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Something I really struggle with is keeping a nice point on my brush. And it’s very frustrating because this doesn’t seem to be an issue on any of the videos I’m watching. Either the paint is too thick and it dries on the point before I can apply it or I thin it too much and the bristles start to splay and/or the paint flows everywhere. I’m talking about when I’m trying to do fine precision work. It’s really frustrating. I’ve used regarding medium sometimes and it helps but the videos I’m watching painters usually seem to manage without it. Can anyone relate to this and where am I going wrong?

Dont put to much pressure onto your brushes they have to glide over the miniature and not pushed onto the miniature. syntetic brush will lose or bent you tip very quick. real hair brushes dont do that but are expensif. i use cheap brushes and i have always one with a bend tip to paint around the corner.

I've had a look at some of your gallery images and the painting is good quality work so I'm going to assume that you know all about general brush care and not list all that. There are a couple of tips I'll fire at you though...

Wet your brush before you start painting - paint won't start gunking it up as quick.

Twist your brush in to a point as you draw the paint out - by doing this you've already started painting on the pallette and can tell if the brush is leaving the thin line you're wanting it to leave.

Get paint in the belly of your brush - it is tempting when painting something tiny to just put a dot of paint on the tip, but if you load the brush so it has some in the belly it will keep the paint on the tip wetter so won't dry and clump as quick. 'They' say to load a brush three quarters of the way up the bristles, I'm a bit fearful of filling my brush with paint though so I normally start with about half way up, as I continue painting it does creep up to three quarters point.

Move the model as well as your brush hand - a bit tricky on some models but you kind of don't want your brush hand to twist too much because the point will start to widen as it moves away from painting in a true line. I feel like I've done a really bad job of explaining that but just try to always have the brush painting in a straight line.

Use a wet pallette - this is more to keep the paint the consistency you want, the edges of a paint blob dry a lot quicker on a dry pallette and when you draw your brush through it when loading your brush it can make it a bit clumpy on your brush.

Practice - by far the most important. Practice on your pallette or another flat surface, get used to how much pressure you want on your brush and can notice bad habits that might be contributing to a bad tip. Start with just lots of straight lines, then try painting more intricate details, it will give you a good feel for it before any paint hits the model.

Hope some of this helps

The bane of my existence are the tip curl/fray/fishhook
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/789939.page

There are 2 reasons:
1-For a good detail brush to hold the point it needs to have all bristles come to a single point, and not be "trimmed" into a sharp shape.
2-Natural bristles are superior in performance to the synthetic.

I would take a guess and assume you are using synthetic brushes.
The tip problems do not happen with natural bristle brushes, and if it does, they are repairable with hot water and hair conditioner.
Kolinsky / Sable might cost you 20 - 30 monies per brush but are worth it.
I like to use cheap tools, but a good brush, I need to have at least one.

I find my self grabbing my remaining 2 sable and 1 kolinsky brush whenever I paint. All of my detail and highlighting for past 2 years has been done mostly with these 3. They look janky now, but when load em up with paint or thin wash, the few hairs that remain do come to a point. Hope this helps.




Also, the guys from YouTube videos, ether new synthetic brush, or most likely a very nice Sable or Kolinsky brush.

What I’ve learned in terms of looking after brushes and keeping their tip nice.

Never get paint higher than half way up the bristles

You only need the lightest touch to transfer the paint from brush to model, and learning this took me a while but it’s become habit now and my painting has improved

Green stuff world brush cleaner is a great way to clean your brushes gently

Synthetic brushes will always end up with a slight hook on the tip but this shouldn’t stop you doing anything other than details if you use good quality synthetics like W&N cottman 111 round.

Good quality synthetic brushes are 10 times better than cheap kolinsky.