Warhammer/40K Commission Painting

Hi All!

Well a new post!  Been a little while with one thing and another!  But I was watching Warhammer Joey's youtube page on the Lore of Metal (hilarious and well worth a liking there!), and noticed some bloke put in the comments about an offer still standing for her from him and his team!

Of course the offer is for something commission related which got me to thinking (as usual) about the course of events in this hobby and how things have panned out over the years!

Back in the day when I was young and getting involved with the wonderful world of GW hobbying, not too many people were involved with the hobby and even less were advertising their painting skills.  Since coming back to the hobby after my break etc., I have noticed a MASSIVE increase in the number of 'studios' and people touting for business.  I have noticed that some people are sort of half bothered and will do commission work if it comes by and some people almost prostitute themselves for commission work.  But the worrying thing I have noticed is the range of painting on display from people who do commission work.  For example the other day someone posted on DakkaDakka pictures of a pre-heresy dreadnought they did for someone.  The first comment on the thread went along the lines of "and someone paid you for this?"!  Needless to say, the other threads were very similar in fashion.  The paint job which was done for this commission was terrible in all fairness.  The original poster then put up a picture of his best work - not much better to be completely honest.

It must not be forgotten that everyone including golden daemon winners and the such, can always improve on certain aspects.  There are some truly amazingly gifted people out there who can make us cry with one stroke of their paintbrush!  However there are some commission people who do make us cry with the brush strokes, thick paint, bad edges and layering etc.

So the moral of the story?  And why bother blogging about such things?  I'm old! I'm longer in the tooth than most Long Fangs!!!!  I do not like to see people being ripped off in this day and age of financial austerity.  So if you are in the position to look for some commission work, do a little research such as PHOTOS of their work, any kind of customer feedback, a run down of their skills, their level of experience in the hobby, their price and is it worth it? Just because someone says they do commission work does not necessarilymean they are any good - WHICH INCLUDES PEOPLE IN STUDIOS!!!!!!