What's a fair price to charge to paint Miniatures?

[Sanackranib]

I paint pretty well, as those who have seen my paintjobs know and I have had several people in the past few months want me to paint their PC miniature. I told them $20 for a standard figure or $15 if their is not much detail. obviously larger figures would be more because they are more work and paint. From your expirence is this a good price for a good paintjob and sealer coat?

 

[D'karr]

Take a look at some of the paint jobs on auction sites like eBay. You can then compare your ability to others.

I've seen some minis there go for as much as $85 dollars.

A painted mini with a well worked out base and a coat of sealer seems like a good price at $20. I would say that an average of $20 is fair if you are good. If the miniature requires conversion, then you should adjust your price according to the difficulty of the work.

Any job that requires pinning for stability (large dragons) would easily cost 3 times as much.

I think the best thing you can do is get some well focused and lit digital photos of your work. That way people can gauge what you can offer.

Remember that good is in the "Eye of the Beholder."

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The simple answer is, "What the market will bear." Browsing eBay over many years, I have seen folks pay obscene cash for mediocre paintjobs. Some people have more money than they have time or patience, and they are prepared to PAY for it.

My rule of thumb for a STANDARD/SPEEDPAINT paintjob is to charge what the owner paid for the miniature itself-- but that's for GW pricing, and it is definitely on the low side. Need 10 Space Marines painted? You paid $50 for a squad of 10? Fine, $50 for the paintjob.

However, I am a very fast, competent painter, and I think it's a fair price for the amount of work I personally have to invest. I've never been much of a gouger.

For a single Reaper-style fantasy miniature, painted to a high (if not expert) level of detail, $15-20 seems fair. I suppose an expert paintjob could go 30-40, and if you included sculpting and conversions to personalize the figure to the buyer's character sheet, 50 dollars up to... well, as I said before, "What the market will bear."


Wulf

P.S. If you are as curious to see some of my Speed Painting work as I am to show off, check out these links:

http://www.batreps.com/hive_fleet_project.htm
http://www.batreps.com/auc-bevier.htm

Personal "Speed Paint" Work-- a couple of armies I painted in way too little time to prep for tournaments:

http://www.batreps.com/gbd-sm.htm
http://www.batreps.com/gt-orks.htm

 

[Darius101]

Ebay in my opinion is a bad place to judge what to charge for the figs.
I would say $20 for a decent job is a good price.
I asked some pros what they would charge me and it went by level of detail.

Jen Haley level is $100 + but she rarely does commision work anymore. I have seen her figures go for as much as $500 for a single work.

Other pros will charge around $30 for an ink job and minor detailing and $50-$80 for an award winning level figure with full detail to order. This takes into account the amount of time they will work on the mini to do it right. This was for a 25mm fig and double that for a giant or dragon sized figure.

I usually charge $10-$15 for a speed job (1-2hours) and $25 for a deail job that will take about 4hrs to finish right. And yes I can paint a decent figure in about 30min and get $15-$20 for it but I prefer to take a little more time. I used to blend the paints on the figure itself and they turned out decent..but alas age has made me more patient.
Hope that helps,
Darius

 

[D'karr]

Ebay in my opinion is a bad place to judge what to charge for the figs.

I don't think anyone said go there to judge what to charge for a mini. What was stated was to go there to see where you compare in level of ability.

I've seen some real dogs of a paint job go for very high prices on e-bay.

 

[cerberus2112]

Triple

The standard fee is triple the cost of the miniature, accounting for the cost of the miniature, the cost of resources used to paint it (paint, brushes, primer, sealer), and your time as the talent.

 

[Umbran]

I'll offer up a somewhat dissenting alternative - if painting miniatures is your hobby, you shouldn't charge anything.

If it's your hobby, you'd be painting something anyway, right? If the person you paint for pays for the miniature itself, the other costs (paints and time) are things you'd spend anyhow.

This person is giving you a chance to do something you enjoy more cheaply than you'd normally would, as you'd usually have to pay for the mini out of your own pocket. He's giving you something, and you're gonna make him pay to do it?

 

[Gargoyle]

Why not charge? If he earns a bit of money to buy more mini's and supplies for himself, then his hobby becomes self-supporting. If the customer is happy with the job for the price, then it's a win-win situation.

*looks around at his dozens of unpainted minis and sighs*

 

[Mark]

He's giving you something, and you're gonna make him pay to do it?

Who gets to keep the mini...?

 

[NiTessine]

I'll offer up a somewhat dissenting alternative - if painting miniatures is your hobby, you shouldn't charge anything.

If it's your hobby, you'd be painting something anyway, right? If the person you paint for pays for the miniature itself, the other costs (paints and time) are things you'd spend anyhow.

This person is giving you a chance to do something you enjoy more cheaply than you'd normally would, as you'd usually have to pay for the mini out of your own pocket. He's giving you something, and you're gonna make him pay to do it?

Well, most published authors also enjoy writing, and if they weren't getting paid, would still probably be writing, just as a hobby. And like miniature painters, authors, with a few exceptions, have to have a normal day job to make the ends meet. See where I'm getting at?

That said, I generally get paid in other miniatures, or bitz. If I ever received actual money for a paintjob, I think I'd set the price as the price paid for the miniature.