Brushes

[SlyRebirth]

I'm relatively new to more 'advanced' painting (or, let's say "post-Duncan"), and I'm looking at different ways to improve techniques, kit, etc.

I've been trying out a few brushes, but don't have much experience, so I thought I'd seek some guidance. I do know how to look after brushes (cleaning, shaping, not letting paint get up inside, etc), so these comments are with that in mind.

So far I've basically got one of every type of brush from GW, and I'll be honest, with mixed results. The XS and S Artificers seem good, but the M one started splitting very quickly. Most disappointing, however, was the M Base - I had three of them, and they all started curling at the ends within a few days. It was as if I'd left them standing in water on end (which of course I hadn't). So I was pretty disappointed.

For base coats I've gone back to using my old Large Brush and Basecoat Brush, they're pretty hardy.

GW Dry Brushes seem good enough. The L Base brush has also been reliable in the past few months.

For general mixed work (fine detail through to general accuracy) my favourite is still a year-old Element Games Character 0 brush.

I'd be really interested to know what people's 'best' brushes are, along with where to get them and rough costs. I don't mind spending a bit of money (I hear the name Windsor & Newton, but are they really that good?), so recommendations very welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[RuneBrush]

Brush care involves a few things.  Firstly, look after them whilst painting - don't let paint dry in the bristles and avoid letting it get into the ferrule (metal bit).  Frequently wash the brush out as you're going.  The second step is to pick up some Brush Soap - have a look for "The Masters Brush Soap".  After each painting session, rinse your brush out as best you can, then rub it into the soap, then using your fingers massage it into the bristles.  Once done rinse under a tap and let dry (angle it so the bristles point slightly downwards so any water runs out of the brush).

One thing to bear in mind is that metallic paint and washes will wear a brush out more quickly than regular opaque paints.  I have a set of brushes that I will never use for metallics, keeping them for edge highlighting and fine detail work (such as faces).

13 hours ago, SlyRebirth said:

I hear the name Windsor & Newton, but are they really that good?

Yes.

In all seriousness, W&N series 7 are the best brushes I've ever used and with proper care will last quite a long time, I only have a size 0, 1 and 2 and these do everything I've really needed.  I also have an older size 1 that is a bit of a work-horse brush, pretty much using it for most things.  They're certainly not cheap (over a tenner each).  Depending on where in the world you are, Rosemary & Co (UK) series 33 are really nice brushes.  They're not quite the level of W&N, but a really good place to start (they're a third of the cost) especially for learning brush control and cleaning - you don't mind messing up a £3 brush if you get it wrong.  As a quick note, avoid the "miniature" version of the ranges - they're shorter bristled so don't hold as much paint, they're really intended for enamel paints rather than acrylic.

[Mohojoe]

Great tips here, Things I have been meaning to ask but have not gotten around to yet. Thanks

[Kaleb Daark]

traditionally you used a synthetic brush for acrylics and a natural bristle for oils. This was a lot to do with the fact that the oil paints would take longer to dry and the linseed in them was kinder to the bristle than fast drying acrylics and water.  Watercolour brushes were the same natural bristle brushes just with longer bristles.  Kolinsky sable is king, but you pay dearly for the privilege, however look after your brushes and they will look after you.

Like Runebrush, I use a no1 and 2 brush, rarely dipping into a 0 and I can count on one hand  how many times I've needed to go down below that.  His advice is very good and I'll second him on the W&N series 7 brushes.  I don't really throw brushes away as they all have a use.

Knackered brushes become dry brushes, or wash brushes, or brushes to pull colour out of pots and mix with, and brush soap is a very worth while investment.

[SlyRebirth]

Thanks for all the feedback, this is very useful. I'll grab a couple of the Kolinsky W&N brushes and see how I get on. I certainly used to not pay as much attention to brush care in the past, but in recent months I've been taking a far more careful approach.

With the much higher amount of time I'm spending painting, I'm trying to ensure that it's as enjoyable/satisfying as possible; and something which kills motivation somewhat is fighting the brush.

[Dez]

The Winsor and Newton series 7 are the best, I feel like I've gone through a lot of brushes and they are my work horse. I use size 0 to 000 though

 

masters brush cleaner is a must!

[Cordova]

I'm not so familiar with GW's current line - with the exception of my drybrush brushes, my GW ones are from their "black" and "red" era (2003 or earlier)...

On 16/01/2017 at 9:58 PM, SlyRebirth said:

Most disappointing, however, was the M Base - I had three of them, and they all started curling at the ends within a few days. It was as if I'd left them standing in water on end (which of course I hadn't). So I was pretty disappointed.

The "M Base" brushes are synthetic, and synthetics will "curl" at the tip with use (I have some W&N Series Cotman 101's which have done this).  You can "correct" this by putting the tip in warm/hot water, straightening it, and "setting" it in gum arabic.  Be careful with the water, as direct exposure to heat will "dissolve" the glue which holds the filaments in.

On 16/01/2017 at 9:58 PM, SlyRebirth said:

I'd be really interested to know what people's 'best' brushes are, along with where to get them and rough costs. I don't mind spending a bit of money (I hear the name Windsor & Newton, but are they really that good?), so recommendations very welcome.

