How do I paint a guitar?

So I started playing like nearly two years ago and now that I finally don't have to depend on my crappy cheap strat I can finally mod it without fear of breaking my only tool. It's a sunburst squier strat, I wanna paint it and I don't know anything about paint! I can draw pretty well and I've got tons of ideas but the main thing I wanna know is: can I spray paint it as is without sanding? I couldn't find an answer and I don't know what sanding is really. I know how to change pick ups thankfully because me and a friend did a replacement on his so thankfully it's just the painting aspect I want help with, although I'm curious if I could just cut the pickguard and replace my single coils with humbuckers. Thanks a ton of your attention!