White
Metal Games has officially thrown their hat into the painting
studio and assembly arena and joined the ranks of other studios like
Next Level Painting, Brush for Hire, and Stiff Neck Studios.“There's more studios out there than you think. But they're much harder to find than they should be. The problem is clients don't know how to find them and that's what I'm trying to change.”
I recently had a chat with Caleb, the
owner of White Metal Games, about just what it takes to run a studio.
And from even my brief conversion with it him, it was clear that
running a miniature studio isn't easy. The common misconception
about having your own painting studio is you just paint up a few
minis, throw them up online to sell, and boom, you're in business.
Nothing could be further from the
truth. This might work at first, but like any business, you need
clients to bring in the all mighty dollar, and to attract those
clients attention you need to advertise. Ebay will only take you so
far as Caleb was quick to learn.
“I was getting a lot of sales, but
they were the wrong types of sales. I was looking for gaps to fill
(IE, when GW didn't support their product line in some way), but I
had a niche business; 90% of my business was Tyranid models, like
tervigons and dooms and the like. Then the Necron codex dropped,
again missing key units, and I built a few hundred of those. I must
have built over 50 Triarch stalkers. I was ordering kits from you
(Spikey Bits) like crazy back then! But I wasn't drawing new
clients. I was just sticking my finger in the dam.”
For the first few years they were
around, WMG spent most of their efforts scratch building models,
offering custom conversions for figures that either weren't being
released (IE, the Tyranid Harpy, Primes, etc), or had their release
pushed back (I.E. the doom scythe, tervigon, etc). He sold most of
these through Ebay and attained top rater seller status, which he
still holds today.
“Sure, I had a lot of sales, but the
ebay fees will kill you. I needed to launch an official website that
I could show clients, so I stopped being perceived as an ebay
business and started presenting myself as a fully fledged miniature
studio.”
Then GW cracked down on vendors like
WMG, Chapterhouse, and others for piggybacking off GW's business and
borrowing their IP. WMG got the equivalent of a cease and desist
letter. But they didn't give up.
“I had to change my entire business
model, and go back to square one. I couldn't keep selling custom
made Dooms or the like. But legally GW can't stop you from painting
and assembling models as a business. They do frown up you converting
figures, so I had to change the language I used as well.”
If you bought a Doom of Malantai
conversion the first few years to codex was out there, you likely
bought one of his. How many did he build? “I lost track, well
over 200.”
These days, however, you won't find the
words 'conversion' on his site. He calls it 'transfiguration'.
“Even though converting is sort of
the official term used by the community, converting is kinda a
misnomer. Conversion has to do with changing the nature of
something, like changing ice to water or water to steam.
Transfiguration is all about glorify or exalting a piece, making it
stand out. We aren't melted the minis down, we're putting them up on
a pedestal and saying 'look at me!' At its root, I want to change
the way we think about the business, and that starts with the culture
I promote in my studio.”
There are plenty of vendors out there
that offer resin bits and replacement parts for you miniatures, but
there are few that offer custom hand built models made to order at a
price that is affordable for the average wargamer.
Check out this wicked wraithknight they
just built for a client. I'm not sure it would be able to drop that
bloodthirster in a one on one, but the pose is very evocactive!
“I call that one the Iyanden Smile.”
Caleb has been selling his models
through Ebay for years, but finally made the transition to a fully
armed and operational battle station . . . er, website about six
months ago. Even though his gallery (which has more than 9000
pictures!) is a little sparse on painted models, he is quick to point
out that his passion is more for building than painting.
“Even though I like to paint, I LOVE
to build. I can't wait to grab a kit so I can cut it apart and see
what I can come up with. GW gives you a lot of bits on every sprue,
which is great for a guy like me. It's like Christmas with every
kit.”
Not too long ago I put up this pic on
Spikey . . .
and less than two weeks later, Caleb
posted this . . .
Pretty sweet, even if those legs do
need a little gussying up. Nothing a few icons of Khorne or the like
won't solve.
Be sure to check out the discount page
too. WMG offers discounts for referrals, repeat clients, larger
orders. For most of his larger order he goes through Spikey Bits, so
if you buy an army off of him you'll get the kits for 20% off!
“You should never pay full price when
you buy an army though White Metal Games. You get your models at a
discount (through Spikey Bits), there are lots of discounts you can
apply from referrals to volume to just being a repeat customer. I
did a comprehensive breakdown of over 50 miniature painting services
out there, including the big guns like Blue Table and Next Level and
the like. Each studio has its perks, but nobody offers as many
discounts at we do and nobody state side is as competitive in their
pricing as we are.”
With the recent closing of Worthy
Painting, it clear that running your own hobby business is a bit more
complicated than sitting up a painting station in your garage.
“I have expenses like every other
business, tools, supplies. I also have to make samples of anything I
want to sell to show what we're capable of. So I may paint an army
that doesn't have a home yet. That's why we built such a
comprehensive gallery . . . so folks can see exactly what we've done
in the past and so they can buy with confidence. Our methods have
only gotten better over the years.”
Most of Caleb's most recent stuff can
be seen on his Flickr
page or through his youtube
channel. He's also got a facebook
page, an active twitter
feed, and they're about to launch a new podcast called War
Council with it's own
facebook page. “Social Media is the name of the game. I
spent twice as much time posting images and videos as I do actually
producing new stuff. But if nobody knows about it, it does me no
good.”
As far as plans for the future go . .
“We're still developing a method that
is unique to our studio. We're not at the level I want us to be . . .
yet. We want our minis to have our personal stamp on them, and so
we're still refining out method and technique, even though our
philosophy towards painting is that artistic style trumps technique.
But its crucial in these early years to keep building our portfolio.
And to do that we need clients, so to draw clients we offer the
lowest rates out there for painting.”
Caleb always signs off his videos the
same way. “Put your minis where your mouth is . . . It's just our
way of saying we stand behind our product.”
Be sure to check them out here.
Tell them MBG sent you and you get a special $3.00 credit towards
your first commission of $100 or more!