What you need to know if you are considering a garage kit commissions for a low price.

*This article is a translation of fantia's blog. Please note that the situation in Japan is different from the situation in other countries.

What are your top priorities when you are thinking about submitting a garage kit on hand for commissions? Imagine this.

• The lower the price, the better.

• But the higher the quality, the better.

• The creator is trustworthy or has a proven track record.

• The fastest turnaround time (3 to 6 months)

...You probably have roughly these four things in mind. It is almost impossible to do all of these things at the same time.

This is because popular painters are always inundated with work from dealers and commissions from the general public.

In reality, even those popular painters often have to work on their own projects as a side job.

In addition, the more skilled a painter is, the more experienced he or she is, and production costs tend to increase accordingly.

In addition, prices are rising due to the current inflationary trend in society, and the cost of paint as well as rent and utilities for the workspace necessary for production are increasing every year.

The announcement was made about 2 years ago at Gaianotes, and it is also mentioned in a press release issued in June 2024 at Fujikura Applied Chemicals (FOK, Accel S series), which I often use.

Of course, the overall cost of living is also on the rise. Amidst such a situation, the barriers to entry for modelers have decreased due to the spread of Zbrush and home 3D printers, the quality of works has increased due to the enrichment of paid and free online production courses, and the garage kit sales channel has expanded due to the enrichment of online events as well as offline events.

Furthermore, the entry of foreign sculptors has resulted in a huge supply of garage kits...

These events may increase the work of painters, but they are unlikely to decrease it.

So I must say that it is nearly impossible for painters with the proven track record, high quality, and even faster turnaround time (3 to 6 months) that many people are looking for to make commissions inexpensively at first.

Above all, we are now in an era where there is some kind of event every quarter, and new garage kits are being released at an unbelievable rate due to the increase in new entrants to the market. The situation is completely different from the past.

Painters, on the other hand, cannot mass-produce numbers digitally, and output cannot be automated. It is a labor-intensive job where everything is done manually...human labor is key.

The human day is limited and equally 24 hours long. For a full-time job, even if you sleep 7-8 hours and put most of the rest of your time into production, you are limited to 10-12 hours.

And nowadays, with social media and smartphone notifications, it is easy to lose concentration significantly, so the time available to work is unexpectedly limited.

So. We live in an age where we are overwhelmingly short on both time and hands. Again, it is impossible to produce quality works quickly and cheaply.

I would like you to consider once and for all here, why are there a certain number of people doing commissions inexpensively in this situation?

It is only because there is no such thing as a market price for commissions in the first place.

This time, I would like those who think that there must be a “market price for production services” that they have seen on some unfamiliar website to think about it.

Perhaps there are a great many people who look at the garage kit production agent's price that appears in a Google search and mistake it for a market price, but it is that person's price, not a market price. In addition, the auction bidding price is also different from that of the production agency and is not a reference.

I believe this article is of value to both the commissioning and receiving sides.

Note: Please note that the opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily negate the opinions of others.

Sources of responsibility and enthusiasm for work

Some ancient person once said, “Value is determined by labor,” but this has already been proven wrong in the modern age. The value of goods and services is determined by the balance of supply and demand.

However, it is also true that a job like a commission requires a certain amount of time (80-100 hours or more) to be invested in a single work.

┃Strong incentives are created if the work generates high value.

If this is the case, I personally think it is safe to determine the commission price based on the time spent on production. Therefore, I personally estimate the price based on the hourly rate. (There is a great possibility that I may change to a piece-rate system in the future...)

I believe that this way, the quality of the work is maintained, and the production cost is objective and commensurate with the content of the work.

In this case, the fee is usually quite large, so I feel a strong sense of responsibility and enthusiasm to produce work of the highest possible quality and to the client's satisfaction, so that I can work hard on the production.

In short, having a sense of responsibility commensurate with compensation provides a strong incentive to improve the work.

It is not just about getting paid, but also about honing your skills, and most importantly, it is fun, and your body naturally demands that you do the work...which is sometimes very important. It is a job that can never be continued only for the sake of reward.

