[TaoHorror]

I ended up buying Gloomhaven for myself. Comes with at least one miniature for each player character class, which is like a dozen or so.

How much would it cost to pay someone to paint a one inch tall mini?

Well, first decide how well you want it painted, because the prices will vary widely if you want it painted to something like a display quality or just to a "tabletop" quality.

Check out his guy, who is in Poland and very good (and he shows the different qualities and the prices for each): http://www.unlimitedcolours.com.pl/index.php/commission

TH knows a shit load more about commissions than I do though.

It's complex - because much of how to choose a painter comes down to what you like more than how good they are. Poland is exploding with board games and miniatures and painting, some very good painters there. Russia is too. My favorite painters are Polish and Russian, they are amazing. And they charge less than the West does ( West = America, UK and West Europe ). I found this person in China who does excellent work very reasonably. I'm happy to share my complete experience, but warning you it's a bit lengthy. Or I can cut to the chase and share my painters I use. I'm not familiar with the one H shared, but the fact he/she is from Poland is a good sign they're damn good and won't fleece you on price. Another consideration is logistics - if you're in the USA, USA to USA shipping will be tracked and fast. White Metal Games is a pro outfit, Caleb is a joy to work with and his prices are good ( about $100/figure for high quality for a 1 inch figure, but you can get one lower level for $80 or so and it may make little difference ). I use my guy in Poland because he does better quality for same money - but, the logistics are jacked. I've had packages "disappear" for 2 months and then finally makes it in fine shape - and I've had packages make it there in 10 days and shipping to Poland is expensive ( so $10 to USA would be $25 bucks minimum and $50 if you want faster shipping to Poland ). If you just want them to look really good and don't need every detail painted, White Metal Games is the way to go if you live in USA. Red Piano in Oregon is awesome, I would say use him as he's better than White Metal, about same price and still in USA, but he's now embarking on designing miniatures and won't be painting them in 2019 ( or so he says, he could be getting tired of painting my stuff ).

[Wilshire]

Do share more I'm interested in your experience.

I can see, now, the appeal of painting your own, as the price per piece is (can be) very high.

[H]

Here is a picture someone at another board posted of work he had done by that guy:


Note that none of the details are actually on those miniatures, they are all old, flat metals, so all the heraldry and details are freehand, or whatever he does.  I don't know if that is "Level 4" work or not, but the guy has talent.

Almost anyone you commission worth commissioning is going to be a bit of a pain, being the wait or whatever, it's just the nature of things to a degree, I think.

If you do it yourself, you get the "fun" of a hobby.  Honestly, half-decent jobs are actually fairly easy to achieve yourself, but if you want something really nice, it can be hard if you don't enjoy the learning process.

[TaoHorror]

Wow, those are pretty, H! I like his stuff 

Soooooooo - I've lit a pile of money on fire "vetting" painters, so you don't have to lose any of yours 

I'll break this up so it's not one gigantic post.

Avoid:

WonderCat ( France ): it pains me to steer people away from them as they are the nicest people on the planet, but they are too expensive for what you get ( 200 pounds for a KDM 32mm figure! ), they're too slow and they don't package the miniatures well ( so definitely don't send them resin as you'll get a pile of pieces shipped backed to you ).

Toad Painting ( Canada ): He's good, but bad business. He upped the prices on my AFTER he painted some, I called him out on it and he discounted, but I had him return the rest - he went 6 months no communication and no work - anyways, he doesn't really have a "studio", just some kid who likes to paint miniatures competitively and put up a website to make him look like a pro. Not good enough, dog slow and jacked at business.

Iron Keep Studio ( Poland ): This guy is awesome, great prices with great freehand, but he's very slow. If you don't mind the wait, he's gold. But since there are other people out there who do the work, I say don't bother with Gregor here. That said, his work for me was fucking awesome and priced right.

Shoshie's Magnificent Painting ( USA ): Shoshie is awesome, but I'm not using her any more. She's expensive ( $200 for typical 32mm resin ) and exceptional and she works ( so you're not waiting ). That said, I don't think she has a great eye for color. My man in Poland charges a lot less, he's not "technically" as good as Shoshie, but I love his work and he's a true artist with color. So do you want technically strong, more realistic looking work and have the money, then go with Shoshie. If you want something more "art", than save some money and go with an Eastern European painter who'll make your miniatures look fucked up ( good! ).

