My First (Serious) Attempt At Figure Painting! Miniature Noob In Action 

This video is a classic uncle Nightshift: Paints a figure on a level many wargamers with hundreds of figures under their belt won't archieve and is still telling everyone that it is not that good... Please never change XD

Papa Nightshift: oH goD I'm So BaD AT PainTiNG FiGurEs. Also papa Nightshift: makes a plastic figure look like a real human being

This guy's a genius in my opinion. Wish I had 1% of his skill.

Night Shift: Chipping is part of my religion, even on figures I will find something to chip

Humility, honestly integrity. He even films his breakdowns. That's why you're such a damn good tutor. You're authentic. People relate. Oh, did I mention also an Epic modeller?

“I shall call him, Mini Martin!” -Martin, probably

When his first figure is better than ones you've been making for a year😔 Anyways, looks amazing!

like i said when you asked, it looks great in giving the model life

Model companies: *makes specific paint colors* Modelers: “I’m gonna use a concoction of several paint colors for this”

Favourite time of the week 👍🏻

Me: should be paying attention in school Night shift: uploads Me: well alrighty then

Camera work was great; so many figure painting videos where it would've helped if the camera was a lot closer.

As a figure modeler (primarily), it was fascinating to watch your work here. Your excellent brush control, your light touch, and your patience served you very well on this figure. This is a strong result for nearly any painter and a remarkable result for a new figure painter. I was especially impressed by your understanding of subtle color variations, which most painters take quite a lot of time to develop. My guess is that you are already practiced in actually seeing the colors that are present rather than just assuming that you already know what should be there. A couple of things: * Every miniature figure goes through a stage where it looks ... not good. Really not good. This doesn't change with experience; even the best painters I know have this happen. All you can do is trust that you will eventually work through to the other side and find the results you were looking for. This is what you did here, but I wanted to mention that it's very likely to happen with _every_ figure. The only thing that gets better is that you get used to the feeling. * If you want bright, saturated reds (or most colors, really) when painting over a dark substrate, you might try a tonal underpainting with white, then glazing the color over the top rather than mixing the white in with the color. The latter will tend to desaturate the color, while painting in a translucent color over a light to dark gradient tends to give you much more vibrant results. With a worn uniform, as here, a bit of desaturation can be useful of course, since those colors tend to fade pretty quickly on cloth. I mention this mostly in case you want a less faded result in a future figure. Brilliant start with figure painting that I think adds quite a lot to the excellent tank model.

A suggestion for the future. I recommend painting a bit of a shadow on the tank where the hand is covering edge of the hatch. It helps sell the relationship between the figure and the vehicle.

My friend you are too humble, it looks great! There's always room for improvement but your foundation is truly impressive.

“My first attempt” *paints this perfectly as he has already done 100000 more before* “Yes totally the first time”

Black leather i use English uniform and black with a wee touch of brown, gives you a nice leather effect. Great video mate....

for a year i'm "trying" to paint figures of all sort of scales, and usually having fun but after watching your video with your FIRST figure I feel sad ;-) .... its not fair :-D

Never painted a figure before. Immediately paints a better looking figure than i have in 23 years 😄

Not bad at all. I like the result, and by using different colors than “how you s’posed to do it” you made Hans uniquely yours. Great video!

You're a much better figure painter than you give yourself credit for.

I don't know what kind of weird perfectionist you are, but the face looks incredible. Especially the eyes are some of the best I've seen on a model

You are not only a great painter, your presenting style is top shelf too. Entertaining until the last frame. Thank you for that! 🙏

This figure looks absolutely perfect. I love the wires you added for detail. The finishwork is fantastic! ❤

I love watching you, even the older videos, I always learn something from watching them. I really need to practice more with my figures. I’ve just got a panzer tank and it comes with THREE TANK CREW figures. My wife bought me it and said “ here love you’ll enjoy doing this won’t you. I couldn’t tell her I’d never painted a figure or had any bloody idea how. So somehow with the help of your video and the hand of god I might just win this one. Thanks for sharing

Nightshift this was the most pleasing video to watch yet!! Beautifully executed and thank you for the sharing!!

I paint minis since i'm 12 years old and i cannot have a result like this. I hate and love you at the same time. Seriously it's really nice and it's the best tutorial for 1/35 minis i've ever seen

That's a stellar result for a first timer... After years of trying to find a tutorial video on painting figures (the whole, not just the face) - this is now bookmarked as my go-to video. Thanks for putting this out!

He looks absolutely amazing! Blends to the tank seamlessly, Great job.

As a passable figure painter and tragically bad armour modeller. All I’m going to say is you’re killing me. Outstanding job mate. Gday from Australia. Keep the vids coming,they’re a great help to people like me.

The video and your joy is making this video absolutely fun to see. Thnx 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Love your channel, love your techniques, love your humor, which is the characteristic of your space. Every episode is a master class with laughs.

Great work! You could also use one of your lighter grey tones watered down for a glaze to apply to his jaw and upper lip for 5 o'clock shadow

Thanks for the tutorial. I've watched it over and over because UN is a master despite his humility. I've got a long way to go but now have something to shoot for. I highly recommend this tutorial.

Always Prime Flesh areas with white! It reflects light back up through the paint layers adding a more 'lively' look!

I've been a professional Artist for over 40 years, and I can say that you did a great job!! Most people destroy their figure by really screwing -up the eyes badly. Looks good, Mr. Shift!

FINALLY !!! Thank you for explaining this technique in layman's terms... I have struggled with this for years but your explanation of the way sunlight shines on the figure makes so much sense... Thank you...

