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Hello everyone,

As the title suggests, I am fairly new to the 40k universe and I'm looking for the best possible start when it comes to the actual painting of the miniatures.

My understanding is that the citadel brushes as a whole are not really anything special and I was hoping people on here may be able to shed a little light on some good quality brushes, not too expensive as like I mentioned I am still new, but something that I can actually be happy to paint with and that's not going to ruin anytime soon. I have also been looking into the idea of airbrushing but I am at a total loss when it comes to a good start kit for that and if it's even worth thinking about.

Any help regarding either question would be great, thanks all.

If you have no experience in modeling or painting, my recommendation would be to get a GW starter paint set, a cheap pack of generic brushes in different sizes from the craft store, and a few old models to experiment on. Watch some GW videos and try out all the basic techniques.

People might say you have to drop cash on a W&N brush, but I have been using some cheapo synthetic brushes for 15 years. I simply trim the ends of the bristles with an Exacto when they get warped and continue on.

A large part of the "art" of modeling and miniature painting (or any type of painting) is learning your materials. Every paint has different consistencies, coverage, etc. Different glues work better for different tasks. Just start building and painting. Play around and don't be afraid to fail. You can always strip a model and start again.

As you learn about your materials and requirements, you can than ramp up.

The good thing is that if you'd been looking at Citadel, their high prices mean that you might be pleasantly surprised at the pricing of some of the other options. You'll generally always want to look for Kolinsky Sable brushes. They're more expensive than synthetic brushes, but they hold a point far better (the synthetic ones often hook at the tip after only a couple of uses). I've got a few beater synthetic brushes for very rough basecoating, drybrushing, stippling and other painting jobs that cause a lot of wear and tear on a brush, but for any neat or detail work I reach for sable.

The general go-to for a lot of painters is the Windsor and Newton Series 7, and most other brushes will usually end up being compared to them. I haven't used them myself so I can't comment. They tend to run in the £7-10 range per brush for the sizes that 40k painters usually buy.

I've also heard good things about Rosemary & Co Series 33s as a slightly cheaper but still quality choice, around £4.50 to
£5 per brush in the standard size range. I'm tempted to buy a few of these and give them a good workout.

I can recommend from my own experience Broken Toad Miniature Series, which are specifically designed for miniatures painting. I've been abusing a size 0 for over a year now and it's still top notch. There aren't many sizes available for these, but obviously the ones that you can get are aimed at model painters. £6 to £7 per brush at MSRP, cheaper if you get them from an FLGS.

I also find Army Painter brushes very useful for workhorse kind of stuff. They're not the greatest out there, but they're pretty solid and on the cheap side for sable if you buy the right ones (the range is a mix of synthetic and sable)- £3.50 to £4 for most sizes (the sable ones are are Regiment, Character, Detail and Insane Detail and they're very useful for the price).

Your local/country's go to arts store will be your best bet for cheap, decent brushes.

Don't feel compelled to buy "nice" brushes like many of us here recommend - acrylic paints (the kind of paint you'll be using to paint your models) by nature (dries fast, are semi-permanent when dried) are brushes' worst enemy. No matter how well you take care of them, they will get build ups and tips will warp. Chemical AND mechanical clean up will deteriorate the brush fibers.

Go do yourself and your wallet a favor and keep to cheap brushes that you can replace/trim whenever necessary.

As Groo_The_Wanderer suggests, keep to the synthetics. They run me about $1.50 USD per brush (Blick Scholastic Round) when bought in bulks (of 5~10 at a time). Synthetic brushes are generally stiffer and are more suited for acrylic paints, and are cheap to boot!

Fresh, cheap brushes keep edge better than old nice brushes (similar to how cheap, fresh coffee is better than old expensive coffee), and I've been painting warhammer figures since 2000.

If you're staring out I recommend cheap kolinsky brushes. Don't need to drop the cash on a high end one, but even a cheap one will last a lot longer than a synthetic.

But learn how to take care of them either way.