The Spiraling Cadaver ( USA ) - good painter, good prices, but you have to like his style - everything is OSL, just not my thing. But he is popular and doesn't charge much ( OSL is fast to do ), so if you dig that look, he's a find.

Duff Paint ( UK ): He's a master and his prices are very good ( about $80 for 32mm ), but he's dog slow. I sent him some more since his first batch to me was so good and reasonably priced, but he's had the second batch for 6 months and hasn't even started. Fuck.

Ringil ( Russia ): The best painter I've used to date, she is a jedi of miniature painting, but expensive and slow ( she's not really a commission painter, I had to talk her into it ). Took her a year to paint 17 miniatures, but wow, they're good - much better than Soshie, but about as expensive.

Red Piano ( USA ): Kenny is a find, exceptional work for reasonable prices, but he's stopping now to work on other stuff.

[TaoHorror]

Consider:

So the trick is to find someone's style you like, can afford and they're not a pain in the ass to work with ( like they're too slow, or don't package well, bizarre communication, prices change on you ). This isn't easy. Here are the painters I use and will continue to do so. Understand, you may not like any of these people's work. Let me know if you want to see examples of what they've done and I'll post them.

Victor/OperStrike ( Russia ): This dude is amazing for the money. Don't send him anything that has to be glued together as he's not the best at packaging - but for pre-made figures ( like in your Gloomhaven game ), wow - he's not the best, but he has great eye for color and is dog cheap - and he busts his ass, I don't have to wait long ( 2 months ) to get them. He charges about $30 for a 32mm figure.

Łukasz Kam/Figurkowo ( Poland ): My favorite - charges about $100 for a 32mm figure, works hard, amazing colors. He doesn't freehand much like the guy H shared, but not sure what that other painter charges either.

ChengYun Chen/Wargamepainting ( China ): You can see this guy's stuff on eBay - wow, extremely good, great colors and great pricing, $40 - $70 for a 32mm figure.

Bohun: hee hee, I had to throw this guy in here to fuck with you. I've not used him, he charges $500 - $1000 for a figure, but fuck he's mad good. He uses Patreon and actually has Patreons. If you Patreon him, he shares videos on how he does it, crazy good stuff.

[Wilshire]

Hmm. $30 to $100+ for a single figure is an interesting price range. Gloomhaven only has 18ish figures so its not like a full army, but I'm not spending $2000, let alone $600 for the low range to do all of them. At least not all at once lol. Would probably have to sell all my books . TBH, those prices seem reasonable - creating something is hard work and "exposure bucks" don't put food on the table - especially given the range of work and talents.

I saw several inevitable "just do it yourself, its not that hard" posts around the internet.

What's the startup cost for painting your own for some minimal setup that gets you enough to do something basic but acceptable.
I mean, the figures are gray plastic, I imagine some modicum of color would go a long way.

[TaoHorror]

Hmm. $30 to $100+ for a single figure is an interesting price range. Gloomhaven only has 18ish figures so its not like a full army, but I'm not spending $2000, let alone $600 for the low range to do all of them. At least not all at once lol. Would probably have to sell all my books . TBH, those prices seem reasonable - creating something is hard work and "exposure bucks" don't put food on the table - especially given the range of work and talents.

I saw several inevitable "just do it yourself, its not that hard" posts around the internet.

What's the startup cost for painting your own for some minimal setup that gets you enough to do something basic but acceptable.
I mean, the figures are gray plastic, I imagine some modicum of color would go a long way.

Yes, it's expensive, but reasonable considering how much work they put into painting this stuff. Depends on how many colors you want to have in your arsenal, H would be better to comment on this, but I would say about $100 in paints and brushes, that's bare bones but enough for 18 figures.

[H]

Yes, it's expensive, but reasonable considering how much work they put into painting this stuff. Depends on how many colors you want to have in your arsenal, H would be better to comment on this, but I would say about $100 in paints and brushes, that's bare bones but enough for 18 figures.

