MancInventor's self funding hobby

[MancInventor]

Mrs Manc is forever complaining about the money I spend on my hobby stuff, so I set myself up on Fiverr to start doing commission work to fund my plastic-crack habit.

The premise is quite simple, seeing as I've always been more of a painter/modeller than a gamer what usually happens is I spend a ton of money, buy an army, paint it, put it in a cupboard and eventually sell it when I run out of space.

Now, I don't pay for the minis I paint, people send them to me and then pay me to paint them. So instead of my hobby costing us money, it is in theory bringing money in!

This thread is for charting my journey, the highs, the lows and generally if it is going to work or not. I hope you like it.

 

[MancInventor]

Setting up on Fiverr.

This is not as easy as it sounds. I had a Quick Look at what other people were doing and once I'd got an Idea I needed a logo. At this stage I didn't know if this was going to go anywhere so I didn't want to sink a ton of time into graphic design. I downloaded an AI app and had a few goes and eventually settled on this:

Logo

• MancInventor
• Dec 8, 2024

Next was setting up the packages. There's an option for basic, standard and premium. I noticed other guys were basing it on different standards of finish but I'm not trying to make a living here, for me it's more about enjoying the painting. I set mine to be troop, elite & hero - basically the more detail & time I'd take on the mini the more I'd charge.

Next up I uploaded photos of other minis I have already painted into my projects page. I chose the Chaos Lord on Demonic Mount I'd put together for a recent GW store competition as my main gallery picture.

You can see my page here (shameless plug!!):

Mancinventor's Fiverr Page

I set the pricing based on the basic being the lowest amount I was able to charge (I tried £5 thinking that £50 for a squad of 10 marines seems reasonable but it wouldn't let me put a price that low. no really!). Honestly just a stab in the dark here. I see "pro-painters" charging an awful lot of money for stuff on eBay so I gave it a go.

After my first customer (spoiler alert) I readjusted the prices, as although painting the minis is fun, the other bits around it were a total stress, but I will come onto that when I post about it. And when I got my second commission (spoiler 2 lol), I realised that the elite category was way too low; there is so much more to painting things like cavalry and the elite 40k units, it felt kind of unfair (not unfair to me, unfair to the people that paid for the basic level) so I restructured it again.

I also don't want to feel like I'm ripping people off so I usually end up offering a discount (another spoiler). Because I batch paint in 5s usually, I will give a 10% discount for 5-10 minis and 30% for 11+. Again, I don't know if this works out yet so I'll see how it goes. It's probably a good idea to put that on the Fiverr page, I'll get round to that at some point.

And there we have it. I don't like Fiverr for various reasons I will go into in later posts so I will at some point be setting up my own website, obviously funded by the mini painting.

Phase 2 of the plan is called operation eBay. The idea being I buy a mini off eBay then paint it up and sell it for (hopefully) a profit. The pages in eBay will have a link to my Fiverr page to drum up some extra trade lol.

I managed to pick up an Eldrad Ulthran assembled but unpainted for £10. This seemed like a contender for me, but before I got started with that, I got my first commission. I'll tell you all about that in my next post.

 

[MancInventor]

My First Commission

I had a few nibbles. I agreed a price with a guy from America to paint his WH30k Sons of Horus, 20x terminators and 20x marines. I worked out on my pricing schedule that the cost would be £590, but as it was over 10 on both counts, I gave a 30% discount and offered £410. He agreed that this was a good price so I made the official offer and this is where the first annoying thing about Fiverr became apparent. All my prices are set in £GBP, but I can only make offers in $US using an exchange rate that Fiverr is not willing to share with me. So, I did a google conversion of £>$ but it came out differently to what I'd told the guy it would be. If I'd have known, I would have just discussed the offer in $US. I found out later on (spoiler again!) that the customer's price is shown in their local currency so it was causing a lot of unnecessary confusion. I rescinded the offer, reverse engineered the exchange rate (which appears to change on a daily basis by the way) then re-made it nearer to the agreed price.

It was at this point, unfortunately, that my prospective first customer realised I lived outside of the US. That means the order would attract whopping postage and tax fees on top of our agreed price. He said he was going on vacation and he would reach out when he got back and that was £410 down the toilet, but actually it was probably for the better that this didn't work out.

So next came my actual first commission!

This guy had some D&D minis 3D printed (I assume from Hero Forge) representing himself and his girlfriend. He used the site to give me a colour scheme:

request

• MancInventor
• Dec 8, 2024

Price agreed at £33. Not sure how I got there, I did 2 x elites and then knocked £7 off. The elites were £20 at the time.

