Factory Paint vs Custom Paint

[BadeaCelRau]

The topic of this poll and thread is which one would value more or keep in your collection.

Say you have the exact same sculpt, for example you have both Ashardalon (from the board game, painted) and the Huge Red Dragon from Giants of Legend. Or you bought the Young Blue Dragon from the Nolzur's unpainted line and had it painted to a top standard by a friend/artist but you also happen to pull the Young Blue Dragon from a Fangs & Talons booster. Maybe the blue dragon isn't the ideal example, since you can argue for keeping both (different sculpts), but I'm looking at big figures that you normally ever need only 1 of.

What typically happens to me : I paint a figure, get attached to the effort I put into it and end up keeping it. But I also have the rare prepainted figure that was released a decade ago and I am not prepared to let it go. Since I'm a hoarder, I end up keeping both. This shouldn't be a problem for medium/large figures but it's starting to become a problem for huge/gargantuan figures with all these lovely premium figures that are being released.

Here comes the question : Would you rather buy/keep the factory painted figure released by Wizkids because it was a rare/chase/premium? Or would you rather buy/keep a custom painted figure (painted to a higher standard)?

Right now I'm looking at an Ancient Brass Dragon "prototype". I got it in a lot of broken figures from a chinese seller on ebay. It's missing both it's base and peg and it's unpainted but primed in a beautiful matt gray primer. Since I already got the premium figure released with Tyranny of Dragons, I kept it around for years not sure what to do with it. I have everything needed to fix it, but unpainted it's unlikely someone will want it, so I need to give it a paintjob.

[berk the black]

The poll is a little hard to answer. A commissioned paint job is most likely going to be way superior to a factory paint job, but it is going to cost quite a bit more. I have way too many minis in my collection to paint myself or to be able to afford others to paint. So I voted factory.

But, if you are specifically targeting the “chase” rares of a set or premium set minis, then the price point might become more reasonable. Let me ask a question to you, How much would you charge for a hand painted Snail Flail, or an Adult Red Dragon? The PPM Flail Snail looks like it is going for around $45 right now. Could you acquire the unpainted version and paint it for that price? A PPM Adult Red Dragon can be purchased for around $70. I ask the same question about it, how much would you sell a handpainted version for?

[Brophy]

I'm torn on this question.
For me, I think this is a my time vs my money question.

Things that I need a bunch of, PPM is generally cheaper & less time consuming.

The unique and special pieces, I feel like I want the unpainted version so that I can make it my own.

I feel like I'm just starting to get a handle on painting and I'm truly enjoying it. Maybe this is a bigger piece of that question for me. I find joy in the ones I paint, the PPMs are just there because I might need them in a campaign.

[Aerodus]

I'm in the same boat.

I just bought a grip of Darkmantles because even though I could end up with a free model to print and paint up, it's not worth the time and effort. I'd rather pay the (slightly) extra cash to have all that done for me, even if it isn't done perfectly. Hordes of minis are a good place to cut down on that time and effort, and if time is money, I sure as hell feel like I'm saving it using this approach.

On the other hand, every time I DO end up painting a mini, I often like that one much more. A great example is the Marilith, which is the exact same sculpt as the one from ToA. Even though I aimed to paint it similarly to what WizKids had represented for the PPM version, I still made enough minor choices, and had slightly more precision on my paint job, that it looks miles better than the PPM.

So ultimately, it depends on where I am in the process:
-If I've already painted the model, then my paint jobs are "always" better, and I feel a greater attachment to the mini.
-If I have to choose between painting an unpainted mini, or paying more for a PPM, then often I'll choose the latter.

[Imbalance]

Similar mixed answer, for pretty much the same reasons.

Consider the three Q's: quick, quality, quantity - choose two.

As far as quality, it's not much of a brag to say my finished work would be superior to the same figure with a factory-applied paint job, but it's objectively true. That's where my gloating ends, however, as even my most hastily completed minis took me several hours compared to the efficient pace of mass-production, and any given assembly line probably cranks out more miniatures in an hour than I have in years.

That said, the biggest distinction may be one of pride when I, as a mere hobbyist, have scant few examples of my work that I would not consider "pretty good," vs. the hundreds if not thousands of bought minis that are flatly "acceptable for the price." So, if you're asking, when the time comes, do I part with the Icons Spectator or the one that I sculpted from scratch and painted myself; or the Grick; or some version of a Steel Dragon mini vs. the old pewter sculpt that I salvaged, varnished, and blended metallic and color shifting highlights over the scales to achieve a raw, gunmetal look? Mine will be the keepers almost every time. For new acquisitions, cost is always a factor - the aforementioned Spectator and Grick were whole cloth creations because their prices as singles were ridiculous. Where time is money, and my largest deficit, I still won't make the sacrifice for exorbitant secondary market prices. I'll go without until I can either make my own or luck into a really great buy. I simply do not see the value that most other collectors seem to be blinded by.

All that to say that, superficially, I don't have an up front preference. In hand, I'll hold on to my customs, and would rather waste time making more than waste money to save time. It's a hobby; not an investment.

[berk the black]

As my PPM collection has now crept over 8,000 minis, the time factor alone is enough to keep me from painting. Even just painting the bases black is starting to overwhelm me, making me pickier and pickier about any clear base additions. So since I’ve selected time savings as one of my two factors, the other has to be price, as the quantity of minis I have is well more than I could afford to commission someone else to paint.

[Aerodus]

For new acquisitions, cost is always a factor - the aforementioned Spectator and Grick were whole cloth creations because their prices as singles were ridiculous.

