Painting old action figures is one of the worthiest ways to customize their appearance. However, you should get the best paint for action figures to complete this job perfectly. You can get different types of paint in the market, but do you know what type of paint is best for your action figures?
Frankly speaking, acrylic paint is the best option for painting action figures. Acrylic paint is a versatile formula that offers highly-durable and long-lasting coating and is perfect for this type of craft. However, you can also use enamel and airbrush paint to complete your action figures paintwork.
So, are you looking for the best paint for action figures to give them a stunning and customized appearance? This article is going to explore some of the best paint on the market that you can use to paint action figures. So, continue reading this article, get the best paint, and give your craft an amazing appearance.
What Paint to Use on Action Figures?
You should get the perfect paint for the action figure’s substance while painting them. Use paint formulated particularly for plastic, for instance, if the figurine is constructed of plastic. By doing this, the paint will be appropriately applied to the figure and will be less likely to peel or chip.
Acrylic paints contain a wide range of excellent qualities. This kind of paint combines a powerful pigment with a creamy smoothness. Acrylic paints are available in a range of colors and stick to practically any plastic surface. Moreover, this type of paint is also easy to apply, even for beginners.
In addition to acrylic paint, you can use enamel and airbrush paint to paint action figures. Much like acrylic paint, these paints also offer a durable, long-lasting, and exceptional finish. Ultimately, the choice of paint comes down to personal taste and the action figure’s intended result.
List of 5 Best Paint for Action Figures in 2023
Product Name | Paint Type | Paint Finish | Best For | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|
Crafts 4 All Acrylic Paint Set | Acrylic Paint | Satin Finish | Editor’s Choice Paint Set | Check Price |
Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint | Acrylic Paint | Matte Finish | Best for Durable Finish | Check Price |
Castle Art Supplies Acrylic Paint | Acrylic Paint | Matte Finish | Best Paint for Beginners | Check Price |
Acylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint | Acrylic Paint | Matte Finish | Best Paint for Professionals | Check Price |
Vallejo Basic Acrylic Paint Set | Acrylic Paint | Matte Finish | Best Value for Money Paint | Check Price |
Reviews of 5 Best Paint for Action Figures with Pros and Cons
Crafts 4 All Acrylic Paint Set – Editor’s Choice Paint Set
Crafts 4 All Acrylic Paint Set is our first pick on this list of the best paint for action figures. It is a top-quality and versatile paint set that is suitable for different types of artwork. This paint set comes with a range of colors that will give excellent versatility to your paintwork project and help you give your action figures an aesthetic appearance.
This Crafts 4 All Acrylic Paint Set is available in 12 to 60 different vivid and aesthetic colors. These colors are highly bright, have high clarity, and can give any surface a bright appearance. Whether you require model art paint, fresh ceramic paint, or a variety of wood paint for crafts, this paint equipment may be used for all of these things and more.
These exceptional paints have been formulated to offer a harmonious blend of strong pigmentation and luxurious creamy consistency. This will result in an unparalleled artistic medium tailored specifically for creating highly intricate and detailed custom action figures. The premium-quality pigments contained within these paints possess an innate ability to capture attention and ignite the imagination.
With each stroke, these paints become your trusted companion, guiding you through the depths of your imagination. As it is a water-based and non-toxic formula, it is totally safe to use. Moreover, this paint is suitable for both professional and beginner artists to work with. Overall, it is a great paint set that you should consider to paint your action figures.
What We Like and Don’t Like
What We Like
It is a premium-quality and non-toxic acrylic paint set
This paint set is available in different aesthetic colors
Multipurpose paint that can be used for different projects
What We Don’t Like
This paint is relatively hard to blend each other’s
Why Buy This Paint?
The Crafts 4 All Acrylic Paint Set is perfect for enhancing and customizing action figures. With a wide range of vibrant colors, it provides excellent coverage and a smooth finish. Whether you’re a collector or a hobbyist, this set offers high-quality paint for detailed and professional-looking results.
Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint – Best for Durable Finish
The Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint set is a fantastic choice for action figure enthusiasts and customizers. It is one of the best options for those willing to bring their creations to life with vibrant colors and long-lasting durability. This set offers a wide range of features and benefits, making it a popular choice among hobbyists and professionals.
One of the standout features of the Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint set is its versatility. With a collection of 30 vibrant colors, this set provides endless possibilities for customizing and painting action figures. Whether you’re looking to recreate your favorite superhero or create unique characters from scratch, these paints offer the perfect palette to bring your ideas to fruition.
Its superior durability sets the Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint apart from other options. Once applied to your action figures, the paint forms a waterproof and weather-resistant layer, ensuring that your custom creations can withstand the elements. This feature makes it an excellent choice for those who want to display their action figures outdoors or participate in outdoor conventions and exhibitions.
In addition to its durability, the Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint set offers excellent coverage and adhesion. The paints are formulated with high-quality pigments that provide a smooth and opaque color application. They adhere well to various materials, including plastic, vinyl, and resin, ensuring that your paint job stays intact and vibrant.
