It takes time, my valuable time. If this is unsettling or if you think it may be too high, then you may want to get the tools and the paints yourself and give it a try to see what you come up with.

With that said though, I'm open to your thoughts. What are your price points? What have you seen out on the internet? Please provide examples of art and the price if you have them. I'm really curious to know.

What 70 cultists looks like!