If these are your first brushes, don't buy Kolinsky sable brushes. Don't even buy natural hair brushes. Here is why:
1. Synthetic brushes have a lot of snap (the bristles go straight), making them easier to learn with.
2. Synthetic brushes are easier to clean and cheaper to throw away, because...
3. You're likely to get paint in the ferrule (the metal part that holds the bristles), and you're unlikely to clean them properly, so they won't last long anyhow. It is a lot of work to upkeep premium brushes, and most people don't when they start out.
4. You're not going to notice the difference in how much paint they hold anyhow. There will be so many other challenges you face, like how much to thin paint.
The biggest advantage a sable brush has is that they don't kink. Synthetic brushes kink after you paint a few minis (the tip literally is kinked), making them "useless" -- at least, for people who want to do precision work. In fact, if you are diligent with cleaning your brushes (you have to be religious about it), good Kolinsky brushes can last you for hundreds of painted miniatures -- years, for most people. But if you get paint into the ferrule, and don't clean them properly, they'll die like any other brush. The hairs poke out all over the place and they don't paint nicely.
Synthetic brushes tend to naturally hold their shape, so you don't have to constantly retip your brush. People who use kolinsky brushes will constantly go to the palette and roll the brush to get a new tip -- just watch a Warhammer TV video with Duncan Rhodes. He'll does it every time he gets more paint; it becomes second nature.
Holding more paint in the bristles is something a more advanced painter will appreciate, and something a new painter will not even notice.
My suggestion is to go to a hobby shop that carries stuff other than
GW, and buy Royal or PMX brushes. They are about $2-$3 (or less). You want to start off getting sizes like 0, 1, 2 for round, and you want at least one flat brush, if not a couple. They'll last you long enough to get the hang of things, and once you have a bit of experience, you can invest in something better if you wish.
In contrast, a Winsor & Newton Series 7 is about $15-$20 (on sale). However, for me, in the lifespan of a S7 brush, I'd go through like, 20+ synthetics, so I'm way, way ahead buying the premium brush.
Take it from a guy who loves Kolinsky sable brushes, and who has bought just about every Kolinsky brush at the fine arts store he can get his hands on, though: synthetics are better FIRST brushes.
After you paint a little bit, you should invest in are drybrushes. The
GW drybrushes are excellent (not to mention the only drybrushes that anyone makes).
Ultra Grey wrote:Avoid
GW brushes. While they may be natural hair bristles, they are poor quality and over priced. I suspect they're using squirrel hair, or another cheap hair. The way paint flows from Kolinsky or Red Sable hair is unequalled, and this is why people tend to paint better with them. The even, controlled flow of paint makes a huge difference.
Neither of these comments are actually true. Assuming you're talking about the round brushes:
The OLD
GW brushes (the ones with the colored handles) were kolinsky sable for the detail, fine detail, and standard brushes: it said so right on
GW's website.
The NEW
GW brushes (the ones with the glossy black handles), in the round layer and basecoat, are 100% synthetic, with the sole exception of the Artificer brush, which is Kolinksky Sable (and actually a pretty nice brush).
The old round brushes were actually pretty nice for the price. I wrote a review of the new brushes them a couple months back. The new round brushes are synthetic brushes which are fine to learn on, but they're no better than any other synthetic brush, and not worth paying a premium for.
Note that most of the brushes from most of the other gaming companies are just as expensive and worse. For example, p3 brushes are horrible (I own 'em all, including the studio ones), and the Army Painter brushes are ok learning brushes, but not much more than that, with the exception of the Character & Regiment brushes. None of them are particularly awesome value.
GW has REALLY nice drybrushes. Not only are they perfect at what they do, but as I said above, they are the only products on the market for drybrushing. If you keep them clean (which takes a lot of effort), they will last a REALLY long time. Mine are pushing... 3 years? And I drybrush tons of stuff -- mountains of terrain.
