Freelance advice

[Advocate]

I do not know if this topic has been covered elsewhere on the forums, if so could you please direct me there.

My wife and I are interested and very keen to make a go at starting our own painting enterprise. However, after having looked at the stiff competition in the market, we are a little uncertain how to start.

what first steps should we take? do we just plunk mini\'s on ebay and hope for the best (until we can afford to pay for our own website) or is there some other way?

any advice is welcome.

 

[Propaintjob]

well, there may be better, more effective ways but this is how I went about it.

Sell painted items on ebay
Setup website
Sell more painted mini\'s on ebay, with a link to website on item description
Post minis on CMON
Register at TMP
Blatantly flaunt services through any media available
Draw up Terms and Conditions

The last one I should have done first and learned this by getting stiffed a couple of times lol

 

[Gelflin]

Hey Propaintjob, Thanks for the reply to this thread (I am answering for my other half, he is involved with his xbox at the moment) I am currently looking in to the ebay thing, all my minis that I have on CMON I want to sell. I am just nervous about doing so. Wish I could get better pics. While I am not confident on my painting the minis do look better than in the photos. Still learning to use the damn camera! I mainly want to freelance because I have a young son, I would rather spend time being a mother than going back to my old job (I used to be a marketing manager, very time consuming) I hope that I have what it takes, I paint fairly quickly (when I get peace and quiet from my near 4 year old anyway) Is this a useful skill I assume it is?

 

[Sturmhalo]

Ebay\'s a good place to start. It should help you get something of a name and reputation. Of course, link all your auctions to CMON as well. Good idea to become a known name on CMON too. Get involved with the community. Put yourself about on other sites too. Eventually you might start to pick up commissions. These are far more valuable to you than any other source of income!

Happy painting.

 

[Propaintjob]

The single biggest thing that will hold back any income you might receive from painting is how fast you can paint to the standard acceptable to your clients.

For army painting I find it hard to \'draw the line\' on standard, I always want to paint everything to the best of my ability but it would be uneconomical to do so. For general army painting I have a benchmark standard which I have to stick to, otherwise the time invested far outweighs the return. That can be really difficult to stick to but you have to be disciplined enough to do it.

I find the best way is to offer several standards, with a cost comparable to each, then the client chooses which standard his/her mini/unit/army is painted to.

I only got into all this in March of this year, and I have several clients who give me regular army work and some who send money each month as a kind of retainer payment, they keep their account in credit and any work they want done is deducted from that. Still working at moving on to commissions only (ie best standard), but I guess that will come with time

Hope that helps

 

[james9487]

Pretty much what they said is good advice. A good thing to do is paint maybe one figure in several different categories, such as a Tyranid Hive Tyrant, a Space Marine Squad, and a few other categories in Warhammer and then sell them on ebay advertising your commission work. Have an about me page also.

 

[Gelflin]

Thank you all for your advice, We are taking it all in to consideration. Still very nervous though... *chews on paintbrush*

 

[douglasgreen]

I just checked out your gallery,and it\'s lookin\' good.You shouldn\'t have any problems selling,I\'d certainately shell out.Good luck in your endeavours,have fun in P\'borolol(Don one-Solo mafia)

 

[LavronYor]

where

Here are my two scents.( stinky and very stinky)BTW, where are you?
First, if you are not already,get your ebay rating up. The best and cheapest way is to be a good buyer. Find at least ten inexpensive items and win the auctions. Dutch auction items are great for this. Dutch is where the seller has more than one of the item. Then, Pay very fast, preferably with your Paypal account which you should have also. Then when you get your items, give good feedback and request it from the seller. Do everything in your power to avoid a negative feedback, even if the other person is a total jerk. When you do start selling on Ebay, always reserve the right to not sell to anyone with negative feedback. I know it may sound harsh, but protect yourself. This all may take a month or two, or more. Be patient. To increase your exposure, enter painting competitions online, and study the photo articles so your entries reflect your painting. CMON has a contest mini out and you should enter. Also, Golden Toadstools are every month and another great way to learn and be seen. Also, Golden Demon winners also make more per figure than non winners. AS do CMON 8s and higher. Plus, characters and commanders as well as big monsters sell better. Get really good at one type before spreading out. Look at Mahazel\'s Demon Princes for an example. I guess that that is more than two cents worth, but I hope it helps. Good luck.

 

[Gelflin]

Okay I am starting to write up a nice action plan for all this, photography is a problem. We have a really good camera have started to set up a studio have read all the photography articles and so on. We are also getting a top spec pc and programs, the list goes on......... But I still have a problem with taking the pics!!

On a couple of my minis I certainly look at them and in comparison to some of the 8 rated minis feel they are worthy of a 8 rating, of course the camera takes one look at them and decides *Im not in a picture taking mood* Damn tempremental git!! Sorry.

