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As the title suggest, I'm looking for paint brushes. I've recently started painting again and realized that my paint brushes just suck. Anyone have any suggestions for a good quality paint brush that wont break the bank?

For detail work and most things, use Winsor and Newton Series 7, using sizes 00 through 4 (though size 2 is my workhorse). For quick work, washes, and large volumes, get a series of size 2, 3, and 4 synthetics. For drybrushing, Citadel's Medium Drybrush is quite good.

boy did YOU open up a can of worms! every person has their preference.

I honestly try and avoid buying GW products direclty from them but I have many friends who stand by them, if you don't want to buy them conveninently next time you browse some minatures you are thinking about buying here are some other options.

Your local gaming store should have alternate brushes, unless they are a GW store only, then see above !

I generaly go to either Hobby Lobby or Michaels since they are abundand around me and pick up a decent priced brush, try to keep it under $20 but obviously the more pricy the better quality I suppose, but I could be wrong.

I heard Sable brushes are good, Windsor Newton *cotman ? series.

You are going to want to check out some youtube vids of folks painting themselves, there is a VAST and I mean gianormous community out there that each and every one of them probalby has done a video or two about this topic.

Get er' done !

Yeah if you want really good quality go for Windsor Newton but they are on the pricey side.

I normally go to Hobby lobby with a coupon and go get a decent brush that feels right.

I recently ordered a set of Majestic Royal and Langnickel that comes with 13 brushes with a mixture of firmness and sizes for $25.42 on amazon. Lester Bursley from Awsomepaintjob.com just used them in his how to paint a plaguebearer tutorial video.

I was going to buy some of the army painter brushes, anyone have any thoughts on these? I may but the Windsor Newton on the back of this thread

James811 wrote:
I was going to buy some of the army painter brushes, anyone have any thoughts on these? I may but the Windsor Newton on the back of this thread

My experience with the Army Painter brushes is not particularly good. They don't hold a point long and appear to be at least partially a synthetic blend. The problem with synthetic bristles is they tend to curl, bend, or splay. On top of that, I really hate the rounded triangle handles, but that's personal preference.

I've tried everything to keep them at a point. Master's Brush Cleaner, Brush Shaping solution, repeated cleanings in brush cleaning fluid. Paint was meticulously kept away from the ferrule, too, and there are two brushes doing the same thing.

Windsor & Newton Series 7 have long been the gold standard for miniature painting brushes (but not the miniature series - generally, we want the larger belly that the standard bristle length provides and the tips are equally fine), but Rosemary & Co. have been giving them a good run, offering brushes of similar quality at significantly lower prices (shipping is from the UK, though, which hurts US buyers - that's why I have yet to try them, unfortunately).

If you want a cheap placeholder that functions roughly like a good brush, I've actually had decent luck with the cheap watercolor round 4-pack from Michaels (the store brand - Artist Loft). They occasionally need a bit of careful trimming to get them in good working order, but they keep decent tips for the first few months, with proper care, and the larger sizes have reasonable bellies (thin, but long). They're not high-quality Kolinsky sable brushes, by any means, but they work as well or better for our purposes than any of the synthetics or blends sold at craft stores that I've tried; plus, the 4-pack cost me as much as a single small round from the racks above them. I wouldn't plan on using them forever (which would necessitate buying a fresh pack every so often - they will wear out and faster than a quality brush), but there's actually a decent chance that they're better than what you're using now. At least they'll get you painting again, while you search for your new set of good brushes, and can be relegated to paint transfer/glue spreading once they've been replaced.

James811 wrote:
I was going to buy some of the army painter brushes, anyone have any thoughts on these? I may but the Windsor Newton on the back of this thread

they are OK. they are better than GW brushes atleast.

the worst part about them for me was that they lose bristles faster than other brushes ive tried

What are the kolinsky brushes like available from Wayland games?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, if I search windsor newton on ebay they are short blue handled brushes. Are these the correct ones?

Blue handles appear to be the Cotman watercolor series, based on a quick Google image search. You're looking specifically for the Series 7 brushes. Also, it's apparently "Winsor," not "Windsor." My/our bad.

Yea I've dicovered that. I've found the ones with the dark blue / black handles too. What are the kolinsky ones available on wayland games? Any good?

GW brushes from their set for cookie-cutter tabletop standard work and Winsor brushes for commission work that is for showcases and stuff. I see no need in using Winsor for tabletop standard since the brushes are expensive and dont add anything for average painting duties.

I don't really understand your position, Gorbad. While you might not always need an ultra-fine point on a brush, you still have to contend with shedding bristles, splayed tips, etc. when using sub-par brushes. A quality brush will be more comfortable to use and give you better control, regardless of the complexity of a given task. Even simple edgelining becomes problematic when stray hairs end up streaking paint where it doesn't belong. With care, they aren't going to crap out on you quickly, either. Not everyone considers nice brushes a worthwhile investment, but I've never, until now, heard it claimed that they don't improve the overall painting experience.