Using a kolinsky brush won't magically make you a better painter, but paint flows off them better, they typically hold more paint in the body, the tip stays pointy longer, the tips don't get hooked like synthetics.

I'm not a terribly good painter, but the first time I noticed how much better kolinsky brushes were to synthetics was when I was painting lots of long thin steaks on my tyranid models; at first they were fast and easy to do neatly and suddenly they became difficult, slow and inconsistent... I realised in the beginning I was using a mate's kolinsky I had borrowed and when they got more difficult it was because I had swapped back to one of my synthetics, lol.

My last kolinsky lasted me a couple of years, maybe a couple of hundred models, and it was just a cheapie.

I still use synthetics for some stuff but I find 90% of the time I reach for a #1 or #2 kolinsky brush.

A quality kolinsky sable brush is almost a must for really fine detail painting like a lens effect on space marine helmets. I tried doing this with a cheap synthetic and the paint would not flow off the brush easily enough and the belly of the brushes don't hold paint very well either. Plus the tips of synthetics don't hold their shape. I do still use synthetic brushes for painting larger areas and bases, though.

Some of the best starter kolinsky brushes can be bought from Rosemary and Co. Series 22 or 33 depending on what shape you want. Good 0, 1, and 2 brushes will cover almost all of your needs where kolinsky sable precision is desired. You won't need anything smaller than a 0 brush until you REALLY know what you're doing. In fact, I learned the hard way that it will actually hamper your painting if you use too small of a brush thinking that you need the smaller brush to paint fine details. A 0 or 1 round brush comes to a fine enough point for 99.9% of what most of us a actually capable of painting. Smaller brushes like 00 and below will not hold much paint it will dry quickly, which actually works against you. For example: if you're just wanting to make the white dots for multiple lens effects on a model and you use a 000 brush, it's going to be more difficult than if using a good condition 1 or 0 brush, because the paint will dry on the tip before you finish.

As the poster above said, take care of the high quality brushes. Get some good cleaner and rinse them often WHILE you are painting so as to not let paint dry in the ferrule. This will cause the hairs to start going in different direction and lose your tip. And don't load paint on the brush all the way to the ferrule if you can avoid it. This is another reason kolinsky sable is good--the belly of the brush holds paint better without having to dunk the thing. Oh, and never store any of your brushes with the hairs down in a cup of water.

I will say that I wish I had started with good brushes, but if I'm honest, I'm not sure I would have taken care of them well enough while learing how to paint. If you're not really worried about painting tiny details and freehanding designs on cloaks or whatever, there are some halfway decent synthetic brushes out there. You'll hear both opinions here--avoid expensive brushes and avoid cheap brushes. Expensive brushes require some care, but will last a long time and the paint flows great off them. Cheap synthetics you can just throw away and buy more when they inevitably wear out. Personally I'd rather buy quality brushes less often than trim or throw away cheap synthetics more often.

Hi and welcome!

While you are first starting, yes, you may well destroy a few brushes so it's a good idea to start out cheap. Kolinsky sable is lovely to paint with, but not so lovely if you accidentally trash a £5-10 brush.

General advise - don't let paint dry on your brush bristles. Don't let paint get up into the ferrule of the brush. Don't clean a natural hair brush with anything harsh that will strip the natural oils out of the hair. Masters Brush Cleaner soap is good, I'm sure other products are also available. Don't use anything hotter than luke-warm water as you'll melt the glue holding the bristles in. Don't leave your brushes resting point-down on their bristles in your water pot.

Oh, and water down your paints a little. 2 thin coats is generally considered better than one thick coat that masks the details of the model.

Welcome!

I'll echo the concept of cheaper brushes, but you should consider getting some brush cleaner. I use The Masters Cleaner, and it can extend the life of even the cheap brushes, and its less than $10 for a bar that will last you years.

Citadel brushes are fine, although a bit overpriced for what they are.

You can get by with synthetic brushes, but it's a bit like playing on hard mode. For not that much money, you can get sable brushes that work better, last longer, and don't warp or split.

