D&D minis - how are they painted

[Khayman]

Everything I've read points to hand-painting on an assembly line. Base coats might be applied mechanically, but the process as described involves people painting by hand. That may sound labour-intensive, but it explains some of the variation seen in paint jobs done on different examples of the same miniature. My understanding is that WizKids uses a similar procedure.

Anyone looking for Wizards' take on the manufacturing process can glean details on Merric's site, and on corporate reponsibility from Rob Heinsoo's comments on the Wizards boards.

Again, sorry to open my yap.

 

[painandgreed]

I know one of the guys that does the painting of the master figures so I've heard somethng about it (but it was awhile back). The raw minis are given to various professional painters here in the US. They paint the masters that are used for any ads or displays and the painting guides for the produciton models. When the finished mini is OK'd it is turned into a painting guide that is separted into a certain number of "stops" (IIRC) or step in the painting process. Each step is one guy painting one thing (or a group of similar things of same color on one side of the mini). The rarity of the mini determiens how many "stops" the mini is allowed. Commons may not get too many while rares are allowed more. So on a hypothetical mini, the first guy gets it and paints the brown clothes. the second guy paints the green boots. The third guy paints the gold belt. The fifth guy paints the silver sword. The sixth guy does the flesh tone face. The next guy does the hair and the final guy dots the eyes and you have a finished mini. Of course, much of the painting done on the masters gets reduced or dropped completly especially for common minis despite the actual complexity of the mini.

 

[MojoGM]

In Soviet Russia, miniatures paint you!

 

[nato9]

The suggestion these things are painted by hand is not one I am prepared to accept without confirmation of that by WotC.

I expect they are machine painted.

Wow. No offense, but you and the OP are incredibly naive on this topic.

 

[MojoGM]

Wow. No offense, but you and the OP are incredibly naive on this topic.

yeah, no offense...

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I just read that they are painted by genetically engineered midgets with only half a brain and one arm that ends in a brush. And they are beaten hourly.

 

[Quasqueton]

Wow. No offense, but you and the OP are incredibly naive on this topic.

For me (the OP), I'm not naive, I'm just completely ignorant of the topic. Hence why I asked the question.

I notice you've not offered any knowledge on the subject. Have any?

Quasqueton

 

[MojoGM]

I heard a rumor that the Keebler Elves have the contract, but THEY farm it out to the smurfs and get this....they pay them in cookies!

Those Keebler elves are shrewd S.O.B.'s

 

[satori01]

You might be surprised by that. In California and other areas where illegals are common, low wage jobs are the average, not the exception.

I'm not sure what you mean by that?. Minimum wage in California is one of the highest in the nation. In a nation where Wallmart and McDonald's are the largest employers, it doesnt matter where you live you are talking about minimum wage jobs be the most prevalent, I am not making any normative evaluation when stating that, just pointing out the logical.

Perhaps I am being sensitive but the way you phrased "illegals" just strikes a nerve with me, people out here in Los Angeles generaly dont use the term "ilegals" unless they are speaking prejudicialy about a group of people. I am assuming I am having a regional dialect reaction seeing as you look to be from IL.

As an aside, Henry, while I respect the ENWorld policy of no politics, I think it is a viable topic of conversation for this board to wonder about the working condittions and methods of construction for products that many of us buy. We have threads all the time on the buisness model of RPG shops and discusions about binding of books and so forth.

I know human rights can be a polizarizing topic, but I can not think we can ban discussion of possible concerns simply because things might get ugly. We certainly did not ban discussion on the Book of Erotic Fantasy (or whatever it was called), nor I imagine if WOTC announced a special edition MM1 bound in Panda fur, with a Condor Talon clasp, and human skin pages would we ban discusion on that

 

[nyrfherdr]

Henry didn't suggest banning discussion.
Henry is asking that we be careful of our choice of words and any assumptions we might make without facts.

His example was appropriate. Wizards of the Coast uses people to hand paint mini's. These people are in China.
I don't think anyone has any particular knowledge of the working conditions of the Wizards employees in China (I haven't read the links presented a few posts ago.)

Feel free to discuss, but be careful. These topics can degrade very quickly.

Just supporting Henry's advice.
(I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes.)

Game ON!
Nyrfherdr