It’s pretty common for miniature painters to accept commissions and offer their services to people who are willing to pay for painting miniatures for them. We’ve been asked about possibility of hiring our painters for painting commissioned miniatures. And many Chest of Colors Painting Studio painters agree…

When you contact us, you usually have already seen our galleries. You probably have your favorite painters, and preferred styles.

If you are reading this text, you would probably like to know how such commission is handled and what to do to have your miniatures painted by one of our painters. Let me explain it.

First thing you may like to know is that unlike most miniature painting services, we work more like a team of freelancers than a miniatures painting studio. What does it mean? Well, we can’t force a painter to accept a job, we don’t have a strict price list, we don’t have any official quality standards. Do these sound like disadvantages? Well, read about the advantages of painting miniatures our way and you will see it can actually be a better choice!

How others do commissions

When you contact a typical painting service, you tell them what you want to have painted, choose quality and check their price list. The painter is chosen by the studio, and you usually receive a miniature painted in their typical standard and style. That’s good if you want your miniatures to look normal, average, typical and common…

Doing it our way

Then there’s a different way of handling this: our way.

When you contact us, you usually have already seen our galleries. You probably have your favorite painters, and preferred styles. You probably have a special project in mind, and would like to see it made special by somebody who gives it individual treatment.

Unlike most miniature painting services, we work more like a team of freelancers than a miniatures painting studio.

So when you send email about your project, you provide information about it, so that we know what you want us to do. You can mention the painters you like the most, or the style you prefer. You can tell us about the quality or price range you expect.

When we know enough about your project we check who is available for your project. Some painters may be busy with other things, have no time for commissions, or simply have no interest in this particular commission. The painters who are interested decide about their prices, and we compile a price list and send it to you, so that you can think about your choice.

Are you afraid about confusion and having to communicate with all those painters separately? No worries! You will be talking to one person, and this person will guide you throughout the whole process!

The big difference

And here is what gives you some room for decisions: it’s you who chooses the painter!

We don’t make the choice for you. You can check the galleries again, compare the styles of your painters, see examples of quality of their works, and re-check the prices.

We believe in allowing our artists to remain individuals instead of making them all the same and unified. The advantage for you is variety and choice!

You will see that the same miniature may look very different with different painters’ paintjobs. What one painter considers level 4, may be level 3 for another. Also prices can range from very low to very high for the same project done by different artists.
Why, you ask? Because we believe in allowing our artists to remain individuals instead of making them all the same and unified. The advantage is variety and choice!

Of course, you can ask more questions, suggest other variants, modify your requests – after all you’re communicating with another hobbyist, who’s trying to work the details out with you. Who also wants to reach agreement and arrange everything in a way which will make everybody satisfied.

The choice is made

When you choose your painter, we can start with the job!
Usually we ask for a partial downpayment. The rule of a thumb is that the deposit is 50% of the price. It’s particularly important in case of new customers, but we’re pretty flexible regarding the actual amount. The miniature can be sent by you or purchased by us. In the latter case we’ll add the cost to the balance.

The painter starts the paintjob and if it’s possible, WIP pictures can be sent per your request. Sometimes it’s not possible – for example when the painter doesn’t have a camera, but usually WIP pictures are possible, even if they’re not very high quality photos. If it’s possible, we try to send at least one photo of the finished model for you to approve, which allows you to request last corrections or tweaks. Fortunately it’s been very rarely that those were necessary.

Official photos

Then the model is taken for the official photo session. The photo is sent to you and if you accept the result, we can send the model to you after receiving the payment. It includes the remaining part of the cost of painting plus cost of shipping plus cost of miniatures if you had us buy them.

Shipping

We’ll make use of our experience. After all we’ve sent quite a few models already.

The method of shipping is up to you, as long as it can be arranged here. We tend to be as flexible as possible, but if you have little experience or would appreciate some advice – we’ll gladly make use of our experience and recommend some methods to you.After all we’ve sent quite a few models already…

We tend to use signed for mail with confirmation of delivery, unless the customers request something else. We do our best to pack the miniatures in a safe way to protect them from damage. Our experience is really useful here, as we’ve shipped even very fragile items already and know possible risks the models may be subjected to.

So what are you waiting for?

You should have a pretty clear idea of what would it be like to have ask us about painting miniatures for you. Feel free to contact us – it doesn’t cost a thing!