Over the years I've tried a fair few brushes:

• Winsor & Newton Series 7 (sable, sizes 000 - 4).  Very high-quality brushes, with excellent pointing and handling characteristics, but really not cheap.  Their tuft is typically longer than normal, and highly tapered (and are roughly sized a 1 size larger than their "number" would suggest) - you could paint a model from start to finish with a size 2 or 3.  I'm still using the ones I got in 2002.
• Winsor & Newton Artists Watercolour Sable Round (sable, sizes 1-4).  A "modern" replacement for the old Series 16 (which was excellent).  I'm personally not a fan of them, as their handles are beach-wood (making them "too light"), with a satin varnish (feels tacky), and have an odd "elongated hourglass atop a stretched cone"-shaped sculpted handle I found uncomfortable.  If they're like the old Series 16's, they should be decent (I didn't keep mine long enough to find out), and are noticeably cheaper when you get to size 3 or bigger.
• Winsor & Newton Cotman Series 101 (synthetic, sizes 0-3). A decent, inexpensive synthetic brush.
• Winsor & Newton Sceptre II Series 101 (sable/synthetic mix, sizes 00-5). The sable content helps to mitigate some of the downsides of being synthetic.  They're priced similarly to the Cotman ones, however, I've found that the larger sizes incorporate some "shorter" hairs which can protrude when pressure is applied (which might want trimming out).  They're also the only series I've had a defective (hooked) brush from.
• Pro Arte Renaissance (sable, sizes 0-4).  A reasonably-priced and reasonable sable brush (a bit cheaper than the W&N Artist's Watercolour ones).  They lose their point a bit quicker than the W&N's (just re-point it and it's fine), they lack the snap of the Series 7's, and the handles are about 1-1.5" longer than the W&N brushes.  The caps they come with are also very thin and narrow.
• Ken Bromley Artists Value (synthetic, sizes 1-2, 1/8"-1/4").  A good value synthetic brush.  I use the flats for random large areas, or base edges.
• Jackson's Art Supplies Series 505 (synthetic, sizes 6-8).  A good value synthetic brush.
• Daler Rowney Diana (sable, size 0, 6).  About as good as the W&N Series 7's, and about the same price.

All of the above are watercolour brushes (artist's acrylic brushes tend to have noticeably longer handles, as artist's acrylic is typically used at a thicker consistency than modellers use).  I'm currently gravitating towards using a Cotman or Renaisance #2/3 for undercoating and base coating, and Series 7 #0-2 for fine detailing, with the larger brushes for large areas and the sides of bases, and synthetics for metallics.  For drybrushing, I just use the GW Drybrush ones.

As a general rule, synthetic brushes are "hardier" than sable brushes, and will stand up to mistreatment better.  I've found that synthetics don't "draw" paint/ink as much as sables - sometimes it feels difficult to get paint/ink/wash "into" them, which is due to their construction (synthetics are just smooth fibres, natural hairs are lots of scales attached to a core, allowing them to capture more paint).  For the same reason, natural brushes work better for drybrushing, as the synthetic fibres shed the paint too easily.

With regard to purchasing, I can highly recommend Ken Bromley Art Supplies (artsupplies.co.uk), Grantham's Art Discount (artdiscount.co.uk), and Jackson's Art Supplies (jacksons.com) - all are "traditional" art shops, staffed by artists (so if you have a question, you can get an informed answer), and are reasonably priced.  Sometimes they will do sales (e.g. I got my Jackson's size 6 & 8 brushes at 50% off in their Black Friday sale - £1.60 each) - well worth it if you're looking at a W&N Series 7 size 4 (RRP £32, normally can be found for ~£22).  I've found that Amazon varies between expensive and cheap.

Obviously, what everyone else said about cleaning (especially with metallics!) applies.

Dunno if that helps ...

[SlyRebirth]

Amazing info, thanks for sharing. Really excited to find these things out.

[Cordova]

4 hours ago, SlyRebirth said:

Amazing info, thanks for sharing.

No worries - glad it was of help

Forgot to mention on the topic of cleaning ... with sable brushes you will want to use something gentle, such as "The Master's" brush cleaner or Marseilles soap (aka olive oil soap).  It is generally not advised to soak them in liquid cleaner for prolonged periods, as this can promote splitting (according to W&N), although I soaked one of my dad's old 30 year-old Daler-Rowney Series 33's for 3 days to try to get very dried paint out from around the ferrule, and it was fine afterwards after training the point (lathering clean brush soap into it, pointing it, and letting it sit with the dry soap on it for a week).  Synthetics are a bit easier to clean, as they tend to wash out more easily, and you can just soak them in liquid cleaner until the cows come home (I don't stand them in the cleaner, I have a brush drier I use to suspend them over the cleaner).  On the topic of liquid cleaner, W&N's cleaner works well, although it is slow - I've had it pull a fair amount of paint out of one of my flat brushes I thought was clean, although it took about a day to do it - and sometimes it will loosen" the paint, allowing a further clean with brush soap to remove it.

[RuneBrush]

Although this sounds a little odd, I regularly use Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner for breaking down any dried paint.  It's not as harsh as turps or other dedicated brush cleaners and works wonders on drybrushes (even ones left for a week) and recovering abused brushes from the grave.  All I do is dunk the brush into the cleaner and work into the bristles, rinsing off as I'm working the dead paint out.  Once done, give it a thorough rinse through and then apply brush soap.

[HeadHunter]

One that I don't see mentioned as yet are the Raphael 8404 brushes.  comparable in price and quality to the W&N Series 7 but with a bigger "belly" for holding moist paint longer.  Just as precise.

I've got some W&N Series 7 and some Raphael 8404s but I use the Raphael brushes for most things.  

As far as deep cleaning, there is something called natural turpenoid - non-toxic, nowhere near as bad a smell.

[twrightii]

I agree HeadHunter. I use the Raphael 8404. The bigger belly can get you more paint that takes longer to dry on the brush with an amazing tip. Size 0 and 0/3 and some masters brush soap.

 

i haven't heard anyone mention how amazing a wet pallet is. This will help step up the color making and blending game and save paint. I made a very simple one with a cheap sponge, a Tupperware dish and tracing paper cut to the size of the sponge. Soak the sponge and fill the dish to about halfway up the sponge and you just got to town.