Hello as for air brush have a look at my "everything you need to get airbrushing " kit I made in an Amazon list here.
http://a.co/6LEOASF

The only thing missing from this are the paints and of course the model.

You will want the rinse bottles for cleaning the airbrush between paints, and thin with alcohol and water, about a 1:5 ratio of alcohol to whater, and use that in with your pain, you will need to play around to get the right consistency

As a pretty new painter myself, I can share some experience.

As someone stated, materials and tools is something to learn, and there is no other way than to try and use it.

So as :
1- YOU WILL destroy your 2-3 first brushes. Yes you will.
2- you should try different sizes / types of brushes to find the ones you like.

You should definetly start with cheap brushes. I'm not fond of GW brushes, because if they are quite pleasant, they are definitly too fragile and worth their cost.

But as a beginner I will never regret buying a GW starting set (brushes, basic paints, washes, basing material, glue) because even if pricey, it got you pretty well covered to start. You just have to buy some more paints according to your army / color scheme.

Plus something to clean up your brushes at the end of the session.

I remember back when I started the red citadel brushes, I had them for years well till the bristles fall out

Buy the starter set and a detail and possibly a standard brush (don’t know what it’s called now)

I just bought the army painter mega brush set, they seem ok but bot amazing and the bristle ferrule/ aglet or whatever are not crimped on straight ( not a bad thing if you notice it)

I would echo a lot of what has been said already. Go cheap with early brushes. I started painting again about 2 years ago and essentially started from scratch (about a 20 year break from painting!).

I would get a couple of cheaper sable brushes. A size 2 is a decent bet and if you take care of it the point will allow you to do a lot of fine detail. You probably won’t need a really fine brush. Maybe a size 0 or 1 but the 2 will be your star. I would also get some synthetics from a local art shop for mixing paints and applying base coats or large areas of metallics which are all hard on the brush.

Some good brand recommendations on here. Check art suppliers for offers. Windsor and Newton 7s are fantastic but expensive. I’d recommend Broken Toad as well or Raphael series 8404.

Airbrushing is a big investment. Definitely paint a couple of minis first and then consider it. There are plenty of threads on here about beginner airbrushing. Most important is to learn what you would be getting into. Watch YouTube videos about starting airbrushing minis. Lots to choose from.

I jumped straight into airbrushing with cheap kit. Worked well for me. Ymmv though. I had a bit of disposable income though. I think I spent around £160 on everything which only included a basic knock off airbrush. Most went on a decent-ish compressor with an air tank.

Most of all - good luck with the mini painting and do whatever you enjoy,

Advice on airbrushing, from a novice;

1) you don’t need all of the pipe cleaners, etc. There was a great, hour+ long video from the head of Badger airbrush floating round on this forum somewhere and he pointed out the best way to clean you airbrush is with water and maybe a little cleaning solution. A bit like with hairy brush, rinse often, rinse thoroughly and use the cleaner at the end of use. Don’t let the paint build up and dry and don’t routinely strip the airbrush down (you’re more likely to damage something). I’ve got a very similar airbrush setup to the one you’re looking at and that technique has been working fine.

2) your shopping list is missing the most important item; a mask. Miniature painting is for fun, lungs are for life! Do not airbrush without a mask!

Wash your brush often. Citadel paints dry fast. 1 minute after painting may already be to late. Wash your brush with brush cleaner after painting. Change your paint water when it becomes intransparent. Thin your paints, but not to much. When the paint is to thin it will creep up the bristles and dry where the metal part is. This will ruin your brush, the bristles will spread out, the brush will lose its sharp tip.

Fellow new painter here. My advice is to have at least one brush that comes to a fine point, so you can paint very precise details like edges. For me, that means having a sable brush like the W&N ones recommended above. But for many things you're painting a fine point isn't necessary and you can get by with a synthetic brush.

Definitely grab some brush soap like Masters, it's pretty cheap and helps you get more mileage out of your brushes.