Personally I started using Raphael 8404 Size "0" for most of my work. Pricey but if you take care of it, it will keep a nice tip.

Winsor & Newton's have quite a few lines of brushes, the ones you have spotted in light blue handles are 'cottman' series, I have some of these for use with drawing inks (not on miniatures) they tend to fray and split pretty fast with use on models.
The dark blue handle is 'Artists Sable', Probably red sable, or a blend, again I have some of these, works okay on mini's lasted longer than a citadel brush, but not by much tbh.
Their top end (which is what we're all talking about) is called 'Series 7' and have black handles.
http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-winsor-&-newton-series-7-brush-set-(4).htm - This set is doing just fine, at a decent value compared to getting them individually too.
Another brand I really like that hasnt been mentioned yet is Rosemary & Co Kollinsky Sable Series 33
http://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/pure-kolinsky-sable/pure-kolinsky-pointed
I find these to be of equal quality to the W&N series 7's, yet with a considerable saving. Might even say I prefer my Rosemary & co size 1 to my W&N series 7 size 1.

Hope this helps

edit;
Also for drybrushing, Rosemary & Co Master Choice are doing an absolutly fine job and outlasting my Citadel drybrushes.
http://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/masters-choice
Available in many sizes and shapes for whatever job you can think of, I like flats and the tapered flats mostly.
These are quite pricey as the bristles are mongoose hair, which has become endangered and the brush maker cannot source more. She said a replacement is being researched and badger seems to be winning.

kb305 wrote:

James811 wrote:
I was going to buy some of the army painter brushes, anyone have any thoughts on these? I may but the Windsor Newton on the back of this thread

they are OK. they are better than GW brushes atleast.

the worst part about them for me was that they lose bristles faster than other brushes ive tried

I have found the Army Painter brushes to be very poor indeed, even compared to GW brushes. In fact, I have found the GW brushes with the yellow ends quite... okayish.

For laying paint on quickly, like on vehicles and stuff, I have a fitch mop (can't remember the brand or size), and I'm really happy with it. It's also good for those "oh, crap!" moments where I need to rapidly dilute and suck something up that I accidentally painted over something I wanted to keep.

For drybrushing, GW's medium is pretty decent. It holds up better than their small, but it's still small enough to get into most nooks and crannies.

My go to brush for any time I just need a brush (base edges, initial basecoat where I just need paint on everything, etc.) is the GW Starter brush from the Hobby kit. I don't know why I love it so much, but it simply handles exactly the way I expect, every time.

For stippling -- rust and all that -- I just picked up this set from Amazon and I'm really happy with it.

I'm not an excellent painter, by any means, and I tend to go for somewhere in the middle of cheap and great. Most of the brushes I have are from the Hobby Lobby brush sets you can get in the model car section.

 oadie wrote:
I don't really understand your position, Gorbad. While you might not always need an ultra-fine point on a brush, you still have to contend with shedding bristles, splayed tips, etc. when using sub-par brushes. A quality brush will be more comfortable to use and give you better control, regardless of the complexity of a given task. Even simple edgelining becomes problematic when stray hairs end up streaking paint where it doesn't belong. With care, they aren't going to crap out on you quickly, either. Not everyone considers nice brushes a worthwhile investment, but I've never, until now, heard it claimed that they don't improve the overall painting experience.

Well, when I started painting military miniatures ~19years ago I used brushes I cant even remember. When I started with Warhammer I used the old GW brushed but they werent anything but a brush to work with. But the new brushes aint bad and I know a couple people using them. Maybe we were lucky with our sets but I mine are good nothing compared to the 20+ pounds Winsor brushes I have but those are for the showcase stuff.
On the lifespan, I have brushed I am using for more than 5years just treat them well and they will serve you for a long time.
My point on the GW brushes is simple: For the average painter/beginner there is no need to spend a huge amount of money on really good brushes, brush soap and stuff. Let them play around with good brushes and when they know they will stick to painting and have a clue they will get themself the top notch stuff.

 Gorbad wrote:
But the new brushes aint bad and I know a couple people using them. Maybe we were lucky with our sets but I mine are good nothing compared to the 20+ pounds Winsor brushes I have but those are for the showcase stuff. On the lifespan, I have brushed I am using for more than 5years just treat them well and they will serve you for a long time.

You may have just been lucky or caught the last of the previous generation of brushes, then. Nine out of every ten reviews I've heard about the current ones points to them being short-lived garbage.

My point on the GW brushes is simple: For the average painter/beginner there is no need to spend a huge amount of money on really good brushes, brush soap and stuff. Let them play around with good brushes and when they know they will stick to painting and have a clue they will get themself the top notch stuff.

The "good brushes" part is where I see the rub, in that. I agree that starting with middle of the road brushes is good practice, until you've learned proper brush usage and care, but "GW brush" and "good" are rarely seen used in the same sentence, nowadays. Brush soap is pretty cheap and an integral part of learning proper maintenance, as well, regardless of initial brush quality.