$100 in paint is a good bit and if you don't want to get crazy with things, can do a whole lot, especially when you start mixing them.  Vallejo hobby paints are 3 bucks a piece, so you could easily get 90 colors, which is a really large number.  The good metallics cost more, but you can easily stay under that kind of budget because you really don't need 8 shades of off white, or 9 shades of purple, and other absurd things I own.  You also do not need expensive brushes at all.  In fact, the cheap ones are likely better, because they will be synthetic and can take more abuse.

The thing is, it really isn't that hard.  But it's a process.  Like anything else, if you don't like the process, aren't interested in the process, hate the process, then you will hate it and not be good at it.  Trust me though, if I can get half decent results and my hard-eye coordination/vision is laughably bad, then anyone can.

It's kind of like math.  If you take the time, learn the basics, you can do all sorts of things.  But again, only if you take that time to learn the basics and then actually practice it.  If you hate it, if you don't want to do it, you won't ever get good results though.

[TaoHorror]

And to add, the reason learning to paint these miniatures is "not hard" to learn for anybody is because it's 3D painting/coloring between the lines. It's only perspective that this activity seems different than coloring books - it's no different, there are lines there for you to make it easy/easier than painting something from nothing - the sculpture are the lines. Even dry brushing looks good if that's all you do ( Base coat + minuscule amount of paint on your brush and quickly glazing over the texture of the mini, allowing the highlights to grab the paint - essentially just dab paint on the brush and wipe the brush on paper until no more paint comes off and you're good to go ).

[H]

And to add, the reason learning to paint these miniatures is "not hard" to learn for anybody is because it's 3D painting/coloring between the lines. It's only perspective that this activity seems different than coloring books - it's no different, there are lines there for you to make it easy/easier than painting something from nothing - the sculpture are the lines. Even dry brushing looks good if that's all you do ( Base coat + minuscule amount of paint on your brush and quickly glazing over the texture of the mini, allowing the highlights to grab the paint - essentially just dab paint on the brush and wipe the brush on paper until no more paint comes off and you're good to go ).

Right, this is the "modern" Games Workshop approach, even to the point that their paints are specifically pre-thined, labeled and formulated to specifically clue you in to how to use them.  Base, then Shade, then Layer, then Edge.  They even have specifically formulated Drybrushing paint for those cases.

Of course you can save yourself a bunch of money by just learning what the difference is and buying other brand paint for the purpose.  You don't need to really be an artist by any stretch of the imagination to get decent results, just learn practical application of some general principles.

[Wilshire]

Must decide if I want this as a hobby, lol.

Perhaps easier than bookbinding, which really didnt work out.

[H]

Must decide if I want this as a hobby, lol.

Perhaps easier than bookbinding, which really didnt work out.

I think that is a near certainty.  It's also far more iterative, in the sense of you can make small incremental progress and still have results.  It's also likely "cheaper" but you can scale it to your desire.

[Wilshire]

Material cost per object would likely be less assuming paint can be used on more than one or two small figures. The biggest factor probably being the leather. Even a sheet of cheap leather is comparatively pricey and can only be used once - all other costs like glue/sandpaper/brushes/etc are likely similar.

Got a quote from the one you mention H. For level 2 detail on the figures, $35 each. Cheap, given the market, but still pricey for upwards of 20 figures.

I will have to consider options - and continue to do nothing.

[H]

Material cost per object would likely be less assuming paint can be used on more than one or two small figures. The biggest factor probably being the leather. Even a sheet of cheap leather is comparatively pricey and can only be used once - all other costs like glue/sandpaper/brushes/etc are likely similar.

Yeah, most hobby paints come in 12-17 ml bottles, that is a fairly large amount, easily enough to do 20-30 maybe even more miniatures, of course depending on how much you need to cover on each.  The material cost per mini is pretty low, but the time investment could be high, depending on what level of standard you want to get to.

[H]

Well, finally sort of got around to doing something...

So, here is something of a "color study" on a Necron (well, half of one)