I believe that by having a strong incentive in this way, one can hone one's skills and techniques, and strive to do better every day....

This is a great benefit to both parties, as the client gets a better works.

┃Poverty dulls the wit

On the other hand, however, there may be some people who continue to commission inexpensively and create works that clearly do not reflect current trends.

There are also not a few people who spend a lot of time and obviously produce high quality work, but do so at a low price.

In both cases, it is easy to deplete working capital, and it is easy to think only about what is in front of you, which leads to a low estimate of your own value and negative thinking.

In this situation, their thinking is quite dull and they may not be able to take initiatives such as introducing new techniques in the next production. I have been in this situation myself.

The world of figure painting is also an innovative field where new painting techniques are constantly emerging (sometimes they are adapted from other fields), and trends are constantly changing.

In a situation where one's thinking is dulled, one may stop thinking and create the same thing as before, thinking that “there is nothing I can do anyway...” Don't you want to quit this kind of bad spiral soon?

In such a situation, there is no incentive to improve the work, but only an escapist mentality of wanting to finish the task at hand as quickly as possible or to get off easy, and the result is often not satisfactory to the client.

This is a classic example of "poverty dulls the spirit. In this case, the client may complain even after delivery.

It is not hard to understand the feeling of wanting to complain when a client makes such a complaint after the work was done on a tight budget.

(In fact, I have seen such a situation with X, and I can only say that it is unfortunate).

I guess this is an unfortunate situation that has occurred because both parties cannot afford it. It is difficult to create a good work if there is no budget to begin with, and painters have to really think about where they can cut corners and not spend too much time on it.

To avoid this, painters should first stop accepting commissions at low prices. Ideally, you should refuse to do something that cannot be done. If you are offered a budget amount, you should clearly state that it is difficult to do.

I generally refuse to do things that I cannot do or am not good at. This is because I believe that it is dishonest to say that you can do something that you cannot do.

Therefore, it would be more beneficial to both parties if you first hone your skills and techniques and then try again for commissions.

Each work is like a crystal of time (life).

┃Not being able to explain your work to a stranger is tantamount to a sin.

This may be an exaggeration, but isn't it amazing to think about a work that took tens, hundreds, or even more hours to complete?

The color expressions used in today's games, anime characters, and Vtubers are very specific and the number of colors used is large, and the masking process takes an inordinate amount of time. If the poses are dynamic, you have to think carefully about how to fix them to the base. And packaging also takes a lot of care.

What if you wanted to do all of these things yourself? Would you want to do it?

Of course, there are a certain number of people who would like to do it, which is why people read my Youtube videos and this blog... but if you are too busy with your day job or other hobbies to learn how to assemble and paint garage kits, you may not have the time.

But if you are too busy with your day job or other hobbies, you don't have time to learn how to assemble and paint garage kits.

And I can't spend years improving my skills. I can't do eye painting. But I would love to have a three-dimensional figure of my favorite character from my favorite work. I want them so much I can't wait to get my hands on them.

If you think so, then you understand that commission services are not inexpensive, and how difficult it is to deliver high quality and quickly.

I believe that in most cases, the client thinks the commission fee is inexpensive because they don't know the background information in most cases.

The question of why the price is the way it is cannot be answered without knowing what the process is.

Naturally, there is no way for painters to give specific amounts on a case-by-case basis. That is why there is a disparity in information, which is probably why the mysterious “commission rates” are floating around in the air as vague rumors.

*The value of an item as inexpensive or expensive changes relatively depending on the person who sees it (age, income, amount of assets, etc.), so I will refrain from giving specific amounts.

Sometimes some people call the price of a PVC finished product expensive. This may be true when looking at it from one aspect. However, this is also a phenomenon that occurs because of the different aspects being looked at. In mass-produced products, it can be seen that the price is essentially kept very low because of the efficiency effect to keep the price down (this is probably the answer from an industry perspective).

As you probably already know, PVC finished products are mass-produced at overseas factories by cutting costs and improving efficiency as much as possible to achieve that price. What would happen if each piece was done by hand and finished by a single painter?

