Shading and Highlighting

Rodu;

The best suggestion I can make is in two parts

1. Practice - Use old figures, plastic army men, or same figure stripped of paint and restart

2. Reference - There are plenty of great "How-To" Books available to assist you

Here are some titles for you to look for.

Building and Painting SCALE FIGURES by Sheperd Paine - Scale Modeling Handbook No. 13 Kalmbach Books - ISBN 0-89024-0690-8

How To Paint Realistic Military Figures by Lynn Kessler and Don Winar - Scale Modeling Handbook No. 14 Kalmbach Books - ISBN 0-89024-125-2

How To Paint Realistic Military Figures by Lynn Kessler and Don Winar - Second Edition Kalmbach Books - ISBN 0-89024-380-8

Painting World War II Miniatures with Mike Davidson - Schiffer Books - ISBN 0-7643-0371-6

Modelling and Painting Figures - Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos - Osprey Modelling Manuals 8 - Osprey Publishing - ISBN 1-902579-23-2

Modelling WWII Figures - Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos - Osprey Modelling Manuals 9 - Osprey Publishing - ISBN 1-84176-137-0

Modelling Waffen-SS Figures - Calvin Tan - Osprey Modelling 23 - Osprey Publishing - ISBN 1-84176-837-5

Modelling Panzer Crewmen of the Heer - Mark J. Bannerman - Osprey Modelling 8 - Osprey Publishing - ISBN 1-84603-132-X

The Verlinden Way Volume V - Francois Verlinden - Verlinden Publications

Focus on Modelling Techniques - Painting & Converting World War Two Figures - Geoff Mills - Almark Modelling Book 13 - Almark Publishing Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-85524-313-9

I hope these help, I have learned many things from each of these so anyone will assist you.

Cheers;

Gregory

Or, you can check out this link;

http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/articles_figures.htm 

Good luck,

---
Ben

Or this one:

http://www.ttfxmedia.com/vallejo/cgi-bin/_modelis.asp?p1=ing&p2=modelcolortecnicas

In one word? OILS! Theyre a little more expensive an investment but nothing beats em. A word of advice though; basecoat your flesh parts (not YOUR flesh parts!) with acrylics first, in a light flesh color, use oils to do shading on top. DON'T do highlights with white oil though! white oil paint has a tendency to reabsorb into the base after a few months leaving your faces looking too-dark and flat. Use acrylic for final highlights! Lastly, I truly commend you for trying; too many guys don't bother and a figure really draws me into the model. good luck!