noob here, whats the most popular method for basing or holding your figure while painting it?

I drill a hole in one of the feet and superglue in a toothpick. It can then be inserted into a cork or a piece of Styrofoam.

Same except I use a wire. My ham-fistedness would make short work of a toothpick! Benefit for me is that the wire can be cut and used as a mounting pin on a base.

I do almost the same, except I clip off the head of a sewing pin, and insert that. Then for holding it I use a block of styrofoam, as mentioned or a small alligator clip from the electronics section of my local hardware store.
VR, Russ

I cut a roughly 2-inch length of sprue and glue it to the sole of a foot - I can then grip it with a clothes-peg, or just hold the sprue itself in my fingers. When the painting is done I cut it off, drill a hole, and insert brass wire to pin the figure to the base.

I use large office paperclips. Drill a hole in the bottom of a foot or the butt if they are a sitter and insert the straightened-out clip. You can snip off excess length or you can stick the other end in a block of foam or clay--whatever you have that can grip it and hold it in place.

Once done, as another posted remarked you can use the paperclip to attach the figure to a base.

Not claiming it to be "the most popular," but I use a no drilling/no pins required method:
'Fun-Tak Mounting Putty' affixed to recycled ‘Glade PlugIns Air Freshener’ caps and/or a variety of plastic soda bottle caps — instant work handles! In addition, I find that small pieces of the reusable putty come in handy for holding very small parts and for test-fitting figures into vehicles and onto bases. HTH.

—mike

i put some wire in one feet then have one like this...

https://ak-interactive.com/product/universal-work-holder-2/

but from Ebay for 10 bucks

so i tried drilling a hole in the bottom foot of my figure with a dremel tool and the hole just melted and the hot sprue wrapped around the drill, what did i do wrong

Use a pin vise not a Dremel....the rpm on the Dremel is way
to high causing the plastic to melt.

Cheers,

That's why I do not have a dremel -despite I admit they are great quality tools.

they work perfectly with wood, glass or metal but way too fast for plastic, As Joe said.

A cheap one with variable rpm from 0 on, from eBay or hardware stores, is much more useful...

I have a 40+ yr old Dremel Speed Control that still works like mint. You plug the speed control into the outlet, and the drill into the speed control. The speed control has a knob from 0 - full power. Also woks great for tools like hot knives/wood burning tools. Anyone with some electrical ingenuity can make a speed control with a rheostat and an electrical box (I don't know if a dimmer switch would work).
As for figures, I usually glue them on a temporary base - a small square, or rectangle, of styrene.

I'm using the "hobby holder"
back to a "kickstarter" project.
have a look here What is the Hobby Holder
Tom

Simple, yet ingenious!