┃It's too much trouble, I can't do it, do it instead!" Commissions that give shape to your feelings.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, everyone has an equal amount of time, 24 hours. Most of that day is spent working on production, and it takes one to several months to complete a single work of art. It may be no exaggeration to say that it is part of the crystallization of time (life).

In my case, I do all the work alone. Whether it is video production, this blog, or artwork production. Some people are surprised and say, “I thought you were working in a team with other people,” but I do everything by myself. Work-life balance? I don't know. haha

It's all serious, so there is no time for rest, but I enjoy doing it. Every day is a test of my limits, but I have to get out of my comfort zone to break through.

Because of this, I feel that my commission rates will probably go up, but not down. Of course, the same is true for other painters.

In order to continue to do this for a long time with the goal of delivering better work to our clients, there must be an incentive to improve skills and techniques over a longer span of time. For this reason, we cannot afford to offer technology at a low price.

┃Cheap work can be just boring work with no passion for anyone.

Based on what I have said so far, there is a good chance that inexpensive commissions will not work as an incentive on the part of the painter and will result in inferior work.

That is why I, as a client, would be very happy if you have a feeling of "I would like to ask this person to do the job for me.

I don't think I would accept a job from someone who says, "I don't care who it is as long as it's inexpensive. Because there is no motivation or enthusiasm there.

This is also the opinion of other painters.

In the end, commission requests become more and more concentrated, with those painters who have a lot of work getting more work, and those who do not have much work getting even less work.

So what can we do to get out of this situation? This is something that must be seriously considered and implemented.

If you are serious about reading this, I believe that if you thoroughly eliminate wasted time and focus on honing your skills (thinking each time about how to do it well), you will see results sooner than you think.

┃Increase the number of things you are good at, even if it's just one thing.

You want to work hard on your commissions from now on, but you don't get a lot of work....

I'm sure there are people out there who are thinking, "Huh? I'm not like you, I'm not well known. You're bragging?

But think about it calmly. As I said at the beginning of this article, now is the time when a large number of new garage kits are released in a short span of time. Naturally, there should be any number of kits in your genre or on your favorite theme.

That's a great opportunity. Because the kits and themes that you are good at may not be the same as those that others are good at.

Therefore, if you work hard on kits with themes that you are good at and hone your skills, you will become well-known on your own, and there will surely be people who say, "I want you to make my kits! You will be well-known and there will surely be people who say, "I want you to make my kits!

I would be happy if we could study together to make that happen.

Afterword

This is a long story, but I will summarize some of the things to keep in mind for those who want to submit their garage kits for commissions.

• Given the situation, the price of production services for all painters is basically not going to get any cheaper.

• In order for the quality of the work to be improved, the painter must have a strong incentive to do so.

• If the painter does not have enough time and budget, there is a possibility of producing inferior work without benefit to both parties.

• There is no market price for production agency services (it depends on the skill of the painter and the difficulty of the kit, so it is impossible to give a specific figure for each individual case).

Some people may not think well of me when I write this. But I personally believe that there is no one who is liked by all people.

I personally think it is strange that there is no one who writes articles like this, so I wrote this one. If you change your point of view, you will see things differently, and your values will change. It also strengthens your imagination, doesn't it?

If you want to increase your commission work, now is the time to shut out the tempting content that appears on your phone and get to work.

Smartphones, especially social media, are full of time-consuming content anyway. You should quickly throw this stuff to bed or put it on airplane mode and put all your energy into your work.

It is very true that painters should only think about painting and their work, but they work very hard and diligently on other things to make that happen.

I need to do this much work to achieve my production goal for this month, I don't have time to watch X, I need to do cardio and strength training to build up the stamina to work for several hours straight, I need to take care of my physical condition and get enough sleep to improve my work performance, etc... It's important to take care of your physical condition and get enough sleep to improve your work performance....

The list is endless.

Anyway, as far as I am concerned, I would like to help you create a work of art that meets your wishes as much as possible. I look forward to working with you again when I resume commissions.