An unpainted resin figure is a slightly awkward object: full of detail you cannot quite see, because it is all one colour. Getting it to a state you are pleased with is four steps, and the one everybody skips is the one that decides the result.
1. Wash it, even though it looks clean
Resin prints are cleaned and cured before they are boxed, but a quick wash with warm water and a drop of washing-up liquid, then a proper dry, removes anything left from handling. Paint sticks to clean resin and slides off greasy resin, and you will not find out which you had until the second coat.
2. Prime thin
Primer gives paint something to grip and turns the figure a single flat colour so you can finally see the sculpt. Thin coats, from a distance, several of them. A thick coat fills exactly the fine detail you paid for.
3. Base coats, flat and boring
Block in each area in its plain colour and resist the urge to shade anything yet. It will look like a toy at this stage. It is supposed to.
4. One shade, and stop
A single wash of a darker tone flows into the recesses and does most of the work of making the sculpt read. This is the step where a figure suddenly looks painted rather than coloured in. Let it dry fully before you decide it needs anything else — nine times out of ten it does not.
Practise on something you do not care about. Our smaller pieces and spare bases are exactly the right thing to make a mess of first.
If you would rather skip all of this, some of our pieces are available finished — and if you want a specific scheme on a specific figure, ask us. The unpainted range is here.