Brush for painting

Paintbrushes

A paintbrush is a brush used to apply paint or ink. A paintbrush is usually made by clamping bristles to a handle with a ferrule. They are available in various sizes, shapes, and materials. Thicker ones are used for filling in, and thinner ones are used for details. They may be subdivided into decorators' brushes used for painting and decorating and artists' brushes use for visual art.

History

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Paintbrushes were used by man as early as the Paleolithic era in around 2.5 million years ago in order to apply pigment.[1]

Old painting kits, estimated to be around 100,000 years old, were discovered in a cave in what is now modern South Africa.[2]

Ancient Egyptian paintbrushes were made of split palm leaves and used by ancestors to beautify their surroundings. The oldest brushes ever found were also made of animal hair.

Parts

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• Bristles: Transfer paint onto the substrate surface
• Ferrule: Retains the bristles and attaches them to the handle
• Handle: The intended interface between the user and the tool[3]

Trade

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Brushes for use in non-artistic trade painting are geared to applying an even coat of paint to relatively large areas. Following are the globally recognized handles of trade painter's brushes:[4]

• Gourd handle: Ergonomic design that reduces stress on the wrist and hand whilst painting.
• Short handle: The shorter handle provides greater precision when painting small spaces such as corners, trims & detail areas.
• Flat beavertail handle: This shape is rounded and slightly flattened to fit perfectly into the palm of the hand whilst painting.
• Square handle: Square shaped handle with bevelled corners is featured mainly in trim or sash brushes and is comfortable to hold when painting.
• Rat tail handle: This handle is longer & thinner than the standard making it easy to hold to give greater control.
• Long handle: Rounded and thin, a long handle is easy to hold like a pencil giving great control & precision when cutting in & painting tricky spaces.

Decorating

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The sizes of brushes used for painting and decorating.

Decorating sizes

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Decorators' brush sizes are given in millimeters (mm) or inches (in), which refers to the width of the head. Common sizes are:

• Metric (mm): 10 • 20 • 40 • 50 • 60 • 70 • 80 • 90 • 100.
• Customary (inches):

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Decorating shapes

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• Angled: For painting edges, bristle length viewed from the wide face of the brush uniformly decrease from one end of the brush to the other
• Flat: For painting flat surfaces, bristle length viewed from the wide face of the brush does not change
• Tapered: Improves control, the bristle length viewed from the narrow face of the brush is longer in the center and tapers toward the edges
• Striker: Large round (cylindrical) brush for exterior painting difficult areas

Decorating bristles

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Bristles may be natural or synthetic. If the filaments are synthetic, they may be made of polyester, nylon or a blend of nylon and polyester. Filaments can be hollow or solid and can be tapered or untapered. Brushes with tapered filaments give a smoother finish.

Synthetic filaments last longer than natural bristles. Natural bristles are preferred for oil-based paints and varnishes, while synthetic brushes are better for water-based paints as the bristles do not expand when wetted.

A decorator judges the quality of a brush based on several factors: filament retention, paint pickup, steadiness of paint release, brush marks, drag and precision painting. A chiseled brush permits the painter to cut into tighter corners and paint more precisely.

Brush handles may be made of wood or plastic while ferrules are metal (usually nickel-plated steel).

Art

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Short handled brushes are usually used for flat or slightly tilted work surfaces such as watercolor painting and ink painting, while long handled brushes are held horizontally while working on a vertical canvas such as for oil paint or acrylic paint.[5]: 51 

Art shapes

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The styles of brush tip seen most commonly are:[6][3][5]: 52–59 

• Round: pointed tip, long closely arranged bristles for detail.
• Flat: for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. They will have longer hairs than their Bright counterpart.
• Bright: shorter than flats. Flat brushes with short stiff bristles, good for driving paint into the weave of a canvas in thinner paint applications, as well as thicker painting styles like impasto work.
• Filbert: flat brushes with domed ends. They allow good coverage and the ability to perform some detail work.
• Fan: for blending broad areas of paint.
• Angle: like the filbert, these are versatile and can be applied in both general painting application as well as some detail work.
• Mop: a larger format brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application as well as for getting thinner glazes over existing drying layers of paint without damaging lower layers to protect the paintbrush
• Rigger: round brushes with longish hairs, traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. They are useful for fine lines and are versatile for both oils and watercolors.
• Stippler and deer-foot stippler: short, stubby rounds
• Liner: elongated rounds
• Dagger: looks like angle with longish hairs, used for one stroke painting like painting long leaves.
• Scripts: highly elongated rounds
• Egbert: a filbert with extra long hair, used for oil painting

