'Professional' Miniature Painters , The Bane Of Professional Miniature Painters, And Other Musings

 I was chatting with my better and less opinionated half this morning about how one of my clients had been quite guarded when they first came on board.

It turned out, that they had previous issues with so-called professional painters in the past and were rightly wary of getting taken around the corner and having their financial (and metaphorical) trousers taken down.

This really pisses me off, as someone who paints every day over 46 weeks of the year and who has done so for well over a decade and for 30+ years on an ad-hoc basis before that.

As I have covered previously, there was a certain painter whose 'schtick' was the dead relative ruse, which when the same relative dies three times, becomes a bit of an obvious load of bollocks. 

I tried to help him out and stopped him getting himself de-bagged, but he then went back to his bad ways and the rest as they say is history.

When you do something for a living or purport to be 'professional' you should by instinct, treat your clients well and with integrity. If you take payment in advance, then you better fucking deliver as promised or have a lifetime supply of relatives and that ticket to Honduras booked, from the outset.

The problem with those who are less than professional, is that they muddy the water for those who strive to provide a quality service, every day. Hand surgery? Flu? Dead parents? You work through it and cry or heal on your own time. That's the way it is. 

I am very fortunate in that my clients (who, are carefully vetted before being accepted as such) know that I do what it says on the tin, and would if I asked, let me have some space for such things. I on the other hand, don't allow myself that 'luxury' because one day it may be something so serious that I have no option but to not report for work. 

True, I ignored my surgeon and have an oversensitive thumb after surgery 3 years ago, as a result, but that hand still works. Likewise, I respect my clients and recognise that they are spending on non-essential (can wargames be classed as non-essential? Discuss...) things and so I'm very aware that I have to give 100% every day, and do some overtime when they have a deadline, if I can. 

So, when some muppet leaves a client untrusting of other painters, it behooves me to make them realise that there are some serious painters out there, who don't see clients as cash dispensers. It's the right thing to do.

I have ddone this with the client in question, and we now have a very cordial and two-way (the only way IMHO) relationship, as is the case with the rest of my client base.

And don't get me started on people who charge a premium to splash some speed paint on a figure and charge a premium rate for it, and yes, splash is the most accurate description. Have some fucking artistic pride, doubly so if you are charging money for something.

I've done some shopping this week, and have bagged a very nice Medieval collection made up of mostly old Citadel and Foundry 15th century models at what I thought was a very, very reasonable price.

Coming in at 550 infantry and 24 cavalry, it will have the 100 Irish Kern split from it and uswed as the basis of an Irish army in it's own right, and I'll add a load more bill and bow to make two WOTR armies, which - of course - will no doubt also form another human kingdom in my fantasy collection when required.

There are 23 anachronistic models in there which, will automatically go into the fantasy boxes... 

Nothing wasted, even at 72p per piece.

I'm off to Partizan on the morrow, and I'll be looking to find some bnicely painted armies that I can cross of my wants list, on the tabletop sale, so if you are going and have something interesting in 15 or 28mm (25mm too, I'm not precious) let me know via a comment.

For the 15th show in a row, I have a small list of essential purchases, which I think equates to two packs of figures and a couple of packs of metal spears... C'est la vie.

Well, the day is passing and I want to get some Call Of Duty 'me' time in, so I'll say adieu for the present.

TTFN