The main issue I took with your first post, though, was the point that good brushes "dont [sic] add anything for average painting duties." Regardless of the importance the painter places on brush quality or whether they're absolutely necessary to execute a particular technique, they simply work better - they hold more paint, flex more evenly, come to a finer point, etc. Even for basic techniques, that's helpful.

 Gorbad wrote:

 oadie wrote:
Let them play around with good brushes and when they know they will stick to painting and have a clue they will get themself the top notch stuff.

Gota say Im finding it very hard to agree with you.
Citadel brushes run between £3.00 and £5.00 ish, last maybe a month before the tip is useless (yes with propper care)
While Rosemary and Co brushes run from£3.40 for a 10/0 and £4.75 for a 4, and last years with the same degree of care as was given to the citadel product.

Your suggestion of quality being too expensive for begginers is absurd! Buy one good brush and it will outlast 10 shoddy ones for sure. Thus the better value is infact with the high quality product.

I agree, my post was a bit missleading. With bad brushes you cant achieve anything good that's for sure.
Seems I was somewhat lucky with my GW brushes then, because they are good for what I like to do with them. Painted a lot of stuff with them already and they are as good as they were when I bought them. For really high quality painting you need really good brushes though, it like with everything else. Proper work needs proper tools and of course the knowledge and experience to use those tools to their "limit". On the other hand I have seen incredibly good painted miniatures and the tools were average at best - brushes and paints that means. But I wont recommend that to anyone.

Don't quote me, but I bleieve that citadel actually outsource brush production to another UK company, likely Winsor& Newton, I would put the brushes in the GW store on par with W&N's 'Artists water colour sable' with the navy blue handles, while the Series 7's are made of pure kollinsky sable rather than a mix.
I'm pretty sure the old red handled Citadel brushes were made by W&N at least. Perhaps theyve changed supplier like with the paint range's recent change.

The high price bracket you see for kollinsky sable brushes is purely from the hair being somewhat rare and expensive to acquire, gram for gram three times the price of gold. This high value comes from demand being very high (widely acknowledged as the best) vs the relatively low supply - the Kolinsky (Siberian weasel) is native to Asia'n mountain ranges.

 Gorbad wrote:
I agree, my post was a bit missleading. With bad brushes you cant achieve anything good that's for sure.

I'm not sure that necessarily true. It's like microphones/camera lenses -- there's no BAD brush, there's simply the WRONG brush for the job. Even the worst brush can spread around PVA glue. :p

I watched a video last night on youtube of LB from AwesomePaintJob and he recommended the army painter brushes, I think they'll be the correct thing for me as the winsor newton don't seem to be right for me as I use my paints not overly thinned down. I'm going to try them and let's face it, £20 for 7 or so brushes isn't too bad a loss if I'm not too struck on 'em. I've also seen a few vids from beasts of war where he uses the army painter series brushes and they appear to perform very well from what I can see

Hi all, I am new to the Dakka boards but I have been painting for the last couple years.

I like the handles on the Army Painter Brushes, they feel good holding and the bristles lasted a long time before the tip bent. The one I had was about $7.

For cheap, fine detail brushes (5/0 - 0) I use Dynasty Eye of the Tiger brushes, my local Hobbytown sells them for around $4 for a pack of 5.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/dynasty-eye-of-the-tiger-brushes/
They are synthetic so they eventually end up bending and then they get tossed.

I just finally bought a W&N series 7 brush from the local art supply store. They had them in a locked case. It was $25 so I am treating it with mercy and extreme care! They are also very comfortable holding and the paint flow is fantastic. I also bought some Master's Brush Cleaner on recommendation from this thread. So I wanted to say thanks for the tips!

Army Painter Brushes I feel are the middle ground between winsor and other airtist grade brushes and GW brushes. From personel experience I find GW brushes loose there tip very fast. I dunno I dont think the army painter ones are the same they seem ot always keep there tip :/

http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/index.php?searchStr=army+painter+brush&_a=viewCat&Submit=Go

I hope this helps.

Thanks all for the post, I have yet to really pick anything up yet but this as for sure opened my eyes. As a Christmas gift about 2 years ago I got GW paint box set thing. I've been using the GW brushes that came with them and they stayed in pretty good shape untill I lost most of the caps that they come with. With with time as many people have pointed out, GW's brushes aren't lasting.

IF i'd been paying attention earlier, and not been so ignorant, I'd have directed you here, as they may still have brushes left:
miniwargaming web store

they are closing out, so you might get something on discount, and free shipping if it hits $100. I didn't really check if they still had brushes in stock, or the right ones yo uare looking for, but worth stabbing your nose into it.

FWIW Dick Blick's online has good prices on Winsor & Newton brushes, the best I've seen.

I'm a relative newbie painting, but I do have to say that a good brush raised my painting level tremendously. I started with the brushes in the Reaper Learn-to-Paint kits, and it was a whole different world when I got a good brush. (Also, a wet palette, but that's another thread.)