As I mentioned in my previous post, my supportive husband enjoys buying Hero Quest miniatures for me to paint. One of the reasons he does this is because he really likes how I paint them. Sometimes, when I’m painting for someone else, I’ll paint the miniature in a way that he thinks is awesome. Then, he wants me to paint a copy for his set. Well, I finally finished Rob’s Hero Quest. Now, I can paint something else! Humm. . . . Zach, who had me paint his Blood Rage figures, did comission me to paint his copy of Firefly soon as he got Blood Rage back . . . Shiny ships? You betcha! It’s been a nice change of pace painting the different spaceships from the game. It’s amazing how the creators used as much as they could from the Firefly tv show and the movie, Serenity. I enjoyed both the show and the movie, but I can’t name all the ships I’ve been painting. Also, don’t forget to follow us on ebay. We’ve got some fun miniatures going up for auction this week!
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. . .but not in the way you think- I have a wonderful husband. He's very excited about Paint My Game and our success at Gaming Con. He supports me, he helps where he can by being my quality check and photographer, and patiently waits as I paint into the night. Supportive husbands, however, can go too far. First, understand I don't use air brushes or glazes. My style of painting is slower than most other professionals. I like to consider it my own style. He likes it too, but he wants me to be compensated for my time. While making an inventory sheet and listing prices, he decided to be helpful by putting in a few equations. Excel then used the time I spent painting and calculated it into the prices. I told him the resulting numbers were completely impractical. He said something about working for peanuts and walked away. Come Gaming Con, I was glad he got distracted by the nostalgia video games so that he wouldn't be at my booth telling people things were three times (at least) more expensive than I was charging. Everything I sold ranged from $5-$20. Now, we both understand that gamers realize how expensive it is to paint miniatures for a hobby. They were not surprised at higher prices, but 'understanding' does not mean the same thing as 'willing to pay'. Still, having him on the other side of the booth talking to customers about the affordability of the miniatures helped! After Gaming Con, I decided I would prepare for SaltCon. It will be March 2017 at Davis County Convention Center. We find a lot of our stock by checking ebay for complete out of print games with miniatures at a good price (Hero Quest, Battle Masters). Our plan is to paint then resell them at conventions and on ebay. While shopping on ebay, my sweet, supportive husband won more bids than he intended.
This week has been filled with miniatures and more miniatures from Gaming Con. Most of the week was spent working on four figurines for a new game called Blood Rage. I did one a night, since I have a day job. Fenrir was probably my favorite to paint. I really liked painting the chains. I also got a bit excited when I sent a picture to the customer, and he asked me to bloody Fenrir up a bit. I always feel like blood adds movement to the miniatures. They look like they’re doing something. Nobody should have to play with a boring, smiling piece. Besides, blood is cool. I found the Mountain Troll the most difficult to paint. He has this staff that just blocks my access to the belt. When you look at the pictures, you can see a lot of detail behind the staff. A. Lot. Of. Detail. It could have been worse. I’ve painted pieces that were smaller with more difficult detail. I think the end product was worth the extra effort. I also got to paint some Bones characters for Miranda and Jeff, whom I also met at Gaming Con. They had made the character sheets, and knew what colors they wanted for each miniature. Normally I use the character cards to show me what they look like, but Bones brand don't have those. I asked questions at Gaming Con about their characters, are they good? Is their armor rusted? Then I did what I could with the colors they gave me. Harsk was probably the hardest. His back had a variety of items that were either brown or yellow. I had to be extra careful to make each item distinct within the color scheme. I had fun painting the Crusader in royal purple. When I sent a status update to the customers, they wanted more blood, too! All in all, it has been a busy week. I might just have to take a break when I finish all these commissions. When I went in on a booth at Salt Lake Comic Con in September, I didn't make any of my money back, so I had a low bar set for Salt Lake Gaming Con this past weekend. I kept thinking that if I could just make back the cost of the booth, I'd be happy. Well, I was happy. Thursday saw many people pass by my booth, most of whom stopped thanks to my friend who volunteered to call people over so I could paint. Many of those who stopped to look at my figurines for sale bought raffle tickets to try to win either my Dungeons and Dragon's Red Dragon, or the Bones Kraken. I made back the cost of my booth that first day!
My amazing sister-in-law came and helped me on Friday and Saturday. It was great! Between my friend and my sister-in-law I not only got tons of painting done, but I was also able to wander the con. I talked to other vendors and had some fun seeing if there was anything new I hadn't seen before. Plus, it was nice just to stretch my legs every few hours. Saturday was by far my busiest day. I'd spent most of Thursday painting Hero Quest furniture that my husband had bought to keep me busy. Friday, I had a few commissions, but all I painted on Saturday were commissions. I guess word had spread. I had also sold the most miniatures on Saturday, and traded a few with some of the other vendors for some cool stuff. The raffle was also held Saturday night. Much to the chagrin of a few people, Zack G. won the dragon and Robbie S. won the kraken! I probably won't have a booth at Salt Lake Comic Con, but I am planning on being at Salt Con in March! |
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March 2019
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