Nice easy start, 2 minis. I hadn't painted 3D printed minis before (apart from some terrain objective markers for infinity) so this would be new one for me. Also new, I had taken the bold choice to move to Pro-Acryl from my massive selection of GW & Vallejo paints (I gave the vast majority of it away to my brother). So, new paint and different minis what could possibly go wrong?

First off, I love the Pro-Acryl range, the paints are silky smooth, they give you a bit more working time than citadel but not so long as to slow the painting process. I like it. It does dry very matte, but that doesn't seem to have affected the end product too much.

This guy had a quite strict deadline, there was plenty of time for me to get the minis done. So here's the thing. The painting of minis for someone else ie nothing new to me, I have done the yakmas gift exchange more than once and have painted the odd mini for friends. However this is different - there's a bit extra stress involved. It's a confidence thing I guess, stuff that I'd normally be happy with and move on, I felt I couldn't. I repainted stuff more than once and just kept making mistakes that I don't normally make. I don't think it's the money aspect (although there is the undoubted pressure that there's a different expectation now your being paid and there's an expectation to meet) I think it's because now this is me putting myself out there, saying the time I've put into this is worth your money. There's a standard I want to hold myself to so it has to work. When it's hobby, if I'm not enjoying it, or it's not going the way I want, I'll shove it in a drawer and forget about it. This is no longer an option!

So I took photos of the minis, done well in time like this:

first attempt

• MancInventor
• Dec 8, 2024

The guy wasn't happy with the girl's hair colour. It was at this point that he told me the minis represented he and his girlfriend and he sent me a photo to better match the colour. I repainted the hair and confirmed he was happy.

Hero forge minis

• MancInventor
• Dec 8, 2024

I'm not 100% happy with the end result, I chalk that down to the new paints and the detail on the minis not being particularly sharp but not too bad in the end. I sent it in the post, first class recorded and this is where I went a little bit wrong. Firstly, I realised that my prices made no allowance for postage and packing so by the time I'd posted it, we can knock £5 off. Also, when I posted his minis out to him, I didn't take in to account that the Monday that he'd set as the deadline was a bank holiday. They arrived the day after. I have no idea if that was an issue because I got no feedback at all and he hasn't replied to my messages. Hey ho.

Next I discovered that Fiverr charges a fee to withdraw your earnings, and although the price of £33 was agreed, $33 is what went into my account. Honestly, I have no idea how much I'm going to end up with when I shift it back to the bank so if I apply the current global exchange rate (which fiver doesn't use) that leaves me with £27 - £5 postage so £22 for what was close to 15 hours work. So less than £1.50/hr. I adjusted my prices immediately!

Score on the door:
Money in: £22
Money out: £0

I guess I can officially call myself a pro-painter now lol. Still, I learned a lot on this one but I learned even more on my next commission.

 

[MancInventor]

Commission No 2:

During this year's Tribemeet event, I actually got another commission through.

I had made some adjustments to prices, then when adding postage and packing as an option, I saw I could put some custom options in so I added the ability to get your minis glued together and 3D printed if you have an STL file. My next client was based in Germany, and things got pretty complicated pretty quickly, again for no real reason other than Fiverr's bizarre pricing mechanic. We again agreed a price in pounds, this is where it became apparent for me that what I was seeing on my screen is not what was on there's. The price was converted from £GBP>$US>EUR. Joy. I also broke this particular order into milestones as I was purchasing and assembling 10 Darkoath Fellriders, painting them then posting them to Germany. I didn't want to be at risk of being out of pocket so I set a milestone for purchasing the minis, a milestone for painting them then the final milestone when they were received. Total price: £196 including purchase of the minis.

Here's the next thing. I didn't realise that Fiverr charges a fee for making payments. And that fee would be payable at each milestone. Ouch. I'd just cost my client extra money from something I hadn't even known about. So, essentially, Fiverr get commission from my payment and commission from the client just for hosting a quite restrictive and inflexible web-store. You can't even search for MancInventor on Fiverr, just miniature painting and I will be one of the many, many options available. Granted, they've brought me my clients that I wouldn't otherwise have had but still, this has got me thinking I'll do my own website if it takes off.

My first milestone was for the purchase of the fell riders and was £72. I got the order through, marked the milestone as complete and then received $69. I don't know what on earth is going on with this as it looks like Fiverr has taken about 15% again. This has left me a little exposed on the minis but hey ho, at least the majority of it is covered.

This commission is still in flight. Shortly after taking this I had my Flu Jab and it triggered a flare up of my Reactive Arthritis that I've been suffering with since February. Very, very long story but essentially my immune system attacks my joints and I can't use my hands which is kind of critical to this venture. My client has been super patient with me and I've been up-front and honest with what is going on.

Score on the door:
Money in: £79
Money Out: £68 (2 boxes of fell riders from goblin)
Committed: £124 (although I will probably lose 15% of this too which will be super annoying)

In the coffers: £11 (£135)

Whilst this commission was in flight, I got another bite from Germany.......

