How to paint 1/72 figures

This tutorial will show you how I paint my 1/72 scale figures. This method that you are about to read is the final product of many hours of experimenting, practicing, and violating (formerly) perfectly respectable figures. I here take my hat off to these poor martyrs, victims of the unskilled hand of a Beginning Painter, the scourge of all little plastic men. Their sacrifice was not in vain! This moment of silence concluded, on to the tutorial.
(NOTE: Obviously, this tutorial is dealing with modern era figures (specifically the Modern Russian Spetsnaz by Italeri) but the general ideas stay the same for any figures you wish to paint).

STEP 1: Wash the figures

When you have first taken your figures off their sprues, they will be coated with an invisible layer of anti-stick stuff that will keep your paint from adhering to them. This coat was put on them by the manufacture to keep them from sticking to the molds that they were formed in, but it will also keep you paint from sticking, so wash it off. This is simple; a sink of hot water and a few squirts of standard dish detergent will do the trick. Scrub them gently with a little brush. Dry them thoroughly.

STEP 2: Remove flash and excess plastic
Flash is the excess plastic that sometimes stays on a figure after they have been taken from the mold. This can ruin your figure's final appearance, so you must remove as much as possible now. Using a sharp craft knife or box cutter, very carefully shave off the flash, bit by bit. Be careful that you know what you are cutting  - you don't want to cut off some important part of the poor guy's plastic anatomy.

STEP 3: Base figures
This step is optional but highly recommended. See my page on basing figures for more details. At this point int he process, I don't bother with detailing work on the bases - save that for later. I usually just throw some multi-purpose filler around the figure's base, making the whole thing relatively level. Before the filler dries, press sand or gravel or both gently into the filler; no matter if you flock the bases afterward or not, this will create a great textured effect later on.

STEP 4: Seal figures with glue

Figures after glue wash has been applied

This step is optional; I'm not sure how much of a difference it really makes, but I generally do it anyway, just to be on the safe side. This preliminary coat will cover up any bits of anti-stick stuff that may have been missed by your bath, and will also provide a good, solid foundation for your subsequent layers. The one problem with this is that it can sometimes obscure details; if you're working with figures with fine, tiny details, you may want to skip it and take out that one extra layer of obscurity. Before mixing up the glue, designate an old or un-loved brush that will from then on be your glue brush. Don't use one of your good brushes for this. Just mix up some water and white glue in a jar lid or palette, using a ratio of about 1 part water to 2 parts glue, and add a few drops of paint so it will be obvious which parts you painted and which parts you didn't. Coat on figure. After giving them their first coat, go back and gently brush the excess glue off where it will have pooled in crevices.

Here's another tip: when painting more than one figure at once (and I always recommend that you do no less than 5-10 figures at one time) line them up in order of wettest-to-driest figures after paining. Thus, when you paint glue on the first figure, place him farthest from you. The second figure you paint, place in front of the last one, and so on. In this way, you will always know which figures are dry and which are wet, and this will help you to not paint on wet ones, thus ruining your paint job. I recommend you lay out a strip of cardboard or something to line your figures up on; this will provide a nice, flat surface for them to dry on.

STEP 5: Prime figures

Figures after they have been primed

When the glue is completely dried, prime your figures with the primer of your choice. I have never used

spray-can primer, so cannot instruct you in its use; I only use brush-on paints. Priming your figures is very easy - just load up a good-sized brush with primer and brush it on. Don't take too long on this, just coat the figures with paint and let them dry. Simple. You can use either white or black primer; I personally prefer white, although black is better if you're going for a dark, shadowy, grimy appearance, such as you would use in dark fantasy or gritty medieval themes. It's a matter of preference.

STEP 6: Paint flesh
The actual paint job can be infinitely simplifed by one simple method: paint your figures in the same way you would put on clothes in the morning.
This means that you start with the first layer - the birthday suit (aka all exposed flesh) and go on the the next layer, the undershirt. After that, you do the overshirt, armor, or jacket, etc.
Paint exposed flesh. Easy enough, right? Just throw it on there. It will be easier for you to cover up bits of flesh color on the rifle and coat than it will be to have to go back over and over to paint bits of flesh that you missed the first time, so don't be too conservative with your paint.

