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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 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. Paints are equally important! Do NOT use enamel paints. They will leave your figure tacky and never fully dry, the chemicals slowly dissolving the soft plastic over time. You can use enamels in hard plastic (transformers in most cases) but that's it. Never use them on Marvel Legends or anything with soft plastic parts. I use Testors Model Master Acryl, Tamiya spray Lacquers, and Formula P3 by Privateer press. These are probably the best paints for customizing figures out there. Snag them online using the links below.
Tamiya Spray Lacquers at HobbyLinc Speaking of paints here's a quick rundown of the types and properties of the most common ones used. PVC Chinese factory paints: Lacquer Paints: Acrylic Paints: Enamels: Now with that out of the way I'll turn you over to Spidey who will take you through the basic painting steps.         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 white down as a base coat or primer the figure white. Dark base color 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. Normally I don't need to seal my customs but for those of you who want that extra protection against hand oils/dust I recommend 'Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic' spray sealer. Either the matte or satin works but I find Gloss can be too thick sometimes. I use this on Transformers and Marvel Legends when needed. However do NOT use it on soft rubber! This means you need to cover up or remove all soft rubber capes, hoods, collars, etc. Every other plastic type I've tried is fine but it will make those soft rubber parts sticky. Tamiya also makes a spray Lacquer sealer that works great. 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. People often use a drop of windex as well. When painting flesh tones use very thin coats. You can pre-mix skin tones or use the wash-method. For the wash start with a base coat of Testors Light Flesh (my favorite)and once dry do a wash of Testors Skin Tone Tint Warm over that. 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. The 'Paint Wipe' technique This is one of my favorite techniques to get a great unique look to your figures. Do a normal wash but just use a bit thicker solution and then wipe across the surface using your bare fingers or a damp rag before it dries. The effect is the wash stays thicker in the recesses of the sculpt and you get a stronger definition between colors than if you did a wash over the entire surface. Once dried go over and drybrush some of the original color to blend it all together and add highlights if you wish. This works really well for grimy shading and weathering between panels too. 
Metallic Colors Here's a neat trick to getting glossy metallic colors. Basecoat the figure all silver (I use Formula P3 Quicksilver or Tamiya Lacquer Chrome/silver). You can also do silver drybrushing or wash darker paint on beforehand so it has shadows. Once the silver basecoat is dry paint on a Tamiya clear color. Yellow will make gold and the other colors will turn out metallic letting the silver shine through as you see in the picture below. 
Remember all these techniques I've showed you can be used together to help you make your masterpiece. Experiment with different shades and effects. There's a million different ways to paint and you'll soon find your style. 
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