Some other styles of brush include:

• Sumi: Similar in style to certain watercolor brushes, also with a generally thick wooden or metal handle and a broad soft hair brush that when wetted should form a fine tip. Also spelled Sumi-e (墨絵, Ink wash painting).
• Hake (刷毛): An Asian style of brush with a large broad wooden handle and an extremely fine soft hair used in counterpoint to traditional Sumi brushes for covering large areas. Often made of goat hair.
• Spotter: Round brushes with just a few short bristles. These brushes are commonly used in spotting photographic prints.
• Stencil: A round brush with a flat top used on stencils to ensure the bristles don't get underneath. Also used to create texture.

Art sizes

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Artists' brushes are usually given numbered sizes, although there is no exact standard for their physical dimensions. From smallest to largest, the sizes are: 20/0, 12/0, 10/0, 7/0, 6/0, 5/0, 4/0 (also written 0000), 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 2 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch. Brushes as fine as 30/0 are manufactured by major companies, but are not a common size. Sizes 000 to 20 are most common.[3][5]: 51 

Art bristles

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Bristles may be natural—either soft hair or hog bristle—or synthetic.[5]: 50  Types include:

• watercolor brushes which are usually made of sable, synthetic sable or nylon;
• oil painting brushes which are usually made of sable or bristle;
• acrylic brushes which are almost entirely nylon or synthetic.

Turpentine or thinners used in oil painting can destroy some types of synthetic brushes. However, innovations in synthetic bristle technology have produced solvent resistant synthetic bristles suitable for use in all media. Natural hair, squirrel, badger or sable are used by watercolorists due to their superior ability to absorb and hold water.

Soft hair brushes

The best of these are made from kolinsky sable, other red sables, or miniver (Russian squirrel winter coat; tail) hair. Sabeline is ox hair dyed red to look like red sable and sometimes blended with it. Camel hair is a generic term for a cheaper and lower quality alternative, usually ox. It can be other species, or a blend of species, but never includes camel. Pony, goat, mongoose and badger hair are also used.

Hog bristle

Often called China bristle or Chungking bristle. This is stiffer and stronger than soft hair. It may be bleached or unbleached.

Synthetic bristles

These are made of special multi-diameter extruded nylon filament, Taklon or polyester. These are becoming ever more popular with the development of new water based paints.

Art handles

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Artists' brush handles are commonly wooden but can also be made of molded plastic. Many mass-produced handles are made of unfinished raw wood; better quality handles are of seasoned hardwood. The wood is sealed and lacquered to give the handle a high-gloss, waterproof finish that reduces soiling and swelling. Many brush companies offer long or short brush handle sizes.

Metal ferrules may be of aluminum, nickel, copper, or nickel-plated steel. Quill ferrules are also found: these give a different "feel" to the brush, and are staple of French-style aquarel wash brushes.

References

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Afew weeks ago, I made a Beginner’s Guide for the different art paints that exist out there and what makes each one of them suitable for a different project.

My readers seemed to enjoy that article and found it very helpful, and that made me write this article about different art brushes and the ones you really need in your collection.

So the way I mentioned in the art paint article, every paint is suitable for a different project. You need to know that paint brushes too, depend on the paint you are using and the desired shapes and lines to paint.

For this article, I will share with you the best brushes I have personally used for reference.

This page contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you use those links. Please read my Disclosure for more details.

Related article: Do I need to buy expensive art supplies to make great art?

What do you need to know about paintbrushes?

You need to learn two things about a brush before you go out there and buy it. Its anatomy and what it was made for.

Let’s start from a starting point. As an artist, let’s cut the anatomy of a paintbrush down.

1- The anatomy of a paintbrush

Bristes: So the bristles are the hairs at the very top/head of the brush. These bristles could either be synthetic (fake hair) or made out of real animal hair.