What We Like and Don’t Like
What We Like
Professional-grade premium-quality acrylic paint set
This paint offers a highly durable and long lasting finish
UV and weather-protective paint, and it takes less time to dry
What We Don’t Like
This acrylic paint set is not ideal for the beginner artist
Why Buy This Paint?
If you are looking for premium-quality paint that can provide a professional-grade outcome, then Magicfly Outdoor Acrylic Paint is the best option. It is a top-quality paint that offers a highly durable finish and safeguards the painted surfaces from UV and weather. Moreover, it is a versatile paint that is available in different colors.
Castle Art Supplies Acrylic Paint – Best Paint for Beginners
Are you searching for highly-standard quality paint for painting your action figures? If you are, then the Castle Art Supplies Acrylic Paint set can be the best way to go through. It is a high-quality paint set that is specially formulated for painting crafts like action figures. It comes with several advanced features that make it a popular choice.
One of the standout features of this paint is its durability. YES! It is a highly durable paint that offers a long-lasting finish over different surfaces. So, you don’t have to worry about the durability of this paint. Moreover, this paint color comes with never-fade features that will keep your paintwork bright for longer.
You can offer your artwork greater diversity because it has 24 distinct colors. You will benefit from this extensive selection of premium hues offered in two rows of easy-to-select color families. This premium-quality acrylic paint set’s base-coating, accentuating, and painting techniques will take your customized game to a new level.
Castle Art Supplies Acrylic Paints are the go-to option for effortlessly obtaining outstanding results when painting your unique creations. This high-quality and adaptable paint kit is made to fulfill the demands of a variety of painters, from novices to seasoned enthusiasts. Ultimately, this premium paint kit provides an outstanding balance of excellence, cost, and adaptability.
What We Like and Don’t Like
What We Like
Available in different aesthetic and vivid colors
High-quality pigment offers an excellent finish
Easy to apply and suitable for beginner artists
What We Don’t Like
You need to apply multiple coatings for the best finish
Why Buy This Paint?
Castle Art Supplies Acrylic Paint is a top-notch choice for painting action figures. This paint set boasts a rich selection of colors that deliver excellent coverage and a durable finish. Its smooth consistency and high pigmentation allow for precise detailing and vibrant results. Ultimately, it offers reliable quality for transforming your action figures into true works of art.
Acylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint – Best Paint for Professionals
Acrylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint set is a top-tier choice for action figure enthusiasts and customizers seeking premium-quality paints. This premium-quality acrylic paint set is renowned for its exceptional performance as well as extensive color range. This top-notch paint set offers a multitude of advantages that make it a favourite among professionals and hobbyists alike.
Acrylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint is known for its high concentration of pigments. These acrylic paints provide excellent coverage as well as vibrant colors. The rich and intense hues allow for precise detailing and intricate designs on action figures, ensuring that your customizations will truly stand out. With a comprehensive selection of colors, it offers endless creative possibilities.
Durability is another notable feature of the Acrylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint set. Once applied to action figures, the paints form a resilient and long-lasting finish. They adhere well to various materials commonly used in action figure production, such as plastic and resin. This ensures that your customizations remain intact, even with regular handling and display.
The Acrylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint set is also renowned for its ease of use and versatility. The paints are smooth and creamy, making them effortless to apply and blend. Furthermore, these paints have a quick-drying formula, allowing you to work efficiently. The fast-drying time also abates the risk of smudging or smearing, ensuring clean and precise results.
What We Like and Don’t Like
What We Like
This paint set offers a professional-quality finish
Versatile paint suitable for different paintworks
The non-toxic formula makes it safe and easy to use
What We Don’t Like
It is relatively expensive compared to its rivals
Why Buy This Paint?
The Acylicos Vallejo Acrylic Paint set is the best option for professional artists. With a wide variety of colors and excellent pigmentation, this set allows for precise detailing and vibrant results. The water-based formula ensures easy application and easy clean-up. This premium acrylic paint set offers high-quality paints for transforming your action figures into stunning creations.
Vallejo Basic Acrylic Paint Set – Best Value for Money Paint
Vallejo Basic Acrylic Paint Set is the last selection on this list of the best paint for action features. This premium acrylic paint set provides a wide range of high-quality acrylic paints specifically designed to enhance and bring life to your action figures. You’ll have a diverse palette at your disposal to create stunning and intricate designs with this paint set.
The exceptional pigment quality of these paints ensures vibrant and long-lasting colors that will make your action figures stand out. The paints are formulated with a creamy consistency, allowing for smooth application. Whether you’re adding fine details, shading, or creating bold color schemes, these paints offer excellent coverage and adherence to various surfaces.
One of the standout features of this paint set is its versatility. The range of colors includes primary and secondary hues and shades and tones, enabling you to achieve incredible depth and dimension in your creations. From metallics and fluorescents to matte and gloss finishes, this set has it all, providing endless possibilities for customization.
