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

Warhammer Fantasy: Warrior of Chaos Miniature Painting

359 models. Each with a unique paint job.

If you’re a Warriors of Chaos / Slaves to Darkness player tired of waiting for new chaos figures teased three years ago, then you might be close to doing with this gentleman did.

He sent us a group of mainly classic figures so he could get on with it and start playing.

It was nice to see some of these older figures, especially the metal Chaos Knights. I don't think we've seen those in the studio in over 10 years.

These were painted to Exhibition 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).

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Standard Quality: Painting Starcadia Quest

We do quite a bit of work at Standard Quality. Here is some; a fair number of minis for the board game Starcadia Quest.

Chibi miniatures like these are more challenging to work on than regular wargame infantry characters. This is because their surfaces are much larger. This makes painting them more light painting tanks. However, this also makes them excellent practice for junior painters to work on getting even coverage, when basecoating.

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).

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miniature painting service, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Warhammer Fantasy: Classic Dogs of War and More

Warhammer fantasy is alive and well. These are some classic minis we painted up recently. Many are Dogs of War / Regiments of Renown, but there are other Warhammer odds and ends. There is even a Mordheim Witch Hunter Captain. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen him "in the pewter."

These were 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

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Some Bone-Shelled Tyranids for 40k

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This was a small but challenging project. We were asked to match a color scheme created by Den of Imagination. Everything was easy except the detailing on the carapace. That took a few tries to get right. I’m happy with the final effect - and so was the client!

These were painted to Showcase Quality.

About Paintedfigs:

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).

3d Printed and Painted Scatter Terrain - For Sale!

3d printing AI Art. Hand painting.

We’re starting a terrain printing and painting side business.

Designs by Forbidden Prints

Forbidden Prints is a talented designer on MyMiniFactory who specializes in terrain files. Here’s a little video he made on who he is, why and he’s cool:

We like his work and got a commercial license to sell the prints. We’re starting small with some scatter terrain, specifically with pieces from his “Ruins of Empire” scatter set:

In time — and if people like the price point — we’ll move on to large buildings and entire table sets.


Posters by Midjourney

Prompt: 40k, World War Poster, USSR Poster, Soviet

To give these a bit more character we prompted some posters to shrink down and put up. For most we went with a red, Soviet theme to offset the blue tones in the piece.

We want little touches of ‘after-painting’ value addition to be our thing. It’s not enough to passively print and paint. The pieces need to feel real, lived in. We have more value-add touches we can do, with larger pieces, especially. We’ll showcase them over time.

Get the Set for $175

You can buy it here for $175, and that includes the shipping cost (the board is not included).

These terrain pieces were painted to Standard Quality.

Right now there’s just the one set. However, you can preorder a set, if you like. Orders will be printed on a first-come-first-served basis; so, we ask for your patience as we add more printers.

We’re not taking custom printing orders at this time.

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

Big Fantasy Buildings - Some Tabletop World Miniature Painting Service

We got to paint these delightful buildings from Tabletop Terrain. They’re made in sections that can be removed and used for gaming / diorama-making.

The pieces have a great deal of detail. The design is charming, with little secrets and tucked in here and there for the painter to discover.

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 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).

The Sylvaneth Caught Fire (Again)

Some reinforcements we painted for an unusual Sylvaneth army.

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 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 Gotham City Chronicles

Just some reinforcements we did for a Gotham City Chronicles client.

These were done 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).

Marvel Crisis Protocol Painted at Exhibition Quality

We’re painting quite a few Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures for a store and Youtube channel. These aren’t even all of them!

This was our first time doing the MCP Sentinels. It was a thousandth time painting Kingpin. It feels like Kingpin is in every order these days.

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).

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Painted Some Eldar

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It was nice to paint some Eldar for a change. They feel a bit like a retro army to me, but these have some of the new sculpts. Either way, these were nice to see taking form.

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).

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We Painted Some Leagues of Votann

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We have painted for Lucas Como, our shipper and yours, for 17 years. For most of that period we’ve added to existing armies or established schemes. Lucas has been gaming a long time - there aren’t many armies of his he wasn’t already collecting before we crossed paths.