STEP 7: Paint the next layers

Figures after base coat on skin and uniforms

Again, don't worry about getting paint where it shouldn't be. You'll cover it up when you do the next layer. At this point you will do headgear, undershirt and over shirt/jacket/tunic/armor, paints/shorts and then footwear.
Here's a tip for painting armor: do an undercoat of black first. Otherwise, when you do your steel/bronze/gold color, the paint will be too bright and glossy. The black undercoat helps with this. 

STEP 8: Paint other details
This includes hair, belts, webbing, and pouches, weapons, etc.

Figures after details have been painted

STEP 9: Touch up paint job
This just involves searching for any areas you may have missed and touching them up to create a uniform

look. Look at your models from all angles and directions - you don't want any big unpainted patches on them (quite obviously).


STEP 10: Shadow washes
Your models are looking good, but they're still a little bit flat. Cue the shadow wash! 1/72 figures are too small for light to naturally create visible shadows in the folds of clothing, under weapons, etc., so you must create your own shadows to give the model a more three-dimensional look.
I have successfully used two methods for this step: water-based washes, and varnish-based washes. Try out both and see which one you like better.
The preparation is essentially the same for both of them: combine water/varnish and a little paint until you have the consistency and color that you want. You don't want to use too much paint, or it will make shadows too dark and coat your entire figure with a dark film, but if you use too little paint your shadows won't be visible. Experiment.
The idea behind the wash is that the water/varnish will run off the raised parts of the model and pool into the crevices and cracks, creating instant shadows. Water is obviously runnier, and tends to pool in places you don't want it to, while varnish is thicker and creates deeper shadows. After experimenting with both, I have come to the conclusion that I prefer varnish washes, but it's really up to you. The varnish I use is just acrylic matte varnish, the same stuff you would use for the final varnish. One thing though - make sure the paint you are using and the varnish you use are both either acrylic or enamel - not one of each!
I use a black wash for everything but the flesh, and a brown wash for flesh. Some people make a different color wash for each color on the model, but this takes WAY too long for my taste. Black shadows look good on pretty much anything but flesh (on which it tends to make a dirty appearance). For the flesh, make another, smaller batch of wash using dark brown paint, and apply this to faces, hands, and other exposed skin. The brown wash makes the flesh look more realistic without the dirty appearance of a black wash.
HIGHLIGHTING:
I chose not to give this topic a step of its own because I use it very sparingly. 1/72 figures generally don't have enough surface area to justify highlighting, and you won't need to use it too much. (In painting 28mm figures, however, you will use it extensively). I pretty much just use it for flowing capes and other such items.
Highlighting is the opposite of shadowing, obviously; it accents the raised areas on the model rather than the recessed areas. Drybrushing is the simplest method of highlighting, and the one I use. Load up a brush with a lighter shade of your base color (or a little base color mixed with white) and wipe almost all of the paint off your brush. Then wipe your brush very gently over the area to be treated, going against the grain of the surface. For instance, if drybrushing a cape with flowing vertical folds, brush horizontally. This will leave a small ammount of paint on the raised areas of the surface, while leaving the recesses dark. You can also use this technique for chainmail by drybrushing silver over black.

STEP 11: Varnish
You may be tempted to skip this step, but don't. If you want your models to hold up under any amount of wear, especially if you want to wargame with these guys, you need to apply a coat of varnish. I use Liquitex Matte Medium varnish, which works great.Just brush this stuff all over your guys, making sure to keep it from pooling too much.
At this point, some people add a matte finish or other product, but I don't. I've never felt it was necessary, but that's up to you.

Let your figures dry, finish their bases, and voila! You're done. Though these 11 steps may look agonizing and daunting, its not as hard as it sounds. A batch of 5-10 figures takes me between 2-5, hours, not including the time it takes for the glue to dry on their base, and depending on how much detail/effort I put into them.

The finished figures in all their glory! Notice how the shadows washes have made the details pop right out, giving the figures a 3D look.

NOTE ON CONVERSIONS: Conversions are surgical adjustments that you can make to your figures to make them unique. You can heat up the plastic and bend it to change poses, or you can lop of pieces of the figures and replace them with other pieces of figures. Common conversions include headswaps, weapon swaps, and torso swaps (this is helpful if you want a kneeling figure to be standing or vice versa).