Moreover, the Vallejo Basic Acrylic Paint Set is known for its exceptional durability. Once dry, the paints form a tough, flexible, and resistant film that withstands handling, ensuring that your meticulously painted action figures remain intact even during intense play or display. Overall, it is perfect for bringing your action figures to life with stunning and personalized designs.
What We Like and Don’t Like
What We Like
This set comes with lightfast and opaque colors.
This acrylic paint offers an excellently smooth finish.
Easy to use and also takes less time to dry completely.
What We Don’t Like
This paint is relatively more expensive than others.
Why Buy This Paint?
The Vallejo Basic Acrylic Paint Set is a must-have for action figure enthusiasts. This set offers a comprehensive range of high-quality acrylic paints that provide excellent coverage and a smooth, matte finish. Its water-based formula makes these paints easy to work with and clean up. Ideal for detailing and customizing action figures, the Vallejo Basic Acrylic Paint Set guarantees professional-looking results.
How to Paint Action Figures? Step-By-Step Guide
Whether you are seeking to customize or paint old action figures, painting takes a lot of time and material knowledge. Make sure you choose a well-ventilated area before you begin repainting action figures so that the paint’s fragrance doesn’t ruin the surroundings.
Let’s take a look at how to paint action figures easily:
Step-01: Gather All the Necessary Supplies
To paint or repaint your action figures, you have to gather all the necessary supplies first that you will need to get the job done perfectly. So, what supplies will you need to paint action figures? You will need sandpaper, primer, paint, as well as a paintbrush to paint your action figures.
In terms of sandpaper, you should get medium-grit sandpaper, like 100 to 150 grit, that is suitable for action figures. And when it comes to primer selection, you can get either spray primer or even brush-on primer. Remember that you should purchase a water-based primer for action figures.
Step-02: Sand the Action Figures
Painting an action figure involves several crucial steps, but none are as vital as this one. During this step, your action figure undergoes a remarkable transformation, transitioning from a mere toy-like appearance to a strikingly detailed model.
Not only does sanding eliminate any remnants of previous paint applications, but it also provides you with a pristine canvas ready for your artistic endeavors. This crucial preparatory step cleanses the action figure of any imperfections and grants you a fresh start. It also allows your creative vision to flourish and breathe life into the figure through the subsequent painting process.
Step-03: Apply Primer
Most people omit this step; however, priming is necessary to give your action figure the best appearance. Some people choose to paint the action figure from scratch, but I like to start from scratch. Paint some form of primer on the entire action figure. The primer should be painted in light applications since large coatings might ruin the grain of the figure and produce streaks.
Thick coatings will leave behind streaks and globs. Paint the sections that are most difficult to reach first. For me, this was the underside of the arms and the back of the cape. Pose the figure with its arms up, for example, so that you are able to paint it from all angles.
Step-04: Apply Paint to the Figures
It is now the moment to embark on the painting process for your action figures. To begin, prioritize painting the more challenging areas and applying the primary colors. Start with the colors that require the most coverage, gradually moving towards the sections that demand fewer hues. Similar to the previous step, it is advisable to position the action figure in a pose that facilitates easy access to every part.
Exercise patience and apply thin coats of paint, allowing ample drying time between each layer. Once the initial coats have dried, proceed to add more intricate details to enhance the figure’s appearance. Embrace the versatility of paint and use it as a tool to refine your action figure, ensuring it embodies the vision you have in mind.
Step-05: Detailing the Figures
Some areas, like lips and eyes, can be exceedingly challenging to paint. There are a couple of techniques to this. One is to apply detail to the eyes with a brush with an excellent tip and a steady touch. Another approach for the bat sign is to slightly dilute the color you’re using to make it runny.
After that, you have to dab your brush into the paint and place it where you want to apply it. It no longer has to be brushed on; it will now simply flow into crevices and tiny spaces. You must use watered-down painting techniques and shade some areas with gunmetal black.
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What paint is best for action figures?
Acrylic paints are generally considered the best choice for painting action figures due to their versatility, wide color range, ease of use, and durability. However, you can also use enamel and spray paint for painting action figures.
Is acrylic paint suitable for painting figures?
Acrylic paints are among the best choice for miniature painting as this type of paint is safer for the environment, nontoxic, and simpler to handle than other forms of paint. Acrylic paint offers a durable coating after drying, so handling or painting over them won’t cause them to break.
How to prepare action figures for painting?
To prepare the action figure for painting, apply suitable primer paint to the entire surface. Using thin and light coats is essential to avoid globing and streaking. Begin by focusing on the more challenging and inaccessible areas during the painting process.
Is painting action figures worth it?
Painting action figures can be advantageous and worthwhile for enthusiasts and customizers. It allows for personalization, creativity, and the opportunity to bring unique designs to life, enhancing the figures’ overall aesthetic appeal and value.
Is airbrush paint a good choice for customizing action figures?
Yes! Airbrush paint is an excellent choice for customizing action figures. It allows for precise control, smooth gradients, and fine details. Airbrushing can create professional-looking finishes and is favored by experienced customizers for achieving high-quality and intricate designs on action figures.