Commission Painting, 40k Miniature Painting
Navin Weeraratne
How to Pick a Miniature Painting Service (And ...

Commission Painting

Troggoths and Gitz: Mad Colors for Mad Figures

Not long ago, we had the good fun to do a gigantic Night Goblin / Gloomspite Gitz army, all at Exhibition quality. The client wanted us to push our boundaries a bit and give him something memorable. We were happy to oblige and he liked the results. This set us up for a tougher job this time though. He had reinforcements for us to work on, but we had set the bar for expectations. He wanted us to see how far we could push these ones.

Little Touches

For some of the goblin shamans from the loon court, we gave them basing that was a bit mad. It's only appropriate; how can anyone take them seriously? They're obviously off their rockers. This was fun, and gave us some ideas for how we can go over the top with other basing as well. A couple of the Troggoths also had resin pours to give their bases a watery look (i am always in a little bit of awe at a resin pour).

The Big Touch - Messing with the Models

Normally, we treat the figures as sacred. They are not ours! If something goes wrong, we have to replace them... As such, we are very nervous about irreversible changes to figures. The drawback is that because we don't make those very often, we don’t have as wide a range once we are allowed to start cutting off heads and sticking legs on backwards. 

For the Freshwater Troggoths (Marsh Trolls) and the Troggoth Hag, we pitched the idea of putting dirt, flock, and plants on their backs. To have vines dangling from them. That way, we could give the sense that they had been sitting quite still for a while, before rising up to attack the other side's army. The client loved it the idea. We gave it a go, and you can see the results here.

These were all done to Exhibition quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Some Painted Votann Reinforcements

Always nice seeing Votann in the studio. These were reinforcements for a client's army.

These were painted to Showcase and Exhibition quality. 

You might have wondered why such mad art leads to Ultramarines… why doesn’t it, instead, lead to more mad art?

A lot of other people have thought this, too. Not content to sit on their brushes, they used them instead to create the art style known as Blanchitsu.

Desaturation. A jaundiced palette. Warhammer Squalor. Here are some examples:

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Warhammer the Old World: Painting Tomb Kings like its 2004

We painted our first Tomb King's army somewhere in late 2005 or early 2006. We had been asked to dip the skeletons; something that was as unusual to me as miniature painting in general was. It worked out, and now, Almost 20 years later, here are some Tomb Kings again in the studio. This time though, we knew what we were doing. 

These are the Tomb King figures from Games Workshop's Warhammer the Old World box set. 

These were painted to Showcase and Exhibition quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

We Painted Too Much Warlord Games Bolt Action!

A 4x8 foot table covered in infantry.

This order was so big, it took days to shoot all the close ups. I've not included them here because I want to focus on the sheer scale of this commission.

Here is a mix of warlord games German, American, and Soviet forces. They are taking up the better part of a 4 x 8 foot table. 

These were all done to Exhibition quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Painting the Solomon Kane Boardgame

The Solomon Kane board game by Monolith. Some nice figures; I wish I knew more about the IP. Any Robert E Howard reading I've done has always been Conan.

These were painted to Showcase Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Painting CMON's Dune: War for Arrakis

I have often felt that CMON puts more detail into miniatures than one ought to given the size of the figure. The guys who make Oathsworn solve this by making the figures bigger. CMON, in the case of Dune: War for Arrakis solve this by reducing the detail very slightly-and then making the figures smaller.

That's it, this is a good compromise. The balance of detail to figure is much better. They are still harder to do, as CMON figures tend to be relative to other people's ranges, but you get a very nice result. This I think is a step up from Rising Sun and Ankh, where there's just too much going on on the rank and file. 

The quality of the designs is also very impressive. The quality of the design is also very good. At first I was a bit put out, expecting figures closer to what one sees in the Denis Villeneuve movies. However, these are just as good a reimagining. The royalty have pomp and flair (somewhat reminiscent of the excellent Syfy / Scifi Channel miniseries that no one talks about these days). The vehicles are gritty and look ruggedized for Arrakis. Everyone wearing a cloak looks like they are going to kill you. Some designs are the best I've seen for the whole IP, like the Guild Navigator. 

