My First Mini and Questions

[Gutem]

Hi everyone,

This is my first mini I have posted to the site and I am wondering if anyone could help me with a simple question. If I were to put it up on ebay or similar site how much should I even start bidding at?

Also, any direction on how to improve the painting or even a program to edit photos so I can put more than one up at a time would be awsome.

Lost of questions I know

Thanks for reading

http://www.coolminiornot.com/288279

 

[Bloodhowl]

If I were ever good enough to sell my stuff, I would list the minimum bid as the cost of the model + 35-50% for the work put into it. That should be enough to cover any materials (paint, putty, glue) and give you a decent return for the work. Once you build your reputation and become established you can increase the percentage for a bigger profit.

 

[me_in_japan]

Welcome to the site! Asking for help here is definitely a good idea. There are loads of really helpful folk around, and they know what theyre talking about too, believe you me. (apart from me. I talk outta my arse quite a lot )

So - your questions:

GIMP is decent free software for editing/stitching photos together into montages (<--is that even a word?). As for improving the look of your mini, the first thing I would recommend is stopping the light source from shining directly onto it - it washes out the colour and projects a strong shadow onto the backdrop. Get a couple of pieces of paper and reflect the light that way (i.e. light source-->paper(reflect)-->miniature), or get a cheap white T-shirt and spread it over your light source (be careful with heat! don't set it on fire! If you can, build a wee frame and stretch the white material over it, then shine the light through that. Or, simplest option: buy a light booth. They aint too pricey.)

Anyway - some soft, indirect light will help a lot. Set your camera to a slower shutter speed (this reduces the amount of light you need), and use a tripod (or at least a pile of books ). It's also worth printing off a nice mottled/cloudy backdrop in an appropriately dark/neutral shade. I did this for the first time last week and it helped a lot. A lesson I learned the hard way is: in your photo software, bump the contrast up a bit. It's v hard to get an exact match for how the mini really looks and how it looks in a pic, and higher contrast helps things stand out. Again, I discovered this last week. (er...everybody told me so. I hadnt noticed, myself...)

As for ebay prices: sorry, cant help you there. I'm sure others can advise, though

So, good luck in your endeavours, and I hope you make a big chunky sale on your dark elf dragon chappy

 

[jcichon]

Generally you will rarely get out of it what you put into it. You can basically look at taking the price you paid for the kit and double it. There are LOTS of people who list their really badly painted minis on ebay for ridiculous amounts of money and get ZERO bites. True, you dont get paid for the work you put into the kit but you get the practice and you get your name out there. I sell my kits on ebay for double what I paid for the kit and they usually always sell. I look at it as I get the money back for the kit plus supplies and I get more practice to paint! If you are really interested in selling painted kits on ebay, sell whats popular. Space marines, the new Ogre kingdome stuff, whatever the flavor of the month is. I dont game so I just ask my local retailer whats hot right now and buy the single figure and do it up and they almost always sell. Hope this helps!