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I've come to realise that i rather dislike the citadel brushes and am looking for something with shorter bristles.
Does anyone have any experience with reaper's brushes?
would you recommend them?
how about the army painter 'insane detail' brush?
any other recommendations?

If you're in the US, go to Michaels crafting store - they have a huge selection. You can get a Windsor&Newton University Series 1, 0, or 00 for about $5 each, and they're great synthetic brushes that hold their point well and clean up easily, and have the added benefit of being easily accessible at chain crafting stores

If you want to order a brush online, most good painters swear by Windsor&Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable miniature brushes. They have shorter bristles, which are good for precision work, and they're good brushes, but since they're for such a specialized market, you're unlikely to find them on the rack anywhere, you'll need to order them.

I've always bought all my brushes from the hobbies/modeling shop. Brush sizes down to 10/0.

Sable or the white acrylic.

They've always been good for me, and there is a decent range.

Never used a GW brush (they neither had GW brushes nor paint when I started painting - started out with Ral Partha paints - some of which are still going and hobby shop brushes).

If you want to order a brush online, most good painters swear by Windsor&Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable miniature brushes. They have shorter bristles, which are good for precision work, and they're good brushes, but since they're for such a specialized market, you're unlikely to find them on the rack anywhere, you'll need to order them.

Call around to local art stores. I live in a smallish city and there's an art store that caries series 7. Not cheap though and due to price they keep em behind the counter. I only get them for the detail brushes -- basecoat and tank brushes I use something similar to what redbeard recommends (good synthetics).

I also recommend looking at different shapes and trying em out. For basecoats, a small and thin flat or filbert are much better then the standard rounds GW sells imho.

HTH

For me, a half-chewed toothpick is a better brush than a GW one.

I've used W&N, but I know I can't be trusted to keep them well cared for, so they're wasted on me. They're very good (for the money, I'd hope so) but I'll settle for the brushes I've been using for the last 20 odd years.

Roymac sable. I used to buy replacements every few years. My previous job in a stationary warehouse means I won't have to buy any more for a few years, though.

winterman wrote:I live in a smallish city and there's an art store that caries series 7. Not cheap though and due to price they keep em behind the counter.

What is not cheap? Dick Blick online (I think one of this site's sponsors) carries the relevant series 7 brushes (3/0, 2/0, 0) for under $10 each. That's just about the same price as the GW brushes, and they're significantly better.


GW actually does some good brushes. I keep going back to their drybrush line, and their big tank brush is pretty good too. But their detail brushes are awful, you can get much better brushes cheaper with very little effort.

Redbeard speaks the truth.

I am fortunate enough to live in a city where the local GW store is <1 minute walk from the artistic supplies shop that caters to the local university art students.

I tend to use both GW & non-GW brushes according to need. The price for fine art brushes can be equal to or greater than GW stock, but you can find both 'cheap & cheerfull' basecoating brushes as well as some excellent detailing brushes for <GW prices.

Just go with what your budget can afford, but bear in mind that all brushes are ultimately consumable and are going to wear out with use. Like paint they are a means to an end.>

I am fortunate enough to live in a city where there is a huge crafts store, where I can go amongst the isles away from staff view and put various windsor and newton series 7 brushes in with a pack off piss cheap brushes and the stupid corporate giants have no idea. mwuhahaha.

Redbeard wrote:What is not cheap? Dick Blick online (I think one of this site's sponsors) carries the relevant series 7 brushes (3/0, 2/0, 0) for under $10 each. That's just about the same price as the GW brushes, and they're significantly better.

Just to follow on Redbeard's comments, If there's a Dick Blick store nearby, I'd also recommend checking out their brand Kolinsky sable brushes. They're pretty good, and reasonably priced for Kolinsky sable.

People everywhere should stay far away from white nylon brushes. They're for suckers. Yeah, they're cheap. And you'll get 1/100th the use out of them compared to quality sable brushes as long as you take care of them. It takes what, 60 seconds to clean your brushes after a painting session?

I only use the Winsor and Newton Series 7. These are by far the best brushes I have used to date, seeing as I've been using the same size 0, 2, and 4 for the past 2 years and they have yet to show any sign of actually wearing out. The only time I actually replaced a set of these brushes was when I dumped my original set of them in favor of their more recent Series 7 Miniature line brushes. Same brush, but with a much shorter brush length that give exceptional control over the bristles. My supplier is ASWExpress.com. They have the brushes at a great price and shipments are pretty prompt. While most are around $15 each, which may be a lot for some, they are well worth the price as you will not need to replace them in a long time, barring using them as a drybrush or something. Just clean them with brush soap after every use and don't let paint reach the metal and you'll hang on to these for years.

What is not cheap?

Been a long while since I bought my series 7, IIRC I paid $14 each or so. If you take good care of em though you most certainly get your money's worth.
Mine are still going strong even after some poor maintenance, but are soon to become dry brush fodder or hand me downs to my son.