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Welcome to my newly revised painting guide! Before we jump into it, take a moment and think 'comic book' in your mind. Upon each page you'll see different shades of color, shadows, sparkling highlights, and all the details that the artists convey while drawing their characters. You're going to do the same thing, but on a 3D object. Let's say you want to paint Deadpool's colors. Don't just think "I'm going to paint him red and black." Think about the different shades of red his suit would be in the comic. Remember you're painting something that's only about 6 inches tall so you won't get the shading and details unless you paint it on, just like you’re painting a picture on canvas. Preparation is also needed. You can't just take a figure out of the package and start painting it. You need to wash your figure with warm soapy water first. When a figure is made in the factory they use an oily lubrication on the plastic so the joints don't lock up. This stuff will keep your paint from sticking to the figure and you need to remove it first. I suggest using Ivory or Dial liquid soap and a soft nail brush to get in between the joints. Remember your action figure was designed to withstand being flushed down the toilet by a 3-year old, washing it won't hurt it a bit. Your next choice is to primer the figure or just paint over the factory paint. Depending on your preference, either can be done. I don't bother with primer but if you want to use it, the high quality sandable automotive primer won't make your plastic tacky and works great. Krylon and Plasticote are good brands of sandable automotive primer. What about brushes? I'm VERY pleased with Dynasty's 'Eye of the Tiger' line of brushes. They're handcrafted synthetics and come in every shape and size. Their 5/0 round is what I use for doing eyeballs and super-fine line work. Head HERE to pick up your sets for a very nice price! I suggest the 6-pack of rounds and the 6-pack of shaders, but they're so inexpensive you may want even more styles. I use Testors Model Master Acryl and Games Workshop paints. Snag them online using the links below.
        Important Painting Tips! Use multiple thin coats instead of one thick coat. This not only gives a super smooth look to the finished product, it also helps with durability. Thinning your paint is easy, just add a few drops of distilled water and mix them up really well. I give all my figures 2-4 coats depending on how much the base color shows through. This will give you super clean paint applications too on details sections like eyes, lips, etc. Stir your paints well each time you use them if they become seperated. I use the other end of my paintbrush with colors like skin tones, yellows, all metallics, and earth colors. Many testors base colors like black/white/red/blues don't seperate easily, but I still give those a shake. Avoid shaking paints that you can see where they've seperated and become watery. Stir those first and then shake them, otherwise you could end up with bubbles on your figure. When using a lighter color than the base figure (say yellow on top of a black Bullseye body) put a couple coats of Dragon White down as a base coat or primer the figure white. Dark bases show up through the paint and unless you're going for a really dark shade of your main color, white or a light grey is the best base coat over a dark plastic. A small drop of rubbing alcohol in a wash can help the wash stick to the figure better if you find the wash is beading up on the surface. The alcohol helps break the surface tension of the wash so it adheres better in some cases. When trying to paint flesh, again use thinned paints. Start with a base coat of Testors Light Flesh (my favorite), Centaur Flesh, or Base Tint Flesh Tone. Then do a wash of Testors Skin Tone Tint Warm over that and see how it dries. Another option is to mix some Burnt Sienna in with the original flesh tone and make a wash of that to put over the base flesh color. Either way you're looking to deepen the color of the flesh by use of a wash. Mixing some green in with the flesh helps with Italian skin tone, and some orange helps with a tan tone. I keep about 8 different flesh tones from Testors and Games Workshop on hand for mixing. The 'Paint Wipe' technique This is one of my favorite techniques to get a great unique look to your figures and it's very simple. Do a normal wash but just use a bit thicker solution and then wipe across the surface using a damp rag before it dries. The effect is the wash stays in the low sections and you get a more distinct definition between colors than if you did a wash and left it on the entire surface. Doing a paint wipe multiple times blends in the shadows and you can drybrush overtop afterwards. You can of course go over after it drys and drybrush in your highlights and come out with a very nice and complex looking paint job. This works really well for grimy shading and weathering between panels too. Gold Paint Here's a neat tip. Don't buy gold paint. Really, there's a way to make a much better metallic gold than the paints sold on the shelf. Go out and buy some Clear Yellow paint. Both Testors and Tamiya make it. Base coat the object silver (Testors Argent Silver works great) and let it dry completely. Paint over the base coat with the clear yellow paint and y ou'll have the best looking gold this side of the Aztecs.  Well that's about it! Remember all these techniques I've showed you can be used together to obtain the ultimate in Customized Figures! Experiment with different shades and effects, there's a million different ways to paint. 
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