Welcome Chris
Painting figures is not my specialty, but I can tell you, it will be easyer if you use artists acryllic paints (I use the ones from WAL-MART for 95% of my painting) I havn't had a lot of troubble with them, but just do what you are comfterble with (which, I assume, is not a lot, compared to others here)
Don't worry, you'll get the hang of both scale model building and getting around the forums.
It's simple to post photos here. All you need to do is up-load them to a host site (like Photobucket) and then click on the immage to show the larger view. Once there, just click on the code that says IMG Code and copy it. Return to your post window, and paste the copied code to the post, and hit the post button.
Take care, and happy building. I hope to see more from you soon