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Hey, before we start im a noob woop! (4th post )

Ive always considered buying a better paintbrush, a more artistic one or the GW fine detail brush.

However i always chicken out and find some piece of rubbish where the bristles break off from Ebay.

So more to the point, im looking for advice on where to purchase good quality brushes, what to purchase and (the big question...) how much?

Buying paint brushes always seems daunting, but buying good ones in the first place, as well as knowing how to take care of them is key to not only your bristle life, but to the quality of your models.
As for where to buy brushes, you have a couple of options.
Games Workshop's line (from what I've heard) works really well, they have a ton of different brushes.
I just started using the Army Painter line, and they work pretty well, they seem to have a little bit of a fraying problem, but its never too big a problem.
You can also go to the local art store (if you have one) and peruse the brushes they have.
As for price, you can expect to spend about $25 or so for a good selection of brushes, my fine detail brush ran me about $6, but it all varies.
Hope I've helped a bit,
Granesh

Ive gone thru about 200 models of various sizes from scout to Land Raider with my GW brushes (got the set). My detail and fine detail are about worn out, and the large, standard and base brush have lost a few bristles. The drybrushes have served me well, though the small and medium are starting to get pretty smooshed, but the big one is fine (rarely used). Wash brush is great. Stippling brush is my least favorite of the set, been used for stripping more then painting at this point.
I know its hard to spend as much on brushes as for a set of terminators but its totally worth it. Just dont lose the plastic condom things for em!

I'd really research brush care more than just going by price. You'll get a great brush for 25$ but if you beat it up with thick paint, harsh washing, not washing completely and just generally being hard on it, it'll die just as quick as a cheap one. I've gone through 2 of the sable brushes in the last year because I'm more conscious of how to care for them. Before I never would buy them because they'd just die as qucikly as the cheap ones.

There's a lot to brush care. The first seminar I ever went to at GenCon was painting clothes and the lady opened up with brush care and that's what I took away the most. Look into supplies like Brush Saver, a soap specially for brushes (I use the pink stuff with mona lisa on it), drying retardent, acrylic matte thiners, ect. Try to learn the anatomy of the brush and go from there.

Cheapo art store brushes are good for drybrushing.

Kolinsky (red) sable is best for normal brushing.

I like the W&N brushes. The series 7 are great but expect to pay between $6 and $20 depending on size (I honestly would save the big cheap brushes for larger size work).

I got a general purpose Privateer Press brush the other day, and I like it. The tip is flat and thin, so you can hold it one way to do belts and stuff, or turn it for fine details, it's also wider in the middle for larger area brushing, and it seems to hold the point well - this has been a problem for me.

In my experience, my brushes tend to start curling up at the tips, which wouldn't be a problem if all of the tips curled in the same direction, but alas, they go every which way.

Currently I use a W&N Size 1 & 0 and a Privateer press Studio brush, both has served me well. I highly suggest buying a brush cleaner soap bar called The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver so that you can extend your brushes life, I use it after every painting session, and so far, my brushes are in good condition. For brushes, I highly recommend W&N, brushes, they have great control and their bristles are resilient. Good luck finding what you need.

Ouze wrote:I got a general purpose Privateer Press brush the other day, and I like it. The tip is flat and thin, so you can hold it one way to do belts and stuff, or turn it for fine details, it's also wider in the middle for larger area brushing, and it seems to hold the point well - this has been a problem for me.

In my experience, my brushes tend to start curling up at the tips, which wouldn't be a problem if all of the tips curled in the same direction, but alas, they go every which way.

a problem of mine aswell! probably because we dont look after them enough


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Einhänder wrote:Currently I use a W&N Size 1 & 0 and a Privateer press Studio brush, both has served me well. I highly suggest buying a brush cleaner soap bar called The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver so that you can extend your brushes life, I use it after every painting session, and so far, my brushes are in good condition. For brushes, I highly recommend W&N, brushes, they have great control and their bristles are resilient. Good luck finding what you need.

I will deffinately look into theese thanks

Check out this place: http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/

They do a large variety of brushes including the W&N series 7. Not sure it's the cheapest place but I've bought all kinds of paints and brushes from them and they always deliver.

Games Workshop brushes are fine for normal painting, if you want to step up to a higher grade then a lot of people will recommend you go for better brushes. If you do I second Einhänder's advice about the Master's Brush Cleaner, you can get this at http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/.

Search function is your friend.

Good brushes other than GW?

