Painting for commission.

[Primarch]

Without meaning to sound negative, if you dont want to paint your own armies, why would you want to paint for money?
As someone who doesn't enjoy the painting aspect as much as other parts of the hobby, I find it hard to stay motivated, especially when faced with models I am not interested in. Sometimes I can look at a model and I can picture exactly where the paint needs to go. At other times, the model just doesn't 'click' with me and painting it is a chore. At the end of the day, this is my hobby and I think that doing it as a job would have an impact on how much I enjoyed it.
That is just me though, other people will obviously view things in a different light depending on what part of the hobby they get the most out of. If anyone did want to set up a painting business I would support them through the site and help out where I could. I do feel that this type of business would be challenging to do in Japan simply because there are not many potential customers locally. It wouldn't be impossible though, I am pretty sure there is a painting company in Hong Kong or Singapore.

I guess that it would be worth doing a test run first though. Paint up some models and see if they will sell on ebay for example. So long as you make enough from your day job, it wouldn't hurt to do this to get some extra pocket money.

[ashmie]

I do want to paint my own armies and I do enjoy painting. This was out of curiosity and more of a time thing. I wanted those Empire done in a hurry all of a sudden and was curious to see how much it would cost. To start a business I wouldn't be the main painter, I'd probably be admin or sales. In fact a good business plan would be to get all the best painters from this site, lock them in a tower, feed them bread and water and make a huge profit from their art. (joke)

I did sell 20 Savage Orcs on ebay already for 100 dollars. That was a bid price I believe not buy it now. Took me a couple of days painting, a few highlights and a bit of shading, grass and rocks for base. Nothing amazing but the buyer was really pleased and recommended me to his mates. Some chap in Spain. It was a one off but it got me thinking how easy it would be to make money with the skills we have developed.
In fact everyone have a go yourself, pick a mini you are happy with but wouldn't mind parting with, just one mini or a unit is enough. Put it on e bay for bids and surprise yourself. You never know you might get a bit of money.

Yes, I think there is a guy in India that has a company and delivers worldwide. You would have to rely on International sales opposed to local ones, but perhaps Ikeda san and the local hobby shops could promote to the players here. Best as a part time venture to start then perhaps. With the Internet though local sales wouldn't be missed if it got known worldwide.

[Admiral-Badruck]

I just want the models if they suck I am not out that much I will do a bit more research and if they do not look good enough I will just paint them up a bit more... I am getting a level 2 paint job because I do not want to do the grunt work... I do not mind getting paid to to the grunt work but if I can get models.. ready to play for the same as models that are in the box I am more than happy to do so...

[Tenorikuma]

I just want the models if they suck I am not out that much I will do a bit more research and if they do not look good enough I will just paint them up a bit more... I am getting a level 2 paint job because I do not want to do the grunt work... I do not mind getting paid to to the grunt work but if I can get models.. ready to play for the same as models that are in the box I am more than happy to do so...

That's not bad thinking, actually. For a bit more than retail cost you get the full army assembled, base coated and painted to playable level, but you can still fix up your favourite models further.

[Spevna]

Final quote $605 USD including shipping Lovely. Stuff current exchange. Would be. ¥47,900

GWJ price ¥45,000

I think my wife will be cool with that.

How does the GWJapan price compare to the likes of Wayland and Maelstrom?

[Primarch]

I just want the models if they suck I am not out that much I will do a bit more research and if they do not look good enough I will just paint them up a bit more... I am getting a level 2 paint job because I do not want to do the grunt work... I do not mind getting paid to to the grunt work but if I can get models.. ready to play for the same as models that are in the box I am more than happy to do so...

That's not bad thinking, actually. For a bit more than retail cost you get the full army assembled, base coated and painted to playable level, but you can still fix up your favourite models further.

Which really goes to show how much GW are hosing their customers on the prices/no foreign suppliers thing.

@Ash - Fair enough mate, I missed the part where you said you wanted them done ASAP.

I had a friend back in the UK who quit his day job to be a full time model painter. He got lots of orders and worked a lot, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough to feed him, his wife and their son or to pay the mortgage off. He wound up opening his own gamestore I believe. Doing it part time would be the best idea as you say, as you would have to be churning out minis in the hundreds to make enough for people to live on.

[Primarch]

Final quote $605 USD including shipping Lovely. Stuff current exchange. Would be. ¥47,900

GWJ price ¥45,000

I think my wife will be cool with that.

How does the GWJapan price compare to the likes of Wayland and Maelstrom?

It doesnt. I can buy a Forge World Landraider cheaper than a regular one in Japan.
E.g. Space Marine Battleforce in Japan = 14000 yen.
Space Marine Battleforce from Maelstrom = 54 pounds (60 RRP)
So GW have their exchange rate set to 233.33 yen to the pound.

So in this case Badruck can get all the models he wants, built, based and painted OR he can pay the same money and get them unbuilt and unassembled. Hmmm, that is a tough choice.

[Spevna]

Final quote $605 USD including shipping Lovely. Stuff current exchange. Would be. ¥47,900

GWJ price ¥45,000

I think my wife will be cool with that.

How does the GWJapan price compare to the likes of Wayland and Maelstrom?

It doesnt. I can buy a Forge World Landraider cheaper than a regular one in Japan.
E.g. Space Marine Battleforce in Japan = 14000 yen.
Space Marine Battleforce from Maelstrom = 54 pounds (60 RRP)
So GW have their exchange rate set to 233.33 yen to the pound.

So in this case Badruck can get all the models he wants, built, based and painted OR he can pay the same money and get them unbuilt and unassembled. Hmmm, that is a tough choice.

So when we compare the painting companies to GWJ, it comes out as being much, much better. But if we compare the painting guys final price to that of the independent retailers, which are of course unpainted, does it still come across as reasonable ?

[Admiral-Badruck]

Ikeda will normally give you a 20% deal but he can only do that some times I am still going to buy from him but I am getting these because of the conversion work they are going to do for me... I did not mention it but I am having them dump $100 USD in to conversions I will get to look at the end result and make a final call on if it is good enough. fingers crossed but it looks like a great deal.

I may have to get some more stuff eventuality...

[Spevna]

When you factor in everything (conversion work,basing, exchange rate) it is pretty good.