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 The Pig-Faced Orc wrote:
Can't really agree with that to be honest. In fact, I would recommend the exact opposite. They're tougher than you might think and it's important to clean them thoroughly.

That may work out fine for synthetics, I would not do any such thing with a sable. The hairs are far more fragile than their plastic counterparts. Taking a little longer with a less aggressive hand gets the job done just as well, with far less danger.

Fire_Forever wrote:

 The Pig-Faced Orc wrote:
Can't really agree with that to be honest. In fact, I would recommend the exact opposite. They're tougher than you might think and it's important to clean them thoroughly.

That may work out fine for synthetics, I would not do any such thing with a sable. The hairs are far more fragile than their plastic counterparts. Taking a little longer with a less aggressive hand gets the job done just as well, with far less danger.

Half the brushes in my photo were W&N Kolinsky Sable #7 Miniature brushes... I do it with them all the time.

Meh. Horses for courses. I'm not telling anyone what they should or shouldn't do. That's what I do though, I've never had any problems forming a sharp point afterward.

I'm using W&N 00 and Da Vinci Maestro 2 as my current work horse brushes for detail and glazing, while I use cheap brushes for metallics or anything else considered "rough" on sable brushes. I've had both a long time and with care they're still going strong, but the Da Vinci is showing it's age.

I have a set of Artis Opus Series S brushes awaiting use, they'll probably get opened up as my good brush set soon.

Ultimately, it'll come down to personal preference. I'm still in the testing stage with my brushes as I only invested in my own a few years ago and I'm still searching for the right brush line that ticks the boxes. Hope you enjoy the Artis Opus ones, the limited use I've had with mine were great experiences.

Just to add to The Pig-Faced Orc's comments on brush care, I have also done the same thing with my brushes during cleaning and they're fine. Each to their own but not worth shouting about because someone thinks it's too harsh.

Squidworth wrote:
Right, I've decided on these so far:

Artis Opus S.
- 000
- 00
- 2

Artis Opus M.
- 000
- 00
- 0

Plus some cheap brushes from Element;

Hobby Brush - Basecoat, Highlight & Super detail for the really harsh work.

I'll probably end up with a few more from some of the above mentioned and certainly a set of Rosemary's as a middle ground.

I'll grab the Greenstuff brush cleaner and also the Master's soap (sounds wrong?) just to see what the fuss is about.

Cheers, plenty to think about now.

I don't know if you've already ordered, but IMO those brush sizes are all way too small. Get a size 0, 1, 2, and a 3. As long as your brush can hold a fine point, it'll be great for 98% of your painting, including small details.

Also, I'd skip the M brushes - they have shorter bristles than standard brushes and therefore don't hold as much paint.

Again a ton more to take in before I order, I've watched a few videos now on brush care, I think more than any specific brush the cleaner is going to be the most important part.

The common theme is I don't need that many small brushes, I may still get a wide range size-wise but change the brands, that way I have a full set of nice brushes and can, over time work out what I like best.

The largest brush I've used so far since coming back to painting is a GW small layer brush (outside of mixing paints) I'm really fond of small brushes for some reason, no reasoning but I don't feel confident using a larger brush with small detail.

I was leaning towards the M brushes for a replacement to my GW artificer brushes, I don't really find myself picking up large amounts of paint most of the time, again it may be my barbaric painting.

I should have just ordered the damn set before procrastination was able to kick in!

to reiterate in case you missed it, I use GReen stuff world brush cleaner and think it’s great. They also do a brush repair gel which might be worth looking at if you are investing in expensive brushes as it is design to keep you brushes pointy

If this is your first set of sables, honestly don't stress about it too much. Buy a few, in a range of sizes. See what you use. You'll probably see your preferences change over time. I too started out with the 'I want 0 or smaller' brushes mindset many a year ago. My default brushes are now a pair of 1 & 3's. These numbers don't all equal the same size of brush across brands either, much like women's clothing sizes.

Just buy some brushes and soap, get into a good cleaning routine and see where you want to go from there after putting a bunch of models onto the Shelf of Victory. In the end it's the brush that gets paint on the model that is the best, everything else is secondary.