Thanks for the tips on ratings for ebay, it is something that we were unsure of, and thanks for the vote of confidence douglas green!

Okay so far it looks like ebay is the best bet, Does anyone know what they charge as reading it is a little confusing. I assume they take a profit and charge for pics and extra advertising?

 

[MalleusMiniArt]

a couple of things I could add:
1. remember to give an auction a good title. lots of people use serach engine to find items, so you should include as much information as possible to increase your chance of displaying on serach results. notify buyers that it is painted, item name, manufacturer, game the mini is designed for etc.
2. try to avoid phrase \"pro painted\" . lots of people are selling average or below average minis saying that they are indeed pro painted
3. always add muliple views of the mini
4. enter painting competitions, try to learn from the other people
5. don`t be disappointed if your minis don`t reach desired prices at first. this will change with time
6. be fair with your customers. always ship your items as soon as possible

...........

 

[Calavera]

Sound like you have a good plan, but might have to put a few extra bucks in photo equipment, some 3 strong lamps with good bulbs and make a light tent(not too hard, search it up in the forums) and figure out the controls of the camera(what are you using btw) I think good photos are a part of success(see Jarret Lee for example)

I recon it would be good to paint all the hot, new stuff.. like the new Space Marines when they come out and new stuff.

 

[DennisMech]

Off topic but...

Gelflin, judging by your name and avatar you\'re also a fan of the Dark Crystal. Great movie that, Jim Henson\'s best stuff if you ask me

 

[provoke_me]

hurray!

james is alive! and jim henson is coolio!
umm...i cant help with this selling of the goods...
nor can i buy the goods...i have *opens wallet* ten cents

 

[LavronYor]

First, Calavera, reckon, to think, recon, to go out and find where the enemy is. Sorry, some part of me couldn\'t resist.

Second, I agree with Malleus on good name for auction,try to research your item and see how others listed it.I disagree on Pro painted. Although many don\'t deserve to be called Pro painted, por painted would be right for some, many people search only for pro painted to avoid amatuer paint jobs. I have used pro in the title, but in the description, I say painted to a pro level.
And Calavera brings up a very good point. The newest stuff usually has the most interest. This summer Belakor was very hot and so was St. Celestine. In the spring, Pegasus knights were hot, ask Malleus, some of their stuff was awesome, and still is. Now, marine characters and Librarians in particular seem to be doing well with the release of Battle for MacDonalds um Maccragge (Calavera, here is your chance for payback) not to mention everyone wanting to paint like Cyril and CommanderY.

 

[Calavera]

There\'s only one c in Macragge.. Whooo !

And damn, recon.. heehee. Thanks for letting me know, i\'ll remember it.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by Gelflin

Okay so far it looks like ebay is the best bet, Does anyone know what they charge as reading it is a little confusing. I assume they take a profit and charge for pics and extra advertising?

You pay for listing your item and for selling it! Prices vary according to how you list it and how much it sells for. Not sure if you\'re UK or US, but in the UK I\'ve listed minis for around £1.50. Final sale fees in the UK are 5.25% of the first £0 - £29.99 that your item sells for. Any profit of £30 + you pay 3.25% on.

 

[Gelflin]

Dennismech, Yes I am named gelflin due to dark crystal. I loved the film till everyone said I looked like a gelflin. It is my permanent nickname. If you want to see why you can check out my pic (and my husbands hehe) on the PYP thread. I agree about the pro painted thing although wouldnt class myself as a pro painter. I just want to freelance, of course living where there is no independant stockists has now started me and my better half off into thinking about opening a store. Where I could freelance from, while also providing good minis to the uneducated locals, as well as all the wonderful products that all gamers need and want. See where this all leads.......

Anyway thank you for all the advice (keep it coming! ) It is nice to know that it can be done.

Sturmhalo, thanks for the idea of cost, we live in the UK by the way. It is not as bad as I thought it might be. Also what would you suggest, auction, or setting a reserve figure?

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by Gelflin
Sturmhalo, thanks for the idea of cost, we live in the UK by the way. It is not as bad as I thought it might be. Also what would you suggest, auction, or setting a reserve figure?

Go for auction, but set a reserve all the same. It\'ll cost you a bit more to use the reserve but you\'ll be able to start your auction off at a temptingly low price whilst having the security of your reserve.

 

[Gelflin]

Okay, so auction on ebay with a reserve price, with a good all inclusive name. What would you say is a good reserve price (mini dependant obviously). We have a local store that does some card games and some rpg stuff (not a good stockist of much really) we asked if they would be prepared to let us sell the painted minis through them and they agreed (need to sit down and discuss this better with them) However they want 25% of final sale!! what do you think? Remembering that I dont know what the demand is in Peterborough for painted minis, we do have a GW but I am certainly not about to go and ask them!