The Leagues of Votann though are an all-new army. These are the first of Lucas’s Votann minis. He had strong ideas about how he wanted them to look… and I had strong ideas, as well. We worked together on this (I think with him humoring me to some extent) and here’s what we came up with!

Most of these are GW minis but some are third party 3d prints Lucas sent us.

There’s a lot more we’ll be painting for this army, but we’re finally ready to show these off.

These were all painted to Exhibition 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).

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How We'll Be Painting Exhibition Vehicles From Now On

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Something interesting that came up while painting the large Ultramarine army was a new style of painting armor plate. It looks like airbushing but its done with regular brushes.

We very much liked the look; its more modern and looks cool. So, we got all the Exhibition-quality painters doing it, and now its part of the house style.

If you already have vehicles painted in our usual style, please don’t worry. We are happy to paint reinforcements in either style. For new Exhibition armies though, unless otherwise requested, we’ll be doing this look.

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).

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We Painted Too Many Ultramarines!

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We had the good luck to find ourselves working on a huge, all-Exhibition Ultramarines army. 5 painters worked on these. Along with them were 3 builders, and the whole admin team.

Enjoy!

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).

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Some Chaos Space Marine Painting

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We painting a little Chaos this month. Reinforcements for armies we’d already painting.

For one order, it was some infantry for a weathered, grimmer, take on Black Legion.

For the other, it was some Iron Warriors armor. For the armor we printed and added some spikes, and did some freehand striping.

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).

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Painting Wolfspear Space Marines

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We got to do some Wolfspear Space Marines recently. The client was kind enough to send a White Dwarf copy for us to get a bit more background, and to better match the color for the scheme for them he liked best.

3d Printed Bases

The brief was to give them Space Hulk-style basing. We came up with a simple version that would cost the client no extra. However, we knew we could do a lot better if we picked out some installation bases for the job.

So, we found some online and did a test print. The client compared the two and picked the printed version. He then bought the necessary 3d files from the designer (otherwise we would be in violation of ‘fair use’). We then printed and painted up the bases.

This army was painted to Showcase, and Exhibition 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).

Painting Ships of Akarios by Oom Games

We got to paint some Ships of Akarios recently. The ships have a nice, arcade feel to them. They’re anime without being too anime (if that makes any sense). Straightforward to paint with a lot of interesting surfaces.

These were painted to Showcase 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, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

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Painting Black Templar Crusaders (At Last!)

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We hadn't done any Black Templars for 9 years. This created a problem; people would ask "hey, I'd like some Black Templars done!" But what could I show them? Firstborn marines we painted 15 years ago? It created a circular problem. Because we didn't have Black Templars to show as proof of concept, we didn't close any Black Templar orders.

This post is me putting a HARD STOP to that nonsense. Here are some Black Templars we just finished!

They are particularly badass because the client showered them with after-market parts and custom bases. They are, frankly, the nicest Black Templars we’ve painted in years. They are, frankly, the only Black Templars we’ve painted years.

This army was painted to Showcase, with a few Exhibition Quality pieces.

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).

We Painted an Andy Chambers-Style Skaven Army

359 models. Each with a unique paint job.

The true delight of nostalgia isn’t going back to something treasured. It’s going back to something treasured that wasn’t possible at the time. This is the joy the younger you waited so long for that they’re gone, and you must have it for them.

As such, we felt quite honored to be commissioned to help with a Skaven army to be painted in the style of Andy Chambers's Skaven army in White Dwarf 137. It was an Oldhammer Warhammer Fantasy army with 359 figures. Almost all of them were out of print metal castings that we had never seen before.

Here’s how we did it.

Who is Andy Chambers?

Andy Chambers a game designer who has worked for Games Workshop for over 25 years. He helped create 40k, among other games, and adores Skaven, Tyranids, and Orcs, which are also my favorite armies :) .

 One of the things he is best remembered for is his Skaven army which was showcased in WD 137 in 1991. The army is a riot of colour, styles, and character. No two figures in it are alike - it is, legit, and all-character horde army. The army inspired many gamers to not only start collecting Skaven, but to also try and create their own Andy Chambers style army.