 Mr. Grey wrote:

Squidworth wrote:
Right, I've decided on these so far:

Artis Opus S.
- 000
- 00
- 2

Artis Opus M.
- 000
- 00
- 0

Plus some cheap brushes from Element;

Hobby Brush - Basecoat, Highlight & Super detail for the really harsh work.

I'll probably end up with a few more from some of the above mentioned and certainly a set of Rosemary's as a middle ground.

I'll grab the Greenstuff brush cleaner and also the Master's soap (sounds wrong?) just to see what the fuss is about.

Cheers, plenty to think about now.

I don't know if you've already ordered, but IMO those brush sizes are all way too small. Get a size 0, 1, 2, and a 3. As long as your brush can hold a fine point, it'll be great for 98% of your painting, including small details.

Also, I'd skip the M brushes - they have shorter bristles than standard brushes and therefore don't hold as much paint.

+1 to all of this. I got the Miniature brushes and wish I didn't. The bristles are too short!

You don't need 000 and 00 brushes. And you definitely don't need a 000 and a 00. I can't even tell the difference between them. And you most certainly don't need two of each. I don't own one of either! In any case, I have no idea what they're used for, some slow-drying paints I guess - but in my experience they're no good for our purposes, the paint half-dries in the bristles before you even get it to the figure.

The smallest brush I use for fine details (and I'm talking about reflection dots just offset to the pupil in the eye) is a 0. I do most of my painting with size 2 and 3.

The size of the brush is not what matters for detail. What matters is how sharp the point of the brush is. In fact you want the biggest brush you can that still has the finest point. This is because the bristles hold and transfer the paint to the model. Teeny bristles don't hold much paint, it will dry and not transfer properly and just generally be an annoying pain. If you feel you need teeny tiny brushes you may need to practice your paint/flow control. Load the bristles of a size 1 or 0 brush up with as much watered-down-paint as you can (without going into the ferules) and then wipe the excess off on your thumbnail (so it doesn't pool like a wash) while training the bristles into a sharp point. You should be able to paint an ultra thin line on your thumbnail without the paint running or pooling. If you can do that, then paint your details.

A size 0, 2 and 3 should be fine to get your started. 3 for base coats, 2 for the vast majority of painting and 0 for the details.

That all said, expensive artists brushes are over-rated. I don't notice a massive difference with cheap nylon brushes.

 The Pig-Faced Orc wrote:

 Mr. Grey wrote:

Squidworth wrote:
Right, I've decided on these so far:

Artis Opus S.
- 000
- 00
- 2

Artis Opus M.
- 000
- 00
- 0

Plus some cheap brushes from Element;

Hobby Brush - Basecoat, Highlight & Super detail for the really harsh work.

I'll probably end up with a few more from some of the above mentioned and certainly a set of Rosemary's as a middle ground.

I'll grab the Greenstuff brush cleaner and also the Master's soap (sounds wrong?) just to see what the fuss is about.

Cheers, plenty to think about now.

I don't know if you've already ordered, but IMO those brush sizes are all way too small. Get a size 0, 1, 2, and a 3. As long as your brush can hold a fine point, it'll be great for 98% of your painting, including small details.

Also, I'd skip the M brushes - they have shorter bristles than standard brushes and therefore don't hold as much paint.

+1 to all of this. I got the Miniature brushes and wish I didn't. The bristles are too short!

You don't need 000 and 00 brushes. And you definitely don't need a 000 and a 00. I can't even tell the difference between them. And you most certainly don't need two of each. I don't own one of either! In any case, I have no idea what they're used for, some slow-drying paints I guess - but in my experience they're no good for our purposes, the paint half-dries in the bristles before you even get it to the figure.

The smallest brush I use for fine details (and I'm talking about reflection dots just offset to the pupil in the eye) is a 0. I do most of my painting with size 2 and 3.

The size of the brush is not what matters for detail. What matters is how sharp the point of the brush is. In fact you want the biggest brush you can that still has the finest point. This is because the bristles hold and transfer the paint to the model. Teeny bristles don't hold much paint, it will dry and not transfer properly and just generally be an annoying pain. If you feel you need teeny tiny brushes you may need to practice your paint/flow control. Load the bristles of a size 1 or 0 brush up with as much watered-down-paint as you can (without going into the ferules) and then wipe the excess off on your thumbnail (so it doesn't pool like a wash) while training the bristles into a sharp point. You should be able to paint an ultra thin line on your thumbnail without the paint running or pooling. If you can do that, then paint your details.