Brush recommendations

Need suggestions on paint brushes

After years of struggling with mediocre brushes, I ended up using Rosemary & Co. Pure Kolinsky Sable brushes. Very high quality, very affordable price, excellent customer service. My brushes are from Series 33, but from what I have heard Series 22 is also very popular.

To be honest, I just get packs of brushes from Walmart out of the craft aisle for what.. 3-4 bucks? You get 20+ brushes for cheap, and most of them last a good while. No bristle loss, little fraying, ect.

3-4 bucks for 20 sure beats GW's 6 bucks for one brush, amIrite?

anooci, no you're wrong.

GW brushes are diversified for tasks. spending $4 at the cost of your detail isn't a good idea.

It's impossible to get modelling brushed for cheaper then say 4 dollars a peice?

GW may be expensive, but when used well, they will last you (by my experience) 1.5 - 2 years which is a really long time.

some tips:

1. don't dip the paints past maybe 1/2 the tip. otherwise you get paint everywhere and it gets icky.
2. take good care of your paints too.
3. always know which brushed to use for what.
4. don't brush to vigourously. brush lightly and make it effective. the results will look beatiful.

Afternote:

I have the megapaint set, so I have everything.

However, I use the fine-detail, detail and standard brushes for the majority of my models.
I use the wash brush for washes.
I use the mega-drybrush (the flat one) for tanks.
I use the other DB for drybrushing and terrain (such as sand.)
I use the stippling brush for melta and flame weapons.

so, finally remember the three golden rules!:

Take care of your paint brushes.
Take care of your paint pots.
make sure you know what brushes to use for what!

Captain Solon wrote:anooci, no you're wrong.

GW brushes are diversified for tasks. spending $4 at the cost of your detail isn't a good idea.

It's impossible to get modelling brushed for cheaper then say 4 dollars a peice?

GW may be expensive, but when used well, they will last you (by my experience) 1.5 - 2 years which is a really long time.

I'd love to show you some of my models painted with said brushes. I don't sacrifice any detail for the quality of my brushes. There is no difference between a GW detail brush and a cheaper brush of the same size.
Maybe they aren't ~*~specific fancy miniatures brushes~*~ but you're still just putting paint on a surface. Any brush can do that. That's almost like saying the only paint you should ever use is miniatures paint, not any other acrylic paint.

Cheaper brushes tend to work for me, i keep the nice one's for details and smaller models but i found what really kills em is when I'm doing layers. Dry brushing layer on layer just seems to kill any brush. I save that job for my cheap ones that are 2 bucks to replace if that.

I've been served pretty well by those <$10 multipacks from craft stores. Sure, you get a bunch of coarse bristle (work just fine for drybrushing rough terrain and bases) and some floppy, shedding squirrel hair (I give them some tough love to knock out the loose hairs, then they serve as dusters, since they're only really good for watercolors, which I don't use), but you also get a nice variety of white nylon and golden taklon brushes, perhaps even a sable or two. Wide, soft brushes for tanks, a few 0s, 1s, and I've even seen detail brushes as fine as 0/2 in some packs. With care (Master's brush soap works wonders!), these will last you for ages, with the only issue being curled tips (a flaw of nylon bristles, in general, which even gentle brushing can only delay slightly).

Depends on how mad you want to go with a brush to be honest.


The GW brushes arent that bad to be honest, a little low quality, but there are worse out there.


If you really want some nice quality brushes, check out this site: http://chineseartbrushes.com/pure-wolf-hair-chinese-art-brush-p-52.html
Only $12 aswell, and its a great brush. (not so great if your an animal rights avtavist or such)

Mainly the premium brushes, all of which are amazing to use and allow 100% control.

oadie wrote:I've been served pretty well by those <$10 multipacks from craft stores. Sure, you get a bunch of coarse bristle (work just fine for drybrushing rough terrain and bases) and some floppy, shedding squirrel hair (I give them some tough love to knock out the loose hairs, then they serve as dusters, since they're only really good for watercolors, which I don't use), but you also get a nice variety of white nylon and golden taklon brushes, perhaps even a sable or two. Wide, soft brushes for tanks, a few 0s, 1s, and I've even seen detail brushes as fine as 0/2 in some packs. With care (Master's brush soap works wonders!), these will last you for ages, with the only issue being curled tips (a flaw of nylon bristles, in general, which even gentle brushing can only delay slightly).

Thats what i have done in the past, they cost me about £4 with 3 or 4 brushes but seem to die quickly, looks like im not looking after them enought.