Our brief was to do one. Straightforward yes? Sure -- but which Andy Chambers army?

Which Andy Chambers SKAVEN army?

Lighting affects photos. How well a photograph captures the brightness and tones of something is very much a function of the amount and quality of the light at the time. Photography literally means "drawing with light," for a reason.

Then, there's printing. Even if someone takes a fantastic photograph, how well will that be translated, in print? Go look at any of the yellowed, saturated comics of the 1970s and 80s and compare that to the quality of any graphic novel, today, and you can see the problem. A photographer can do their best to capture what they’re seeing. The printer, however, will then just shrug and stamp on the photographer’s dreams.

Recall the outstanding and inspirational artwork by John Blanche in the Mordheim rulebook. He actually did all that in color. Blanche never intended for the Mordheim rulebook to be black and white. What we understand of the early years of GW art is constrained by the limits of the publishing tools available to GW at the time.

Herein was our first problem. What color are these minis below?

Is this what they actually look like, or is that just the photography?

Or, is it just the printing? Or both?

Fortunately, Andy Chambers later reshot his Skaven. Here are some images of what the army actually looks like, as shown in John Wombat’s blog post and interview with Chambers:

This however created a new problem. The Andy Chambers army as it actually is, is not the army that people were inspired by. They were inspired by the yellow-looking army in WD 137. This has lead to interpretations like this, by Nico on his Realms of Chaos blog:  

In the end, we decided to go for composite look. Part ‘actual’, part ‘inspired by.’


Decoding Andy Chambers’ Painting Style

No one interested in a practical outcome has time to paint every single figure in a horde army in a unique style. Chambers was no exception here (just look at how he painted the base trims…).

We studied images of his work and realized that his painting was actually quite straightforward. What he had done to create so much character was to employ a set of different techniques that he mixed and matched across all the figures. No one figure has them all applied, or in the same way. The net result was a horde army of characters.

Unit Colour Schemes

This was the easy bit. First, we had to work out what general color schemes each unit had. For some, we had to "reverse engineer" the colors from the White Dwarf images. For others, it was more straightforward, working off Chambers later photographs.

Stylistic Elements (this is the good stuff)

This took bit more time. Going over images of his work, we noticed the following elements:

Each element was applied with variations. No one figure had every element, and the variations in execution, added another layer of uniqueness.

So herein was the key. We just had to:

-Mix the figures in each unit, into small groups

-Apply a different stylistic element to each group

-Mix the figures together, and split them again into small groups

-Aply a a second round of different stylistic elements

-And so on.

We drew the line at three styles per figure unless they were HQ/character minis. This was because otherwise the figures would become too busy, and become visually hard to read.

Here is how it went!

This army was painted to Showcase Quality.

It was fun to try and get into another painter’s head and try to figure out what he had been thinking. We learned a lot doing this commission. It was an honor, and speaking for myself, one of the high points of my time at Paintedfigs.

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).

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Painting Archon Studios' Chronicle X

Chronicle X by Archon Studios is a tactical board game set in a sci-fi 1980s where humans are fighting an alien invasion. The players have to not only manage their heroes, fighters from the group Chronicle X, but also their base, using whatever they can find to build and expand it. It can be played both cooperatively and versus.

The miniatures are bold, they have a pulpy, 80s and 90s feel but with an updated look. The design is high quality and thoughtful. No one tried to bang these out in a hurry. You can see the intentionality (if that’s a real word) the designers took with each figure. They are all mid-movement and their poses imply a narrative.

These were painted to Exhibition 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, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service

Painting Battle Systems' Core Space Miniatures

More and more, we are seeing miniatures for the Battle Systems game Core Space.

Core Space by Battle Systems is a science fiction miniatures game set in a dystopian future where humanity lives in a space station, and the players are traders trying to survive. Players have to manage their resources, upgrade their ship and equipment, hire crew and make trade deals, all while trying to avoid or fight off other traders and hostile alien forces.

Some of the earlier sculpts I felt were a bit simplistic, but they have left those days far behind. These figures have excellent detail and the robots in particular have a distinctive look and feel.

These were painted to Exhibition 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, miniature painting services, miniature painting commission, professional miniature painting, miniatures painting service