 

[Ben_S]

I'm surprised you're getting international customers. I wouldn't have thought it worth the price and hassle of international postage. (I don't mean that your painting isn't good, but there are lots of painters out there. There must be options in the USA and Germany.)

 

[MancInventor]

Yes, me too. When I explain that there’ll be a 20% VAT bill on top I thought that would put them off but they didn’t seem too bothered. The latest one was a big one so the bill would be really quite a lot extra. Then they sent their minis to me and after doing all the maths for their VAT I didn’t consider that I’d have a bill when the minis came this way . More on that later. These things are kind of what made me put this plog together, there’s a lot to learn and it’s all part of the journey. Hopefully it’s fun to read about, and who knows, if someone is inspired to give it a go at least they’ll know all this before starting.

 

[Pagumb]

Yikes! Sounds like a royal pain. A good way to be found it seems but a lot of downside after that.

 

[Ben_S]

I assumed most people who want to get into this stuff start by painting minis for cash for locals that they know. Obviously there would then be an additional learning curve if you progress to postage and a website, but it would allow you to work out the basics of painting other people's models for cash, before having to tackle those extra complexities. Sounds like you went straight in the deep end though.

 

[Fold]

Love to read this sort of thing @MancInventor. Good luck on the journey and keep the posts coming.

 

[Bilbostomper]

So, essentially, Fiverr get commission from my payment and commission from the client just for hosting a quite restrictive and inflexible web-store.

Seems like this is the new economy. If you want to make money you don't want to be producing anything, you want to be in contracting out other people's work.

Good look on your comissions, I'm sure they will be easier to navigate over time.

 

['Nickname' O'Shea]

I've often wondered if I could do some commission painting as I'm pretty quick and efficient at painting squads and armies, but it's what I'd call a 'good tabletop' standard, rather than blow-your-socks-off Golden Demon standard and I'm not sure of the market for my level of painting...
Any chance we could see the minis you've painted for commission so far?

 

[Ben_S]

I've often wondered if I could do some commission painting as I'm pretty quick and efficient at painting squads and armies, but it's what I'd call a 'good tabletop' standard, rather than blow-your-socks-off Golden Demon standard and I'm not sure of the market for my level of painting...

I would think that's the main demand. No one wants an army painted to GD standard. They just want their stuff to look good on the tabletop.

 

[Punktaku]

Many years ago I tried my hand at this, but I soon gave up on it as I wasn’t comfortable charging what I would’ve needed to to make it worthwhile.

 

[MancInventor]

Hi Everyone. First off, thanks for your support. I wondered if anyone would be interested in this kind of thing so it's great to see people along for the ride!

I've often wondered if I could do some commission painting as I'm pretty quick and efficient at painting squads and armies, but it's what I'd call a 'good tabletop' standard, rather than blow-your-socks-off Golden Demon standard and I'm not sure of the market for my level of painting...
Any chance we could see the minis you've painted for commission so far?

Sure thing, I'll be posting my WiPs here as I'm going through. I wouldn't worry too much about standards, you'll find there is a market for all. I got a query asking me to paint 90 of the same model to a tabletop standard. My price was way too high because I am neither quick nor efficient!

I would think that's the main demand. No one wants an army painted to GD standard. They just want their stuff to look good on the tabletop.

Absolutely, and there are much better painters than me out there, even here in the Tribe there are people a hell of a lot more talented than I am. Tribemeet meet once a year and I don't consider myself in the top three painters there and that is such a tiny cross section of the tribe!

Like any other product, it's a balance of time v cost v quality.

Many years ago I tried my hand at this, but I soon gave up on it as I wasn’t comfortable charging what I would’ve needed to to make it worthwhile.

That is something I really struggled with, it was hard to not feel cheeky asking for the fees. I roughly worked out to pay myself £4/hr. I realised almost immediately that for the reasons mentioned earlier - "excellence creep" - meant I end up putting much more time in so it's nearer £1.50/hr. You can't live on that, but I'll take it as a side hustle, and the fact that I'm doing something I enjoy and getting paid for it is cool. The correct price to sell your product is for the price the customer is willing to pay; that's another business tip from my MBA lol.

Ok, now for some updates.

Perturbed by the difference in my agreed commission price and the cash that was ending up in my account, I read back through the Ts & Cs of Fiverr and found it explained in such a way it was so easy to miss. Rather than explaining there was an admin fee or a commission to pay on your, er, commission, the Fiverr Ts & Cs state in the small print that "you will receive 80% of your fee". Wow. 20% is a chunk of cash to loose on a job. Again, I'm glad I'm taking this on as a side hustle.

Commission No 2.