These were painted to Showcase quality. 

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

The Most Japanese Infinity Minis Ever

Sadly, these days we don't see much infinity anymore. It has had its heyday in the studio. Now, only diehard fans keep send it to us. We do enjoy painting Infinity; I feel it has always been ahead of its time. There was even a stretch when we used Infinity miniatures for exhibition training tests for painters. The reasoning was that if they could paint Infinity, they could paint anything. That still holds true today.

Here we got to do some JSA figures but with a small twist. We were to copy what the client had done with adding Rising Sun bases.

This was straightforward - it seemed. Just a matter of using a template! Templates are always more complicated to work with then one would think , at least for us. Took a little back and forth but we got there.

These were all painted to Exhibition quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Necromunda: The Underhive Needs No Outside Validation

Was nice to do a big bunch of Necromunda after a while. Really like the Skalvian Explorator!

These were painted to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Terrain: Some Painted Fronteris Nachmund and Sector Mechanicus

Just some painted terrain. I’m happy that these are a bit less detailed than most GW terrain kits. Detail is nice, but I feel its counterproductive when terrain becomes too much work when people would rather focus their attention on their armies.

These were painted to Standard Quality.

You might have wondered why such mad art leads to Ultramarines… why doesn’t it, instead, lead to more mad art?

A lot of other people have thought this, too. Not content to sit on their brushes, they used them instead to create the art style known as Blanchitsu.

Desaturation. A jaundiced palette. Warhammer Squalor. Here are some examples:

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Star Wars Legion: Painting Criminals, Ewoks, and Criminal Ewoks!

Got to do a large bunch of Star Wars Legion. Mainly Shadow Collective and Ewoks.

If you never thought you’d see an Ewok army, just scroll down! These were all painted to Showcase Quality.

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

40k: We Painted Too Much Tau and Kroot

We had the good fortune to be sent this rather large Tau and Kroot force to work on. I quite like all the blue, and mix of heavy armor and exo suits. What stood out in this force the most for me were the Stingwings and the large number of Kroot - enough for an army in their own right.

I think we’ve only done Stingwings once or twice before, and that’s in 19 years of painting. That said, 19 years of painting has taught me how little I remember of what we’ve painted…

These were painted to Showcase and Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Warhammer the Old World: 30-year-old Orcs painted to look like 30-year-old Orcs

I quite enjoy seeing classic Warhammer in the building, especially Orcs and Goblins! You can’t beat them for ridiculous humor and OTT design. All the minis in this order were classic, the orcs alone are over 30 years old. For this job, we weren’t just to paint them but capture that old school, ‘90s look of their era.

We freehand painted the designs on the shields. The green on the basing is Goblin Green - not a reconstructed blend, but the color from an extremely well preserved bottle of Citadel Goblin Green. Note the old school flocking, too.

For the banners we had a bit of fun. There were only paper shield designs for two. For the rest, we got some designs and printed them on to decal paper. After that, we cut sheet metal and mounted the decals on them, painting to blend them in.

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

40k: We Painted Too Much Death Korps of Krieg

I remember back in the day how Forgeworld had a field in their checkout cart where you could tell them what mini you’d most like to see them make. Each time, I would always write “Greatcoat Imperial Guard.”

Then, we got them; the Death Korps of Krieg. It got people excited in a way the Elysians didn’t quite, and even the Blanche-inspired Vostroyans did. Over the years, we’ve seen a fair number of them.

Then this army came in. There’s minis in this that I didn’t even know existed. Below are shots of the whole force on a 4x8 foot table. Below those is a second gallery with close ups of each unit type.

This entire army was painted to Exhibition Quality.

You might have wondered why such mad art leads to Ultramarines… why doesn’t it, instead, lead to more mad art?

A lot of other people have thought this, too. Not content to sit on their brushes, they used them instead to create the art style known as Blanchitsu.

Desaturation. A jaundiced palette. Warhammer Squalor. Here are some examples:

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

40k: Painting a Blanchitsu-Style Warband

We all have an artist, scientist, or engineer we can’t stop talking about if someone makes the mistake of prompting us. Tesla. Lovcraft. Marcus Aurelius (I have friends who can’t stop talking about Marcus Aurelius). For me, the person I’m most inspired by these days is John Blanche. His art, and even more than that, his approach to art and lore-building.

