Paint Brushes

[Demogon]

Hi,

Just looking for some advice it's been around 10 years since I painted any minis and I backed the Kickstarter so just wondering what kind of brushes people have been using and where do you get them? The small town I live in has no hobby shop! Any help is appreciated thanks in advance.

[Jokemeister]

I am sure the regulars on this forum will answer in due course but from lurking around on the forums, some favs are:

 

Brushes - Winsor & Newton series 7 and Raphael brushes seem to be very popular

 

Online stores - Dick Blick and Michaels seem to both be popular and have occasional big discounts

[Pingo]

Condolences on no hobby shop. If you're doing mail order in the US, Dick Blick is a good resource.

 

I use a mix of a couple of really good brushes for most painting and lesser brushes for washes, drybrushing, and color mixing. The best brushes are Kolinsky sable, a natural hair that holds a fine point (*very* important) and its "snap" for years if treated well. People like tiny sizes, like 1, 0, and 00, but I find that a size 2 Kolinsky round holds a lot of paint and still keeps a minuscule point.

 

Lesser brushes include red sable (still pretty good) and nylon.

 

Most painting is done with a round brush, but among my cheaper brushes I like the versatility of filberts for flat areas. Their shape is flat, but with a rounded tip (they're also called "cat's tongues").

[TheAuldGrump]

I have recently started using The Army Painter brushes - and rather like them. I find that the triangular grip helps ease the strain of holding a brush for too long, and seems to help with the positioning as well.

 

I would prefer the standard numbering system instead of names like 'Character', 'Regiment', 'Small Drybrush', or 'Insane Detail' but since the names do summarize the job for each brush....

 

A bit earlier I was using them to apply Reaper Drow Skin to a fire giantess. (I have so many of the soon-to-be-Bones figures in metal....)

 

The Auld Grump

[ced1106]

fwiw, the Reaper Learn to Paint Kits have brushes. The LTPK2 has a 2 Red Sable brush and 10/0 brush. Brushes look similar.

 

n/m if you don't need the paint tho!

[Adrift]

Cheap brushes for base coating and drybrushing (if you use this technique).

 

Expensive brushes (as mentioned by Jokemeister) for highlighting, shading and detail work.

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

I really rate Rosemary & Co for their series 33 sables for painting (too good for drybruhing though)

 

http://www.rosemaryandco.com/

 

Great value

[Doug Sundseth]

Hi,

Just looking for some advice it's been around 10 years since I painted any minis and I backed the Kickstarter so just wondering what kind of brushes people have been using and where do you get them? The small town I live in has no hobby shop! Any help is appreciated thanks in advance.

 

1) Do not buy cheap brushes. They don't work well, and if you paint more than 5-10 miniatures, they're actually more expensive to use than expensive brushes.

 

2) Do buy Konlinsky Sable round brushes for your primary painting. Winsor & Newton Series 7, Da Vinci Series 10, or Raphaël Series 8404 are all very good.

 

3) Do not buy very small brushes. The paint will dry on them between palette and figure, resulting in a painful painting experience. A good #0 - #2 brush can paint all the details that a #10/0 brush can paint, and do it more cleanly and easily.

 

4) Dick Blick is an excellent source of good brushes. Their customer service is excellent and their selection is unmatched.

[Last Knight]

fwiw, the Reaper Learn to Paint Kits have brushes. The LTPK2 has a 2 Red Sable brush and 10/0 brush. Brushes look similar.

 

n/m if you don't need the paint tho!

 

All five of them carried those, at least mine did. The 2 flat is really useful, but my 10/0 developed a crook pretty quickly. =/

[Adrift]

Yeah they do that.

[CashWiley]

W&N Series 7 from dickblick.com, I'm partial to the #2

 

Cheap brushes for rugged duty like drybrushing, I have a couple dozen from before I wised up to buying good brushes.

[Demogon]

Thanks to everyone for the information and advice.

[cthulhudarren]

There doesn't seem to be consensus on brush sizes. Would two kolinsky sables be a good start? Let's say a size 2 and a size 0? Or are these too close to each other in size?

 

What about for base coating? What would you recommend for blocking in colors in larger areas, while still being able to control the edges of the painting area?

[Heisler]

I have DaVinci Maestros in sizes 0, 1, 2 with the number 1 being my workhorse brush. I don't worry to much about being neat with basecoats and I tend to basecoat with what ever older, larger brush I have. Just have to match the brush to the job. Also much like clothing sizes everyone's size 0, 1 or 2 is actually going to be different. You just have to pick a brand and work from there.

[Qwyksilver]

If you can afford it, I would get a 0, 1, 2 or a 00, 0, 1 depending on your comfort level with brush control and fine detail. For some people just that mental block of needing small brushes to do fine detail means getting a 00. I wouldn't get anything smaller.

 

Any old beaten up brushes get relegated to primer/terrain/dry brush/mixing/etc. If you get a good quality Kolinsky and take care of it though, it should last you for years.

 

My #1 is my workhorse brush. I use them for just about everything from primer (old brushes) to basecoat to detail. I usually only use a #2 if I am painting lots of figures (rare) or large figures and want to carry a lot of paint. I have multiple #1 just so I can let brushes soak in between color changes. I started using 10/0 and 5/0 and 3/0 etc and quickly realized it wasn't helpful and as brush control and confidence improved I went to larger brushes. I rarely use anything smaller than a 0 now.