Almost had me in tears at one point, so glad it had a happy ending!!

From what I've seen by your past attempts on armor, your figure painting is still plain awesome!!! It's always good to challenge your abilities

The moment your Panzerwaffe Uniform for reenactment at home dosent look as good as the one on a Model.

Excellent M8...I aspire to that level of detail and realism 👍

“I’m bad at this” Proceeds do paint photorealistic figure

This man was born to make models. He does something totally new to him and it comes out better than it would if someone with years of experience in that topic did it.

finally, he is alive! good result and changes a lot the presentation of the model. 👏👏👏

Yes thank you Mr . Martin, you have given me that kick in the ass to try. You have returned the fun into my hobby for me.

This and the tiger 1 build have so helpful. This video has given me the confidence and encouragement I needed to tackle figures. Thank you for all your videos. I'm definitely a big fan of your work.

I always enjoy your videos! Thank you for taking the time to publish them!

Thanks Night Shift, you've just made loads of us give up figure painting!

Well I don’t know about any better videos out there. I have loved watching this. Nice explanation through out . 👍🏻

You sir are a master! The commander looks real and the tank is fantastic. Your work and artistry are amazing.

Love you're video and the Techniques and knowledge of how to do certain painting

Good point about using quality, well sculpted figures.

For someone that’s never painted figures you did a really nice job. This Alpine figures are nice. Thanks for inspiring me to step my game up.

Thank you so much for your videos! My first model ever came today (It is a King Tiger) and I've been watching a lot of your videos, as I'm gonna need lots of info to make sure this model comes out looking well.

Awesome video...your videos are great. So informative and now I'm gonna head to my work bench and start working on figures....I look forward to Friday's with your videos. Keep up the great work

Absolutely amazing!!

Absolutely amazing buddy!!! Beautiful job can't wait to see the whole diorama!!!! Flawless job!!

I'm an experienced figure painter and I think this is a first class demo foe beginning figure painting. Well done, Night Shift!

Amazing - just quite simply, amazing - Thank you!

Great tip which has helped me with face painting (the 1/35 scale variety!) is to buy yourself a pack of Hornet 1/35 (or 1/32) scale heads and just practice painting them. I found it to be a very useful exercise and its also encouraging to see the improvement from the first one you paint to the last.

Total excellence and great instructions about what you accomplished

This is fantastic, Martin. Just wonderful!

Being a painting newbie, this looks like magic and great tutorial.

Superb work and interesting techniques from your armour modelling which are new to me. Thank you .More please! Take care and keep well. Rob from .UK

Wow, for a first-time figure painter, you're pretty amazing!! I've been at it for a while, and yours is far superior (dang)... that's why you're a master, beautifully done and let's see what happens after a few more!

Uncle Nightshift, you did an excellent job. You’re artistic reasoning is genius. You adjusted and made it happen. Well done my friend.

Thank you for turning me on to this figure technique for painting flesh tones. I've been having a lot of fun with it. The Flat Flesh + wash is a great starting point for a figure. I will be using that from now on.

Technical and funny - the best way to learn. Awesome video

"first time painting figures" . . . . . . Nailed it!

for sure it is the best tuturial for figure painting ...you are wondeful Martin

Excellent results, sir! As always, thank you for sharing. Steve

The face COMPLETELY transforms when you add the blue. Amazing job!!

LOL "4 days makes me an expert" - in the world of the internet and youtube it makes you so much more!

I like your techniques on how you painted this figure. It works for me.

Unbelievable that this figure is the first one you did after a very long time (or at all?) - It looks great! And I am always surprised, how much "life" just one figure puts into an armored model and makes it far more interesting instead of keeping it "naked". Great work!

Absolute legend. You're an artist.

Wow! Awesome job! Looks amazing!

Outstanding. You did a wonderful job.

It looks absolutely amazing!

Looks great, cant wait to see you future figures!

Bravo! You are so talented. One of the best figures I have seen - and on your almost-first try!

I’m painting a set of figures today! This turned out so well, I may have to take some of these techniques...

Amazing job ...given me some ideas for future projects thank you Martin

That is honestly the most realistic looking model figure ive ever seen any modeler paint. Splendid job!

Brilliant work, as always!! 👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻

Tu figurku jsi zvládnul epesně :-) Skvělá práce. Doufám, že v budoucnu bude více takových videí.

Looks fantastic. Thanks for such an great video for figures.

What a great way to finish off a build. Great work on the painting of the figure. 😎

Thanks for a few hints and tips, always enjoy, keep it up 👍

Simply awesome. Thank you.

Saved to revisit time over. Brilliant result. Inspired me to try harder!

It turned out great! Thanks Uncle Nightshift!

I really watch all your videos and although my English is a bit basic I can learn and get very good results. Best virtual classes without your youtube videos my friend 🤩🤩🎨🤗🙌

Was just watching Miniac's recent black and white painting video, where he sponged some chips on and then connected them with a brush, which instantly reminded me of you. I then realised it is Friday so your video should appearing any second, then it did!

What an awesome job!

Looks bloody awesome, thanks.

Adding Hans is the cherry on top! I've found that @andreaminiatures makes some great kits for layering different colours, like leather, skintones, black, et.c. It sure makes life easier for a noob like me. Keep it up!

wow!!! nicely done Mr.Night Shift I'm waiting for the next episode!

The face of the miniature looks great. Interessting to see you approach this. Your workflow for the face seems a little easier and faster than what I would do. Learned this years ago, but forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder. XD

This is BRILLIANT! Great job. Notes taken for my own fig's.