This is a big one, too, but it comes with a catch. I actually only started painting in the first place because I wanted a beholder, and there was no way I was paying to get one on the secondary market. My FLGS had unpainted ones for $5 USD, or a PPM one for $80. That was a no-brainer... or so I thought. I forgot about the start-up cost.

Turns out the other big consideration for minis is what people have on hand already. I now have (as many of the painters here do) a metric ton of paints, brushes, and supplies, not to mention space to paint, making UPMs an option in the first place. That turned out to be a huge cost I wasn't initially expecting, and a hidden one if all you're looking at is the sticker price for UPMs vs. PPMs. Now that I've paid it, though, UPMs are a bigger part of my collection, and I feel like I'm saving money on cheaper sculpts of expensive PPMs, whether or not that's actually true on paper.

[dafrca]

I do not and will not compare my pre-painted minis and any re=painted or newly painted commission painted figures.

The two are in so different realms it just seems unfair. Having said that, I have sold off more pre-paints than re-paints as often I bought miniatures to fill an OCD need to complete a list rather than buying miniatures because I liked them.

So I will answer your poll this way, I will buy and keep the pre-painted where I like the minis and keep the hand painted/repainted miniatures when I love the paint job done.

[Clint]

In terms of quality, it's not a contest. If you can paint at all, your work will be better than PPM, because you can afford to put the time into it that a factory worker absolutely cannot. The best PPMs that I have seen are mediocre at best and don't bear close scrutiny.

I enjoy painting miniatures, and I'm solid at it, so I want everything on my tabletop to be up to par. Not for my players, but because that's my jam. So I repaint almost everything, usually from the primer up, the only exception being some translucent minis like the DotMM Shadows. I'm not a collector in the sense that I care about the market value of miniatures, so I don't think twice about repainting some coveted rare that goes for a bunch money on the singles market (for, example, I immediately repainted the Cold Crone when I pulled her from a booster - great miniature!).

I do like it when a PPM is good enough that I can just do touch-ups rather than starting over with primer.

However, I totally get why lots of folks are happy with PPMs. If you're not into miniatures painting - and it is quite a time investment - then PPM are a great solution. For me, the painting is a nice way to chillax after work, so it's just something I putter away at fairly regularly.

In terms of cost, PPMs are actually much cheaper if you value your time at all. Also, paint and supplies aren't free. Again, because painting miniatures is a hobby I enjoy, I don't see this as an issue, but if painting is not fun for you, then this would be a huge issue. In that case, I guess the only question would be whether it was worth it to buy the occasional custom piece. I have considered the latter for some terrain pieces from Tiny Furniture because their work is so far beyond what I do.

[BadeaCelRau]

Thanks for the input, guys . I did not expect the poll to be close and I am happy to see that many of you appreciate a solid paintjob. Maybe it would have been different if I posted this in the PPM section

Since this forum started as a PPM collector's forum and paintjobs are subjective I thought members favor a lot the original pieces released by Wizkids/WotC.

[undead36]

My biggest thing is motivation and collection size. I love painting terrain and miniature but I have to have the drive and motivation to do it. I have to really crave painting a particular mini. I am very much a person that like painting one off miniatures. More than 4-5 of the same creature even if all 5 minis are different sculpts I will not have the motivation to paint them sometimes. Plus when i started painting I didn't have a lot of money so painting was the only way to get painted miniatures for me. Now I can afford pre-painted minis and there is no way I could ever paint the 2000+ miniatures I have in my collection. I get burnt out so fast.

[Clint]

Yeah, I have come to realize that I have a personality that is quite suited to this hobby. My job has me talking all day, so after work I often find it nice to be able to sit at the table, set up my paint station, put Critical Role on my laptop, and start painting. I'm also pretty fast because I used to paint whole armies for games like Warhammer, so doing a bunch of similar miniatures at once doesn't faze me. I just get into a groove - now I'm doing ten sets of eyeballs, that kind of thing.

[PanoramaPanda]

Thank you for posting this poll. I voted custom mainly because I have some extra time and I’ve grown to really enjoy painting. So now that I have bought plenty of paints, Nolzurs saves me a lot of money. Collecting the chase rares is just too expensive. Not that it wouldn’t be worth buying them, since they are steadily increasing in value and easy to sell.
These 12 Nolzurs cost $175. Plus paints. Plus time.

0113677D-CCB7-430C-A34C-7E46D5234172.jpeg (1.09 MiB) Viewed 3963 times

[Guyra]

I'm more inclined to go with what I've painted myself, or non factory paint jobs. I got with factory paint jobs if that's all I have, if it's an easy way to get more stuff ready for the table quickly, or if it's a significantly good factory paint job.

I'm very much into miniature painting as a hobby in itself, and I don't care too much about collectability, rarity, or collection value(though I used to).

If given the choice between two miniatures that are identical in every aspect but their paint job, with one factory paint job and one (assumedly better) paint job by myself or miniature painter, I'd easily go with the latter.

[BadeaCelRau]

Thank you for posting this poll. I voted custom mainly because I have some extra time and I’ve grown to really enjoy painting. So now that I have bought plenty of paints, Nolzurs saves me a lot of money. Collecting the chase rares is just too expensive. Not that it wouldn’t be worth buying them, since they are steadily increasing in value and easy to sell.
These 12 Nolzurs cost $175. Plus paints. Plus time.
0113677D-CCB7-430C-A34C-7E46D5234172.jpeg

I just realized that UPM which come later sometimes get a "fix", like the treant getting the proper base size or the death tyrant getting stalks for his eyes instead of that 2D shape around the head which I never liked. The again, will I trade away the Death Tyrant from my Dungeon of the Mad Mage prepainted board game? Not sure