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So I just started this wonderful hobby three weeks again and am just now starting to paint (had to space out the cost). So I am trying to paint the space marines from the "Black Reach" starter kit and am finding the insane brush to be less precious than I need. I have watched several tutorial and notice that their brushed come to a nice point and mine never had that fine of a tip. So I was wondering if anyone has an idea of how to put a better time on my brush so I can get into the details, like eyes.

Buy a decent brush. It's that simple.

Windsor and newton make some of the best (Googlefu: series 7 kolinsky sable). A lot of people seem to think that the smaller the brush, the smaller the detail you can paint. This is not true, I use a standard brush for all my painting, it keeps a nice point and because it has more bristles it can hold a larger amount of paint meaning fewer trips to the palette and a better
consistency for blending

Don't shirk on the effort of getting good brushes.

Windsor & Newton Series 7 for watercolours are wonderful, but really quite expensive. My preferred brand.
Rosemary & Co Series 33 are also lovely, and much cheaper.

While painting, try to avoid getting paint in the ferrule (the metal bit). Don't ever leave point down in water. Don't stab, drybrush or stipple with brushes you want to have a point on.

Also take care of the brushes after use - clean out properly at the end of a session, condition, and I form tips with a little hair styling wax. Masters brush soap is brilliant stuff (although you can also clean out with a good solvent, just remember to condition afterward as it'll dry the bristles out).

Many, many possibilities, but the most likely as you're just starting out is a combination of too thick paint (thinning paint is a must, doing it correctly is an art!) and not cleaning your brush throughly.

Roughly, a 1 part paint to one part water mix is a good start, if it is too runny and you can't control where it ends up on the mini easily, add more paint, if it is still more like a gel than a liquid, add more water (the consistency of milk is a good bench mark)

Clean your brush in you water regularly as you paint, and thouroughly with some warm water and soap when you're done each day.

That said, I have found Citadel brushes to split on me more easily than some others I've used, so it may be worth a trip to a craft store and picking up some alternatives to try, go for the sort recommended for water colours and with natural fibre bristles, they are surprisingly affordable in comparison to Citadel, in fact for a little more than GW prices, you can pick up what many consider the best brushes available (Winsor and Newton) but it isn't likely worth your expenditure this early into your modelling career.

Welcome to the hobby, you'll never leave!

You can never spend too much on a set of quality brushes. But if you do go GW for ease of identification just note that with use you have to take care to soap and wash them more frequently than higher quality brushes as they seem to have a shorter shelf life. Although to be fair I do still have the old GW wooden box master grade sable brushes from 04 or 05 still in great shape and service.

Hyper-detail brushes tend to have fewer and shorter bristles, which leads to paint drying on the brush, unless serious care is taken to avoid it (dilute paint, potentially with the addition of a drying retarder, and minimal time spent between loading the brush and rinsing it out). A larger bellied brush with a fine point will, as others have said, serve you better (especially with proper care and feeding).

W&N Series 7s are always held up immediately as the golden standard, but even the "cheap alternatives" like Rosemary & Co. or Raphael aren't exactly cheap. Shop around and take the time to inspect brushes carefully and you can find something serviceable for surprisingly little. My current brushes came from a cheap 4-pack I bought at Michaels (Artist's Loft watercolor brushes). It took searching through several of each size to find the best of the lot and proper prep and maintenance once I got them home, but they perform admirably and cost (if memory serves) less than $2 each.

winterdyne wrote:Don't shirk on the effort of getting good brushes.

Windsor & Newton Series 7 for watercolours are wonderful, but really quite expensive. My preferred brand.
Rosemary & Co Series 33 are also lovely, and much cheaper.

While painting, try to avoid getting paint in the ferrule (the metal bit). Don't ever leave point down in water. Don't stab, drybrush or stipple with brushes you want to have a point on.

Also take care of the brushes after use - clean out properly at the end of a session, condition, and I form tips with a little hair styling wax. Masters brush soap is brilliant stuff (although you can also clean out with a good solvent, just remember to condition afterward as it'll dry the bristles out).

You know, you are the first person I've seen that uses W&N but actually says anything nice about Rosemary & Co. I use Series 33 brushes and I love them to death.

@ oadie: $5.50 per brush is hardly expensive. And you only ever need maybe 3 or 4 brushes tops, so a one time price of $20ish isn't really that bad. I find that cheaper brushes wear out too fast. And synthetic brushes fray and curl over where sable brushes generally don't.

In the short term lick the brush to a nice point every so often.

Deathshead420 wrote:In the short term lick the brush to a nice point every so often.

I lick the brush after every time I rinse it off while painting to regain the tip. It just works so well.

And ah agree with the brush size thing.

When au used 000 brushes it was pain, now an literally use a W&N 2 sized brush and ah find it easier ta keep the neat point there.

Aerethan wrote:

winterdyne wrote:Don't shirk on the effort of getting good brushes.

Windsor & Newton Series 7 for watercolours are wonderful, but really quite expensive. My preferred brand.
Rosemary & Co Series 33 are also lovely, and much cheaper.

While painting, try to avoid getting paint in the ferrule (the metal bit). Don't ever leave point down in water. Don't stab, drybrush or stipple with brushes you want to have a point on.

Also take care of the brushes after use - clean out properly at the end of a session, condition, and I form tips with a little hair styling wax. Masters brush soap is brilliant stuff (although you can also clean out with a good solvent, just remember to condition afterward as it'll dry the bristles out).

You know, you are the first person I've seen that uses W&N but actually says anything nice about Rosemary & Co. I use Series 33 brushes and I love them to death.

@ oadie: $5.50 per brush is hardly expensive. And you only ever need maybe 3 or 4 brushes tops, so a one time price of $20ish isn't really that bad. I find that cheaper brushes wear out too fast. And synthetic brushes fray and curl over where sable brushes generally don't.

The Rosemary brushes are just a bit harder for me to find locally. I always buy brushes I can see (so I can tell whether its going to have a good point etc), never mail order. It limits my choices somewhat. The S7's are almost always good, but some are over £12 a brush now.... thankfully mine are all still going pretty well.

Aerethan wrote:$5.50 per brush is hardly expensive. And you only ever need maybe 3 or 4 brushes tops, so a one time price of $20ish isn't really that bad. I find that cheaper brushes wear out too fast. And synthetic brushes fray and curl over where sable brushes generally don't.

I didn't mean to suggest that the prices were exorbitant, by any means (I meant to italicize that last "cheap")), though those of us who lack local distributors have to tack on shipping costs, as well. Since the OP mentioned having to space out initial purchases to manage the cost, I figured tossing out an even less expensive option was warranted. The brushes I mentioned are natural (haven't had good luck with any of the synthetics I've tried) and have yet to show any signs of deterioration, though I admittedly paint less frequently and take better care of my brushes than many, if not most.

Biggest problem is paint on the ferrule. This is very difficult to wash out, and when it dries causes the bristles to splay out.

And too much paint on the brush and too thick, pretty much what others have said, though I find GW brushes to be fine if looked after.

Another vote for Winsor & Newton. When I picked up a couple of these brushes my painting was radically better. Previously I had a hard time putting paint only on the parts I wanted. Using one of these brushes I'm able to put it exactly where I want because I have much more control.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-series-7-kolinsky-sable-pointed-round/

Also, get some brush cleaner. This stuff is great:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/the-masters-brush-cleaner-and-preserver/

I rinse my brushes in regular water; but even if the water comes out completely clear I find that the brush cleaner manages to get more out.