Ferrule: The metal part of a paintbrush that holds the bristles inside. A ferrule could be either round for rounded head brushes or flat for flat brushes.

Crimp: So the crimp is the little part at the bottom of the ferrule that links both the handle and the ferrule.

Handle: The part where we hold the brush from. Handles are either made out of plastic, wood, or metals. they could also be either short or long.

2- What is the paintbrush made for?

Brushes come in different sizes, different bristles, different lengths, and other details for a reason.

Choosing my paintbrush based on bristles, Which bristles to choose?

When you are buying your brush from a crafts store, give it the bristle test. Run your hands through the hairs and pull gently on them. If they break or fall, that brush isn’t for you. Otherwise, you’ll have hairs going onto your canvas while painting.

• The bristles could be either synthetic or animal-made, the difference between both is that animal hairs hold more water than synthetic brushes. So it would be great for watercolor, paint washes, thinned paint…

• The paintbrush bristles could also be either soft or coarse. The difference is that a coarse brush or bristle brush is great for applying thick paint, covering bigger areas faster, painting rough edges, or techniques like broken color. A soft brush on the other hand would be great for blending, painting details, and softer edges.

Choosing my paintbrush based on the ferrule?

For the ferrule part, I want you to always make sure you’re getting a brush with a ferrule that won’t rust. Because if it rusts, it goes weak and would break easily.

Choosing my paintbrush based on the handle? Which hand to choose?

So handles are either long or short. Made of wood, plastic, or metal.

If you are mostly painting on paper, I would highly recommend you get brushes with shorter handles and if you work with canvas, then your best option is to get brushes with longer handles. The difference is the amount of control you want to have on your brush and on your artwork as well. The farther your hand is from your artwork, the softer you paint and the less control you have.

A second point is the material of the handle, If your paint brush handle is made out of wood, it will expand with the use of water, and once it dries, it shrinks back. This movement will cause the handle of your brush to move out of the ferrule and you end up with something like this.

If you buy a paintbrush whose handle is made out of metal, make sure it doesn’t rust. And It is for this reason, that I highly recommend paint brushes with plastic handles because they are the most durable out of the three.

Different kinds of brushes

• The big flat paintbrush

Great for covering bigger areas in less time, holds more paint, great for blending edges.

• Mop brushes

They basically look like mops, and they hold a lot of water. They are often used for blending, applying color washes, and more watercolor techniques.

• Flat brushes

These are the ones if you want to paint perfect lines, edge geometric shapes, blend, fill in areas…

• Angled brushes

Good for painting angles and getting to pointed areas.

• Round brushes

These ones are great for painting dots, details, and inconsistent lines, but you can never get a perfect line with them.

• Filbert brushes

Flat at the bottom and rounded at the tip, these are great for painting round shapes like clouds and flowers.

• Rake brushes

Could be used to paint grass or lines with gaps in between.

• Liner brushes

Long and thin, good for signatures, and long lines.

• Fan brushes

Great for blending, could be used to paint trees, grass, and patterns.

Which paint brushes to invest in?

There are paint brushes brands I’ve been using for years and haven’t faced any problems with. If you make sure you take into consideration all the previous details I listed above, you can go out there and get your hand on any brush basically and I’m sure you’ll make a good purchase. I get mine from Blick Art Materials.

You can see that over on Blick Art Materials, the brushes are already sorted by what they are made for which is perfect for you if you’re a beginner. These are some of my favorite picks.

Best brush set for watercolor

This is the Da Vinci Synthetic Watercolor brush set. You can get them here.

You can also watch the demo of each brush on YouTube for maximum info and to pick the brushes you feel like you need the most before you make your purchase.

You can also get one of those affordable water brushes, where you fill it with water and keep painting with it. Get the Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle Waterbrush here.

Best brush set for acrylics

Since both acrylics and watercolors are water-based paints, I wouldn’t mind using the same set of brushes. But for the best experience, I recommend you get synthetic brushes for acrylics and natural hair ones for watercolor because the synthetics hold less water. This set by Da Vinci is one of the best synthetic sets to ever exist. Get your Da Vinci Nova Synthetic Brushes and Sets here. And watch the YouTube Demo video as well.