Now in my line of work I come across an awful lot of figure painters. Some very very good indeed. Some not so and some middling. Prices are the same ranging from a good deal to WTF!! is he having a larf ! Now all of these are of course subjective value judgements not facts. People will pay for what they want so some bloke will be quite prepared to pay £30.00 for a single 28mm foot figure. Especially if they only want a dozen for their whole"army" . Personally I won't. Hell will freeze over first. Of course I can paint a bit myself but do not have the stamina to be a full time painter. I like to paint what I fancy when I fancy and it is never- for me- about "finishing an army". No army of mine is "finished" unless I sell the lot, usually because it has not been used on the table for a few years. As I have said previously once I sort stuff out quite a few things will have a "For Sale" sign over them . This will include units by some professional painters past and present.
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| These little 10mm dudes are part of James Main collection. The figures are Old Glory Gradscale 10mm. Jim has also painted numerous units for me and does take commissions but is not a full time painter. He is a builder by trade. |
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| These 15mm Old Glory Africans were painted for me by Jez at Shakespear Studios. I have always found him very reliable. |
However over the years I have used more than a few painters and even pursued one through small claims court- which amongst other things showed me that there are painters out there who are complete arseholes.
To counter that however many are not. Many are sterling chaps.. Of those in my collection who are still working full time as figure painters I heartily recommend the following Shakespeare Studios- Jez does the most excellent 15mm moderns including camo and is tasty at other stuff too- including Napoleonics. He did my Falkland War and Rhodesians as well as African Guerrillas. Oh and a lovely battalion of Austrian -Hungarian Grenadiers. All are on the Old Glory UK website. Dave Jarvis painted stuff for me before he went full time and before I was OGUK. I only have 1 unit of his left- again on the website these being Sikh Wars Ghorracharra cavalry.
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| These Sash and Saber 28mm Rebs were some of the first models Darren did for me back in the 1990s |
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| Old Glory 28mm Turkish Dellis- painted again by Darren Taylor |
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| A bit of wierdness- Cairo Janissaries and Mamluks in 28mm . Old Glory figures again painted by Darren Taylor. The Napoleon in Egypt project there were for stalled a few years ago. I may revive it. |
However when I was going back through my collection I realised that I have quite a few units painted by Darren Taylor- a chap I thought had stopped working- but I was wrong as we reconnected over a mutual client recently. Darren - even as I type is still at it. Over the years he has painted all sorts for me ACW, ECW Ottoman Turks and Napoleonics. The header picture for my first post of this blog are Kings Lifeguard that he painted for me in the late 1990s - still going strong.
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| These Sash and Saber Prussians were painted for me by Jim Main - as Hessians for my AWI collection. |
So yes there are plenty of painters out there doing a fine job but me I still like to paint my own. Some how I gives me a better sense of ownership of the units or armies in question.
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| More of Darren's Sash and Saber ACW in my collection. |
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| These 40mm Thirty Years War figures - Romanoff ans Sash and Saber were painted by me. Included here simply to prove I do not only use painting services. |