Blanche’s 40k art is particularly mad. Here are some examples of his work:

You might have wondered why such mad art leads to Ultramarines… why doesn’t it, instead, lead to more mad art?

A lot of other people have thought this, too. Not content to sit on their brushes, they used them instead to create the art style known as Blanchitsu.

Desaturation. A jaundiced palette. Warhammer Squalor. Here are some examples:

Picture Credits: DeathZap.Co.Uk , SpyGlassAsylum.blogspot.com , PuttyAndPaint.com , and the incredible Nicky Grillet at NickyGrillet.com .

Now, you can imagine we don’t get a lot of requests to paint this way. We have no pictures like this on our site to invite this sort of work. GW does nothing to invite it either; its official art shows clean, clear painting depicting miniatures as realistically as possible.

So naturally, I had have it done on my own minis. Below are shots of an Inquisition warband done in a Blanchitsu style. It’s a mix old and new minis (1st edition Chaos Obliterators as servitors. New Sisters of Battle Arcoflagellants). Also, GW and non-GW figures - three are from Battle for Antares.

They’re so different from what we normally do, I feel like I’m looking at an art crime. I utterly love them.

These were done, as far as that makes sense given the art style, to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

40k Kill Teams: Some Black, Black Ops Kasrkins

These were a gift I did for a friend. He’s always been a strong supporter of the studio, especially in the beginning when were nobodies just trying to keep the lights on for another month.

We play a lot of One Page Rules Firefight in the studio these days (it’s like Kill Team, but much simpler to get into). It’s become the heart of a little wargaming community that’s sprung up around us.

If you ever wonder what the quality of painting looks like at our studio games, here you go :) .

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Some Painted Shadows of Brimstone

We’re doing a lot of Shadows of Brimstone these days. This was a fair sized order, reinforcements for an existing collection.

I’ve always found Shadows of Brimstone to be fairly inventive. Flying Frog is not afraid to take chances and try new things. I’ve not played the game but it seems designed to let them add fun factions and villains as they like.

These were painted to Showcase Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Age of Sigmar: Painting Lumineth

We painted up a Lumineth force recently. Lumineth are fairly difficult compared to some other Age of Sigmar armies. They take longer to paint (and are therefore more expensive) and can be a bit fiddly. They are, however, spectacular-looking.

These were done to Standard Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a commission miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Some Clash of Rage Boardgame Painting

Some Clash of Rage boardgame figures made La Boîte de Jeu. It’s a fair amount of chunky plastic. A lot to work with, but it comes with its own challenges when a lot is going on in a figure. These designs are quite strong - great value from a miniature-collecting perspective.

These were painted to Standard Quality.

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

miniature painting service, Conquest, Conquest Last Argument of Kings, City States, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

40k Kill Teams: Is that a Kroot rifle or are you happy to see me?

Got to do a Kroot Kill Team this month. The Kroot are fantastic and I’m glad they’re finally getting themselves a practical army. Not just some footnotes in Chapter Approved and some resin kits.

Can’t wait till a full army of these turns up in the building.

These were done to Exhibition Quality.

Shameless tags: miniature painting service, warhammer painting service, warhammer 40k painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Some Old School-Style Metal D&D Minis by Rpgelements

Recently we got sent these minis by RPGElements. At first I thought they were old school Ral Partha or Reaper, but they’re just done in that old school, chunky, classic style. They’re even made in pewter — yes, not resin. The good stuff.

It was nice to see and work with these hand-sculpted figures.

Theres were painted to Standard Quality.

Paintedfigs is a miniature painting service. You can send us your figurines to paint, and we also have painted miniatures for sale. We paint mainly Games Workshop (Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Bloodbowl, and so on), Star Wars, Warmachine and Hordes, and pretty much every Kickstarter and board game under the sun.

And we do so at the lowest rates on Earth (we’ve checked).

Shameless Tags:

miniature painting service, Conquest, Conquest Last Argument of Kings, City States, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service