So you want to start commission painting?
Guess who's back...back again!
I know I've said that a few times back over this year, but for my own sake and how much I miss putting my thoughts to words and sharing them with you readers; I'm going to take some of my advice. Putting time to write in my calendar, just like I would with commission projects, private teaching sessions, filming tutorials etc. What I want to share with you on the topic of Miniature Painting is on the professional side of being an artist and to help anyone thinking of taking up this career path as a sort of guide and help you on the right footing. Share with you some pitfalls, things to look out for, and of course things that will help you see some success.
Let's start with commission painting, and the first thing many people think of at the start is getting clients! Because you simply can't be or call yourself a commission painter without a client or two to exchange that cash for some painted miniatures. But before we just jump into clients, I think it's very healthy and more beneficial to start with yourself to asses everything that's needed to lay a good foundation to build your success.
Your Portfolio
You need people to see your work and social media is a wonderful place to start. I've built my online portfolio through Instagram and have also published them on Facebook, Reddit, my website, Putty n Paint, and the list goes on. But to start I'd focus on a dominant platform you like and take it from there. The key to this is, to keep your portfolio on target and relevant to your work. If you enjoy posting about your friend's night out, gym workouts, awesome dogs or reposting memes out of context of your "painting work"; I suggest you start a second account focused on your Miniature Painting so you maximize your audience and keep the message clear. If you are in your early stages of followers don't stress about it! I can write a whole article about Social Media, but for this article keep it simple and focus on your work. Consistency of your work is key and share your process throughout your projects. In time you will gain more followers which starts slowly at first and then will pick up.
Show your Work
This is a clutch one and it seems simple enough, but a common shortfall with many I see out there. What I mean by showing your work is sharing the process of how you create your paintings. Except for some extraordinary painters out there with skills beyond the cosmos, it's not enough to capture followers simply by a finished piece with no lead-up content or anything about the artist. Or if you see some wild finished piece it may compel you to click into that profile and go through his history of works to look at and possibly read his posts to get a better picture and understanding of the artist. This is how we build a picture and form relationships with the artist in question. We can get an understanding of what subjects he likes to illustrate, the colours he/she likes to express themselves with, the mood or feelings considered, and possibly outside references that shape the decisions made. Why I say this is that we follow artists because we form common values with them, and like their perspective on subjects. When painting, we are taking ideas in our head from imagination or a myriad of inspirations and references, and applying paint to the model to give a visual rendering of what it looks like to us. Other people viewing our model may like it because they enjoy our rendering and share some common points mentioned above. So the next time we are painting and coming to share them on social media, don't just put in the caption - "WIP of awesome dude, comments welcome." Say or show what you did in more detail. Mention a new technique you've been working on, or what is inspiring you currently. Write about creative challenges or obstacles you've overcome in the process. Anything to show your work and give them a little bit behind the scenes of the process. When relating to your future clients, this gives them a more detailed picture of how you work! Very very important if you want clients that give you creative freedom, you need to show your creative process and have them convinced that you can execute an idea and see it through till the end.
Your Past Work Dictates Future Clients.
Have you painted several Plague Marine Nurgle armies and wondered why you keep getting more commissions for that exact thing? It's because your past work attracts more of the same work! And the same also goes for wanting to get commissions for (x) Model or Army. You need to show your audience that you do that sort of painting whether it's fantasy, sci-fi, big creatures, tanks, single miniatures, squads, or armies. And this transitions into asking yourself what kind of work you want to be hired for. If your work shows you continue to batch-paint big quantities of models making up an entire army, chances are future clients are going to be looking at you to do it. Or if you enjoy single character models or bespoke units like myself, then I make sure that gets emphasis and my audience sees that. I rarely ever get a commission request for an entire army, because my body of work doesn't show that. Rather the armies I paint are all in a slow build process of a single unit at a time that is in the 40+ Hour range per unit. Making this choice has a larger choice in simply what I enjoy creating, and how I choose to express myself in my work. Very early in your commission career, you may want to grab every commission job offered regardless of the subject or quantity. It's exciting and you just Wana say yes to everything! Better before that happens is knowing more about yourself and figuring out what types of projects make you happy, where you can put your best work forward, and be proud of it at the end. That stuff shows in your paintings and leads to a healthier painting career. If you hate army batch wash painting but are offered to you, turn it down. The best thing you can do is be polite, decline the offer, and maybe even give him a reference to a painter you know would be the right fit. Or even sell your service to his character models if that's what you can do for him. In the end, being a commission painter is being in service to the clients; looking out for them does great for that community, which in turn fuels our community.
Getting a Yes from your first clients, and saying No to others.
Starting from zero is always a daunting task and getting that ball rolling is never easy. Luckily some strategies can help you get off to a positive start. First off is knowing who your target audience is, and let's skip past the obvious of Miniature gamers. Taking a look at what you want to be painting and doing some research into where those communities reside is a good first step to finding clients. Remember we are looking for collectors and gamers (for GW games and related tabletop miniature games) people that want things painted for them, and less of people that love to paint. I wouldn't ignore those groups because there tends to be some overlap, but the odds aren't always there. If you have been showing your work, being consistent with your postings and engaging the community in which you want to be active and genuinely interested. Showing and telling your community that you are looking at taking on your first commission is always a good idea. By doing those things above, you may convince someone out there that you have great working ideas, and by showing your work that you are the safer option. Trust is a big thing when it comes to commission painting; they need to align with your work and can see with their hard-earned dollar that they will get in return a painted miniature from you all before the job is complete. That's why honesty is a big thing, be open about your work and be prepared to have what a project funnel looks like. A project funnel can look something like this.
1) Project scope of models that require paint and creative assets.
2) Budget of the client and reflection of estimated time needed from you to complete.
3) Working creative contract (optional)
4) Invoice and payment options (Deposit, shipping, payment dates, change orders, etc.)
5) Schedule updates if any.
6) Painting complete, tracking number.
This is a brief list, but the idea here is to get a working project funnel that you can tell the client that instils comfort in working with you and there is a roadmap that both understand. You can get into details on deposits, refund policies, change orders, further creative development and all that jazz too. But it keeps things professional and doesn't make it a rag-tag operation that all too often I've heard of disaster on either side. Worse is if you haven't laid out a creative brief and have given a term of completion you can get sucked into a job that extends way past the hours budgeted and leaves you fronting the bill. You then abandon commission painting and worse can leave you with a bad reputation in the community you worked so hard to be a part of.
The other part is about saying "No" to certain clients and not taking the bait of the point of begging for your first clients. By laying out your Project Funnel and being clear on how you work, there will be clients who don't want that at all. From not willing to put a deposit down to not coming to a clear agreement on the creative brief and completion terms. Or even trying to give you a job that might be too big to start with; I'm looking at those fully painted army jobs. And anything that raised red flags in your gut, I would say No. There is no sense in wasting time on clients like that, and they will be a money pit to you and your future as a commission painter. If the job is too big, you can do what I do, ask for a single unit to do first. Say that it's our first time working together and I think it would be beneficial if we start smaller. By taking this route, I can work out a better and more efficient paint scheme that can be done through your whole army. Giving me a more accurate estimate, which leads to better value for both of us. It's all wins with that kind of pitch, and you avoid shooting yourself in the foot by underestimating. For more billing help I can write a whole other post just on that alone, and for all the other topics related too!
I hope this post gives you some overview of things to consider getting into commission painting, or if you are already taking in work. Referencing some of these ideas with how you work and see some opportunities to how it can improve your business. Keep being creative, push your painting boundaries to new heights and hopefully make some of your future or current clients happy with your work!