Plus, if you’ve got a really cool model that is one of a kind and is the figurehead for your entire army, then you might decide that your skills just aren’t enough and you need to get it painted professionally. If this is the case, then you might want to hire a miniature painting service to do all your models for you.
Whether you work with massive fantasy armies and monsters, powered armored space marines and vehicles, or any other combination of minis, you want to display them on the tabletop in stunning force as you assemble your army to crush your enemies. Even if you have rare minis, epic spells, and even custom-made models, they just don’t pack the same ‘oomph’ if they are unpainted.
But painting can be hard. If you aren’t good at painting or have problems showing off your artistic talent to other people, slapping some paint on your armies can cause a lot of problems and can be very difficult to do.
Even if you are a very good painter and love the hobby of painting, painting an entire army to look the same and manage all of the little details can very easily eat into your playing time.
However, if you have never used a miniature painting service before, then you might wonder how to use it, and how to know if the service in question is going to do a good job for you and your needs. After all, if your army doesn’t look good on the battlefield, it can really mess up your battle strategy.
First, Test Out The Service
You need to be able to trust that your miniature painting service is going to work for you and your needs. Don’t throw your whole army at them for a first product, or even your best model, but maybe you should toss a squad of common troops at them and see what they do with that. If you love it and the communication is clear, then gradually work your way up.
Speaking of communication be clear about what is needed to remain the same and what the service can take a little bit of leeway on.
If you have a large group of troops who are a part of the same squad or army, then you might want to have them all wear the same uniform, have the same color scheme, or share a common theme in their painting. For other forces, you might allow the artist to do whatever they want as long as the miniatures end up painting.
Use Pictures To Describe Pictures
If your miniature painting service, you probably have a lot of different colors in your head, different descriptions for things, and other ways that you plan to make the miniatures just right. You could even have stories for the squads as well. You might want your Imperial guards to have a paint job that looks like they are coated in the dust because this squad is a city fighting squad. Or your orc army to have spots of red around their armor and faces to signal their bloodlust.
This can all be very hard to communicate over text or even face to face because a lot can be misconstrued when using words. However, the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is true, because you might be able to find pictures that look like what you might want to have painted on your minis. Plus, the artist can then take inspiration from the picture and might be able to do even more with it.
You can find plenty of pictures on the internet, and whether they are pictures of other models or of fan art, you can make things work with the artist! You can also look at the pictures on the artist’s website to see what type of work they do, and maybe get some ideas from them.
Communicate What You Need And What You Want Them To Look Like
Whenever you reach out to a miniature painting service, you need to know what you need to paint and what you want the painted minis to look like. If you need 20 human archers and ten orc spearmen painted, then say so. If you need thirty space marines and a space marine captain painted, say so too.
However, don’t move the goal posts and keep adding things for them to paint; instead, just give them a batch of troops, and then if you want more done you should set up a different order.
Then figure out what you want them to look like. You don’t need to include 20 pictures or several paragraphs of text, but instead, talk about what you want in basic terms. You might say “I want 20 knights, all with grey armor and silver shields” and include a picture.
While you will give more detail during deeper conversations with the service, you can give your information and then get a quote to see how much it will cost to have it done.
See What Else They Can Do For You
In addition to being a miniature painting service, some services also offer other fields related to the miniature hobby as well. For example, some will assemble the miniatures for a small fee or for no extra charge. Others will prime the miniatures, or even base them for you. However, other companies don’t like working with unbuilt models and will require them to be built and assembled fully before they are sent off for paint.
Focus On The Turnaround Time
If you have a good miniature painting service and you know that they will give you quality, then you don’t need to worry about the quality of the service. Instead, you need to focus on the turnaround time.
After all, you are sending your army or some of your minis out to get painted, and you want to know when you will get them back. The turnaround time is going to be important because it will let you know the timetable. It might be a week or two weeks, a few days, or even a month if you have a few armies that you want to be painted.
Some miniature painting services will add padding time to the estimation, give an estimate with the caveat that delays happen and things could change, or keep you in the loop with pictures of the process as you move forward.
You just want to make sure that the service is giving you an estimate that has conditions and margins of error, or has something in place so that you are notified whenever the schedule changes.
Finally, know that painting minis is a big job and it is also a business for the miniature painting service. You might give the service a few squads and they can have it done in a couple of days, but if you hand them half of your army you might find it could take a month because of the size of the job and the other clients the service is working with.
Once You Find A Good Service, Use It
Finally, once you find a miniature painting service that you like, you should stick with them because you know they do good work and you know that you can work with them and communicate with them. Plus, it can be fun to throw bigger jobs or more varied models at them and see what they come up with.
At Brushlike.com, we do our best to provide the perfect service for any type of job and any client. Then you will have a fully painted army of minis on the tabletop and you can get back to battling!
FAQ
Can I Pay Someone To Paint My Miniatures?
Yes, there are dozens of services as well as independent artists who will paint your minis for you!
How Much Does It Cost To Get Into a miniature painting service?
If you want to put your art skills to use and focus on painting other people’s minis for profit, then you might wonder what the cost is. Assuming you don’t want to do anything like putting the models together or doing any fancy basing work, then the cost of painting minis runs as high as the cost of the art supplies!
How Do You Price Miniatures?
Most miniature painting services will know how long painting a specific type of miniature takes, so painting a squad of space marines or footmen might take a few days, while painting a tank or a massive ogre might take a week.
Most of the time, the price is dependent on the size of the job, as well as the level of detail the client wants.
What Can You Do With Painted Minis?
You can play on the tabletop with them, or even set up different armies and terrain pieces to create a diorama-like scene and take some cool pictures! Sometimes, you can even just sit and look at painted minis as well, admiring the detail.