Well, where to start on this one.
The flare up in my hands took over six weeks and an injection the size of a scaffold pole to clear, even after that I found that I had lost all endurance in my fingers and couldn't hold a paintbrush for more than 30-40 minutes before they began to shake and just kept dropping things. Not good. Since my injection though, I have improved gradually to the point I can do 3-4 hours of painting at a time now. This landed me slap-bang in the middle of the Christmas craziness and I've not had much time for anything. I'm currently nearly 2 months overdue this milestone which is really, really frustrating for me but for my client must be infuriating. I do keep in regular communication and they seem content. The brief was to paint 10 darkoath fell riders but with horses that looked like real wild horses rather than the box art. The minis are not to be based so that they can be magnetised so that they can be switched between bases for Old World and AoS done by the client. I have completed the first 3 minis, now that Christmas and my flare up is out of the way, I hope to get the remainder done by the end of the week.

Fellrider 3

• MancInventor
• Dec 29, 2024

Fellrider 2

• MancInventor
• Dec 29, 2024

Fellrider 1

• MancInventor
• Dec 29, 2024

Commission No 3.

I mentioned in my earlier post that I got another bite from Germany. Well this one is a biggie.

The project brief for this one is for en entire AoS Slaves to Darkness army. Now, I have had a couple of queries about full army commissions before and they never made it past the offer. This time the offer was accepted. I stressed to my client that I was suffering with Arthritis and I had another commission to finish before I started which would probably be in the new year and they were ok with that. As a matter of fact, both the commissions from Germany have stressed that the timeline isn't important, they would rather I took my time and produced the best quality I could.

The brief is to paint the minis as per the box art colour schemes on a wintery mud base. Minis I have to paint are:

1 Darkoath Wilderfiend
1 Nexus Chaotica
1 Tzarketh
5 Brand's Oathbound
3 Endless Spells
1 Darkoath Chieftain
1 Darkoath Chieftain on Warsteed
10 Darkoath Fellriders
20 Darkoath Marauders
15 Chaos chosen
1 Daemon Prince
6 Ogroid Theridons
1 Eturnus
1 Exalted Hero of chaos
1 Darkoath War queen
1 Gaunt Summoner
1 Chaos Lord
1 Belakor
1 Abraxxia
1 Centurion Marshal
1 box Chaos Legionaires
10 Chaos Warriors
5 Chaos Knights


I've given myself 3-4 months to do this, although again, the client isn't fussed about a deadline and the agreed fee is £994. Progress isn't much as I've been concentrating on the first commission, but here's what that army currently looks like:

Next project

• MancInventor
• Dec 29, 2024

The box arrived and even though the label stated it was a gift, I picked up at £40 import tax bill. Damn. I was very particular to call out the import tax to my client but forgot that I would be paying import tax on what was sent to me. I guess, in my defence, commission no 1 was UK based, and commission no 2 I ordered the minis from Goblin. The client offered to cover the import tax bill but I felt as it was my mistake to not account for it that this wouldn't be fair so I swallowed the bill. Remember, this is a side hustle, I am not trying to make a living here!

This will be a huge test for me. First off, it is a lot of minis! but secondly, the client has shared images of his existing minis and they appear to be a very accomplished painter so I will feel even more pressure to get things perfect. Although, to be fair, S2D is probably my favourite AoS faction and there are some bucket-list minis on there that I would love to paint (Hello Belakor and Abraxxia, I'm looking at you!) so being paid to paint them is literally a dream come true. Even so, I need to speed up and get into a rhythm if I'm going to get this done in the timeframe.

Scores on the doors:
Money in: £79
Committed: £1,118

Money Out: £108 (stupid import tax!!)
Stolen by Fiverr: £223.60

Profit: £865.40

 

[Ben_S]

I think the secret to success here is to enjoy the painting and think of any money you get as a bonus (compared to paying to paint stuff).

 

[MancInventor]

I think the secret to success here is to enjoy the painting and think of any money you get as a bonus (compared to paying to paint stuff).

Agreed. Very much so. I already know that my New Year's resolution for 2025 will be to not spend money on my hobby that is not generated from my hobby. If I manage that for a year, I will call that a resounding success!

 

[Fold]

I’m quite impressed that you seem to have no shortage of work whatsoever, and that seems to be without the aid of an established reputation or much (?) marketing to speak of. This leads me to conclude that either your quality level is far higher than other painters at comparable prices, or there simply aren’t enough commission painters out there to meet the demand?

Either way, it suggests you could be much more aggressive with your pricing. I know it’s not about the money for you but at the same time, I’m sure it would be good to feel like you were getting a somewhat decent hourly rate for your work.

It will also be interesting to see if you adopt any speed painting techniques in your journey as a commission painter.