1. You can make a small wire armature
2. Acrylic, or Genesis heat-set oil paints- work VERY well for figures
3. You don't really need to seal. Kato has a beautiful sheen when it is cured.
I have a podcast on polymer clay with LOTs of free videos, you can watch it at polymerclaytv on youtube if you need more information. Etsy even wrote an article about me and my podcast partner! Enjoy polymer, it's so fun!