A size 0, 2 and 3 should be fine to get your started. 3 for base coats, 2 for the vast majority of painting and 0 for the details.

That all said, expensive artists brushes are over-rated. I don't notice a massive difference with cheap nylon brushes.

Cheers, just so I can get an understanding of how small the brushes are I've been using (all GW);

XS artificier for detail
S layer for a bulk of the work
and a M glaze for highlights, eyes and relections/scopes.

How do these compare to 000,00,0's?

I have just painted my first models using Rosemary &Co brushes, using a size 1 for pretty much everything.
Previously I have been using cheap brushes from Amazon which just don’t hold a point so have to say the difference is palpable, they are just so much more controllable and the paint seems to go on more consistently. Best money I ever spent.

I don't have any GW brushes to compare them to, by my Raphael 8404's are:

Size 1 - Ferrule diameter ~2.5mm, total hair length 12mm, belly ~3mm diameter, tip ~a sheet of paper thick.

Size 3 - Ferrule diameter ~3mm, total hair length 15mm, belly ~4.5mm diameter, tip ~a sheet of paper thick.

Squidworth wrote:

 The Pig-Faced Orc wrote:

 Mr. Grey wrote:

Squidworth wrote:
Right, I've decided on these so far:

Artis Opus S.
- 000
- 00
- 2

Artis Opus M.
- 000
- 00
- 0

Plus some cheap brushes from Element;

Hobby Brush - Basecoat, Highlight & Super detail for the really harsh work.

I'll probably end up with a few more from some of the above mentioned and certainly a set of Rosemary's as a middle ground.

I'll grab the Greenstuff brush cleaner and also the Master's soap (sounds wrong?) just to see what the fuss is about.

Cheers, plenty to think about now.

I don't know if you've already ordered, but IMO those brush sizes are all way too small. Get a size 0, 1, 2, and a 3. As long as your brush can hold a fine point, it'll be great for 98% of your painting, including small details.

Also, I'd skip the M brushes - they have shorter bristles than standard brushes and therefore don't hold as much paint.

+1 to all of this. I got the Miniature brushes and wish I didn't. The bristles are too short!

You don't need 000 and 00 brushes. And you definitely don't need a 000 and a 00. I can't even tell the difference between them. And you most certainly don't need two of each. I don't own one of either! In any case, I have no idea what they're used for, some slow-drying paints I guess - but in my experience they're no good for our purposes, the paint half-dries in the bristles before you even get it to the figure.

The smallest brush I use for fine details (and I'm talking about reflection dots just offset to the pupil in the eye) is a 0. I do most of my painting with size 2 and 3.

The size of the brush is not what matters for detail. What matters is how sharp the point of the brush is. In fact you want the biggest brush you can that still has the finest point. This is because the bristles hold and transfer the paint to the model. Teeny bristles don't hold much paint, it will dry and not transfer properly and just generally be an annoying pain. If you feel you need teeny tiny brushes you may need to practice your paint/flow control. Load the bristles of a size 1 or 0 brush up with as much watered-down-paint as you can (without going into the ferules) and then wipe the excess off on your thumbnail (so it doesn't pool like a wash) while training the bristles into a sharp point. You should be able to paint an ultra thin line on your thumbnail without the paint running or pooling. If you can do that, then paint your details.

A size 0, 2 and 3 should be fine to get your started. 3 for base coats, 2 for the vast majority of painting and 0 for the details.

That all said, expensive artists brushes are over-rated. I don't notice a massive difference with cheap nylon brushes.

Cheers, just so I can get an understanding of how small the brushes are I've been using (all GW);

XS artificier for detail
S layer for a bulk of the work
and a M glaze for highlights, eyes and relections/scopes.

How do these compare to 000,00,0's?

I don't know sorry, I'm not familiar with GW's own customised sizing. I only know the standard sizes.