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In the past, I've frequently used three different brands of brushes: Royal, American Painter, and Loew-Cornell. These were the ones that were both locally available and not absolute garbage where I was at the time when I painted miniatures on the frequent. These were generally decent, though on more than a few occasions I've had some that were just about instantly ruined from very simple (and cautious) use, splaying irreparably even when not a bit of paint made it up to the ferrule. Some of them also had a habit of hardening somewhere mid-bristle even when washed out very well (including with soap, even dedicated brush soap). Some would last basically forever...

I did on a couple of occasions try to buy known quality brushes online, I think Windsor-Newton were the standard for a bit (sable-hair brushes). These worked well, but usually in shipping a couple - or even most - of them would get their bristles messed up. Not long after I gave up on that I stopped painting for a long while.

Where I'm at has some kind of Michaels that I haven't checked out yet, and a Hobby Lobby, which only appears to have garbage tier brushes from what I saw. The FLGS has only Army Painter.

So my questions are:

1) Who retails quality brushes online and actually ships them safely?

2) Are Army Painter brushes any good?

3) If I'm tossing out all my old ones and starting anew, what would be a good spread of sizes to pick from? I never did have a good eye for size.

Thanks!

M.

Whichever brush you go with make sure it's sable. ANY synthetic brushes will eventually curl at the tip. That said, I like my Winsor and Newton, other brands to check are Rosemary and Co., Raphael, and Da Vinci.

Also, make sure you aren't using a brush that is too small. That's a common mistake people make and wonder why they are getting dry paint in their brushes. The tiny brushes don't hold much paint or water and dry out quickly. A quality brush will have a nice size belly and a tiny point. The smallest quality brush you will need is 0, with most of your detail work being done with a size 1.

Rosemary and Co. are highly respected and very reasonably costed. Excluding VAT you can get them from $5-8 a pop, and their international shipping is pretty quick. Heard nothing but good things about them. You'll be looking at No. 33 Kolinsky Sable, etc.

Personal experience is that Army Painter brushes are nothing special, quite poor in fact compared to the competition. The best "cheap" brushes I've sourced locally were simple IMEX brushes.

Being in the UK, where Rosemary are based, they're a no-brainer option. Comparable to W & N in quality and about half the price on similar brushes (i.e. R&co Series 33 vs W&N 7 series). I've also found they hold a point better and I do most of my paining with their size 1 and 0, so would heartily recommend.

Army Painter - meh. Over priced for what they are really.

You might need a size 2 if doing large surface areas by regular rather than air brush (tanks), A good 2 should hold enough of a point to be capable of neat base-coating and some detail work too. Outside that he 1 and 0 should suffice.

Winsor Newton Series 7 can be found on amazon. Do not buy the “series 7 miniature”.

I use a 1 and 0 the most with a 000, 2 and 3 for tiny or larger work.

I still keep a cheap package of taklon around for abuse (eg poking paint into places)

I was actually able to get Windsor and Newton from a local Michael's, they've been working great so far

Good leads; not heard of Rosemary I don't think.

0 and 1, I'd have to check brushes I already have for reference (is that a standard or a brand thing?). 000 for lettering?

I don't have an airbrush (never have I used one, either), so I'm anticipating doing my tanks by brush. Would the flat / rectangular bristled ones be a good choice? I have used them in the past even for painting miniatures (you get more surface per pass), but maybe that was not a good thing to have done.

Thanks!

I had a look on the Rosemary website and there are millions of different types! Help! Exactly what brush should I get for the kind of paints we use?

 corpuschain wrote:
I had a look on the Rosemary website and there are millions of different types! Help! Exactly what brush should I get for the kind of paints we use?

Series 33

https://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/pure-kolinsky-sable/pure-kolinsky-pointed

 Infantryman wrote:
Good leads; not heard of Rosemary I don't think.

0 and 1, I'd have to check brushes I already have for reference (is that a standard or a brand thing?). 000 for lettering?

I don't have an airbrush (never have I used one, either), so I'm anticipating doing my tanks by brush. Would the flat / rectangular bristled ones be a good choice? I have used them in the past even for painting miniatures (you get more surface per pass), but maybe that was not a good thing to have done.

Thanks!

Sadly brush sizes are not consistent between brands... the 000 is what I use for some lettering and because it carries so little paint, eyes/lenses (sometimes).

WN 000, WN 0, GW Small Base, WN 1, WN 2, GW M Base, WN 3



Flat brushes are good for coverage on tanks/terrain and drybrushing. Angled brushes are reasonably good for big area coverage and have a bit of a point if you want to mash them into crevasses.

 Infantryman wrote:
Good leads; not heard of Rosemary I don't think.

0 and 1, I'd have to check brushes I already have for reference (is that a standard or a brand thing?). 000 for lettering?

I don't have an airbrush (never have I used one, either), so I'm anticipating doing my tanks by brush. Would the flat / rectangular bristled ones be a good choice? I have used them in the past even for painting miniatures (you get more surface per pass), but maybe that was not a good thing to have done.

Thanks!

The numbers are pretty universal among the top brands. 000 is too small for pretty much anything unless you're planning on using some drying retarder and frankly if your 0 has a good enough point (and it should), then it should be able to do what you're after anyway.

Nowt wrong with a flathead, I'm more used to regular brush shapes, so that's what my size 2 is (and I don't do many tanks).

 sockwithaticket wrote:


Series 33

https://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/pure-kolinsky-sable/pure-kolinsky-pointed

Thank you!

 Rahshen wrote:
I was actually able to get Windsor and Newton from a local Michael's, they've been working great so far

I've seen their Galeria brushes and once managed to pick up a couple of their Professional watercolour brushes there, but I've not seen the Series 7 brushes at Michael's.

Yep, Rosemary and Co. you're probably interested in series 22 and series 33 depending on how you like the barrel.

https://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/pure-kolinsky-sable

When considering them, remember to click on the "Excl. VAT" button so it removes the 25% or whatever the Europeans charge as additional. You don't pay this if you live in the U.S.

So, I keep seeing "watercolor". Of course I know what watercolor paints are, but do Acrylics fall into that category?

Army Painter Brushes are great. Very affordable.

My all time favorite is the BASECOAT brush I use for everything. You can buy three BASECOAT brushes for the price of one Citadel brush.

The bigger brushes are fantastic for washes.

 Infantryman wrote:
So, I keep seeing "watercolor". Of course I know what watercolor paints are, but do Acrylics fall into that category?

Don't worry about it, those are the right brushes.