Darklord Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 a well painted mini will help sales i believe, wether it puts of newbies once they have tried to paint it and realised it aint that easy then they may not buy another Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jubilee Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 I like seeing both a nice paint job & the bare metal or a primered versions (I think that SteveB's gray primered ones are amongst my favorite 'unpainted' ways to show off figures). Inked metal figures don't always do a very good job showing me what little do-dads are supposed to be (this is usually especially important with some reaper sculpts), so a painted version is sometimes a very good reference when I get to something on someone's belt and say to myself "What the heck is that?!!" - usually seeing someone else's painted version saves me the trouble of painting it 5 times before i figure out it was a piece of bone or a bottle or something. <G> However, painted figures can be misleading. Case in point - there's at least one hasslefree female from Angela Imrie that has those lovely cupid's bow lips she does so well, and I have NO idea how she managed the lips with the sculpt. She has super duper painting powers or she did some resculpting. Flaws in a sculpt can sometimes be hidden by a very talented painter and sometimes covering those flaws are not within my powers, but I don't know that until I get the sculpt and realize what terrible eyes, lips, nose, hair, etc she has. Which is why I like being able to see both. I talk too much when I'm procrastinating.. /ali, who should be painting her gencon entry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EldinTux Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 I think I agree with Jubilee here. A well painted mini can show you those little details & give you something to aspire to. But an unpainted one can help you decide alternative approaches & show you where the problems are. I really like the grey undercoated one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highbulp Billy Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 I've bought lots of plastic minis/kits because they looked great when painted by professionals only to realise the detail on the minis themselves was not as great as it seemed (LOTR orcs, Goblin Fanatics etc) so the paintjob works well as a marketing tool for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauth81 Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 I like to see studio paint job AND a (primered) cast for the same reasons jubilee gave above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrEvilmonki Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 Holy crap Steve when can we buy some of that stuff you keep teasing with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wren Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 Put me down in the column of folks who like to see both a green/primer version and a painted version whenever possible. And also with those who think a bad painted version is worse than no painted version at all. That seems to be a mistake a number of smaller companies make, often those whose products are intended for gaming. Maybe the amount that might be sold to painters is too small to bother with, I dunno, but seems to me like it's worth a little more time and effort to get an at least competent paint job on your most interesting products. Even more for Internet sales where the customer can't pick something up and stare at different angles and so on. I'm starting to get over this, but I will go ahead and admit to being intimidated by stellar studio paint jobs. I can't really recall that I've ever been intimidated away from buying something. But it definitely influences what I choose to paint. There's lots of times I've been considering painting something and then I'll think well, I can't paint something that looks as good or better than the studio job, and I can't think of an idea that would make it more interesting than the studio job, so maybe I should just not bother instead of doing a poor job that bores people. Recently I have started to do a few studio paint jobs, and it's an interesting question in terms of how do you approach flaws? Like with prep, I've seen people do some amazing things just with filing that completely changes the face of a character. But I think that would be inappropriate to do on a studio job, and probably not desired by the client, either. Certainly I don't want to do anything GS related unless it's assembly related or something for the base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Syxx Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I can say that as a retailer we picked up the confrontation line very early because of the combination of good sculpts, good paint jobs and the new races. Nmm had not been displayed like this before. It started a sort of style change in our area. Rackham has made some changes and had some distribution problems that have slowed sales in our store. If a mini is painted poorly then it will always discredit the sculpt. If someone buys the mini and paints better then the studio paint job they will think that they are better then the company and then make fun of their paint jobs. If you have a studio paint job done then the good painters will always look at it and say that it's a good example of art work and maybe buy the mini to try and top it or put a different spin on it. If it's a bad paint job then a good painter will most often not buy it at all. They always want a challenge. Painters with less skill will buy a model regardless of paint job if they can use it/ need it in there army. With this company not really having a game to put the figure with people will only be able to go off of the paint jobs they see. When we started buying Rackham they were in between first and second edition. I can honestly say that everyone wanted to paint everything well due to the paint jobs on the cards for the models. No one didn't buy because they didn't think they could paint as well. It was just the opposite. They bought because the figure looked awesome. I agree with one of the early posters. I find myself having all of the mini's now and not really knowing where to go with painting them. I like to have a story of the character before I put paint to brush. I like to feel the character out and then decide whether I think the studio job is the way I want to go. If it isn't then I try out a couple of ideas for scheme's. The bottom line is that good paint jobs will always out sell bad ones. With good paint jobs you are given a certain status among the community that is full of good painters. If they see good paint jobs they will respect it and ask where is the game that goes with this. So give me some rules for these awesome sculpts so that I can start selling the crap out of these models. The fact that some of these mini's have 05' and 06' means that they are just dying to get out of their packages and wreak havoc in a local FLGS. Sorry for getting long winded. When I get passionate about something I tend to go off. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Hah, feel free to get long winded and offer up suggestions and your view from a retailer POV. I said it before in the audio interview that was done about Wyrd here last week, we (I) originally started Wyrd because I thought we could do something interesting and wanted to see 'what could happen'. Quite honestly it has evolved well beyond what my original thoughts on this were, but in a good way, though I find myself now working on this almost constantly which although I enjoy, I think the kids have forgotten what their father look like. Stories, stories, stories .. I've been hounded after then for a bit to be honest and although at one time I used to write two to three hours a day, I haven't done so in a very long time and find myself being rusty. That being said, I've started up again and the others are working on sections as well. I'll post up a quick little write up that I did here when we put together the new alternative version of Viktoria as one of the monkey's in the back said 'but why?'. As for the minis, yup, this December will be two years officially when we started selling Wyrd minis, though it was another six months before that when we started the work on them properly. I'm already working with sculptors that are having to put '08 on the tab. Still, I stand by the words I utter almost all the time when people tell me to get done and get going. Learn to crawl before walking. Learn to walk before running and certainly look both ways when you decide to break take it and run. I stopped crawling just a bit back ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Syxx Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 In all honesty everyone should start out the way you are. To often in this business people's ego's are crammed down gamers' throats. To meet someone that's as humble and as willing to listen as you are, is a treat. I am glad that your taking the time to put out a good product and adjusting as you go. The companies that pay close attention to what the player's/retailer's want are doing very well. That doesn't say that you should try to please everyone, all the time. I am happy to wait until you are comfortable with what you have to release it as a beta. If the initial rules are anything close to what you have brought to the public so far, you are in for a very successful ride. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Heh, I made it all up on the spot and decided we better do it now that I got everyone interested ... (joking) Well ... (yess ... really .. joking!) Mostly. (okay, okay, okay ... really ..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hinton Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 To meet someone that's as humble and as willing to listen as you are, is a treat. That's one of the biggest reasons I hang out here so much. Everyone here is really cool, but through it all, Nathan has been the absolute best. All too often, a bit of success can go to a person's head and, frankly, they become real jerks. This is true not only with miniature companies, but also with online forums such as this one. However, Nathan has remained down-to-earth and has put up with me, even though I probably get on his nerves. He's done right by me more than once and even helped me out in a pinch once; I'll watch his back any time he needs me to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrEvilmonki Posted September 29, 2007 Report Share Posted September 29, 2007 I know it's been a while since Nathan asked this question but something just occurred to me. Back in the days that I played as well as painted my and some mates got into Chronopia. Now to look at the figures on their website you would think they would be best used cut up as agitators in paint pots. Once my mate had painted up his orcs we were all thinking crap those are cool figures. (talented lad that Romilly Brown) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungWolf7 Posted September 29, 2007 Report Share Posted September 29, 2007 A bit of thread necromancy going on here, but I'm glad as I wasn't around when this was originally posted. Awesome studio paint jobs = intimidation? Sure. Having been up close and personal with many of Mike & Ali (Fluffy) McVey's works for Privateer (and some of Mike's older GW stuff) I can say quite honestly that it IS intimidating. But I've managed to take that benchmark and use it as something to aspire to. I've been told before that my own paint work is intimidating to someone just starting out. I have to chuckle at that, because as an artist all I can see are the flaws personally. We all fit somewhere in the talent ladder. The idea is to keep climbing. Without those top rung painters out there intimidating and inspiring us, we have no idea of what the "top rung" really looks like. It seems that rung keeps moving further up every day. Back to the other topic though, I like to see greens, a primed version, AND a well painted piece. I glean information from each one. I will say that if I see only a green or a "grey" of a model, I tend to avoid buying it as I can't see how it will paint up, whether it be my vision or not. Case in point: Misaka - Warmaiden. The Wyrd store only shows a green of this piece. While I love seeing greens, I know full well that a production cast of that piece may not be completely accurate to the sculpt. The mastering and casting process tends to take its toll on a highly detailed piece, hence my desire to see a "grey" of the same piece. This shows how it transferred to metal and assembled, as well as showing details that you might not be able to see due to the way photographing greens usually comes out. That example is a beautiful sculpt, and I want one. But until I see a well painted version of it I would likely hold off as a consumer. That's me, my 2 cents, and how my brain works. *Edit* - after checking the stats on sales in the online store, I see that Misaka is currently #2, so what do I know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted September 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2007 Always interested in hearing additional opinions on this one, so feel free to threadomancy any day. As for a painted Misaki, actually have a couple around here somewhere, but here is one that Wappel did a bit back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wren Posted September 29, 2007 Report Share Posted September 29, 2007 Ooo, nice job on Misaki, I like the colour shifts a lot, also interesting to see her with brown hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodnik Posted September 29, 2007 Report Share Posted September 29, 2007 Yep...great paint jobs present the figures properly. As a customer, I've *never* been scared away from buying a miniature because it was painted great----quite the contrary, in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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