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Best brushes?


Celtic Lilly

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Best brushes I've used are Winsor & Newton Series 7. They are very pricey, but keep their points like no other brushes. I wouldn't use them for drybrushing though...

I have a few other really good brushes of a German brand called Habico. They are semi-pricey and still remarkably good. I don't use those for drybrushing either. Any old brush is good for that.

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I allways buy cheap synthetic brushes, since all my bruhes don't stay in shape long. I bought some more expensive real hair brushes, but all the hair fell out, so that I only had 2-3 left in the end. So that's to good either.

But if you can use good brushes so that they stay whole, you most likely should use those.

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Da Vinci Meastro Pocket Brushes

Better than W+N 7's IMHO.

About the same price range but the tip screws off and reverses and screws back into the handle for protection.

I went and looked these up and they sale them at Dick Blicks and even with the 25% discount they were offering the brushes were running from $19 to $140 a BRUSH! Wooo!

Granted, probably don't need all the huge sizes they have but what sizes would you say to get? If they are that good, I might just get me some as I like the looks of them and the way they screw into that little top and keep your brush nice.

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I went and looked these up and they sale them at Dick Blicks and even with the 25% discount they were offering the brushes were running from $19 to $140 a BRUSH! Wooo!

Granted, probably don't need all the huge sizes they have but what sizes would you say to get? If they are that good, I might just get me some as I like the looks of them and the way they screw into that little top and keep your brush nice.

I agree with Klute on the Da Vinci's! The travel brushes are pretty pricey, but their normal brushes are in the price range of W&N Series 7: http://www.dickblick.com/zz058/18/ You can get a brush for mini painting in the $9 range. Also, I'd consider their much cheaper "Harbin" range: http://www.dickblick.com/zz058/08/ I picked up an 0 'Maestro' and a 2/0 'Harbin' and frankly I can't tell the difference in quality! They are both excellent brushes.

I personally love these brushes! I've searched around for an alternative to Series 7 brushes and these are the best I've found. Why no Series 7? I've had really bad luck with them - the ones I bought online always split the tip (sometimes the *same* day I first used them) and lost hairs. Their QA sucks! I used to think this was because I bought them online, but one of my friends from Germany bought some in an art store in Los Angeles and had the same problems, even after he tested them out at the store...

I think you can get good Series 7 brushes, but W&N are riding on their rep at this point and not being as careful in the production. I'd rather have a usable brush I pay $9 for over one that has a chance of being crappy...

Now that said, the Da Vinci brushes are "liner" style, with longer bristles, whereas the Series 7 has shorter bristles (esp. the 'miniature' line). That may be an issue depending on personal prefence and painting style. I've long used liner style brushes so it's no problem for me.

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Da Vinci pocket brushes.

I have sizes 1 and 2 and do everything with the 2 now (no drybrushing obviously).

The points are that good I can do finelining and eyes with the 2. The 1 is left for very fine stuff now.

The fibre size is the beauty of them, being able to hold a decent amount of paint while still having a great point.

I get the size 1 and 2 for around £6.50 each.

I abuse my brushes like nothing else and they are still going strong after 6 months at least.

@MADMAX I had the same thing with W+N ,even the ones in store were rough and the one I got that looked good broke up after a day.

The Da Vinci are the same price as the W+N here so Im sticking with what I know now.

A note on the bristle size.

While the Da Vinci does have a larger tip I wouldn't call it a liner in the sense that it has a long fine tip that will offer no resistance.

m610a.jpg

Generic liner.

pBtwDVs1503r.gif

Da Vinci

I would invest in a 2 first (best all rounder.I have found the 1 more suited to fine work and freehand where the 2 is good for blending and also is fine enough pointed for eyes etc.) And then some cheapies for rough stuff.

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Thanks to both of you for taking the time to explain some of this. I tend to be rough on my brushes, or atleast I must be, as they seem to go to shiat very quickly. I just put in an order for 1-2-3 sized DaVinci brushes, though I'm not sure if I'll actually pick up the last one until I get an eyeball at it.

How do you go about cleaning them? I wonder sometimes if I'm too rough on them then.

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W&N's, especially Cirrus 220's.

The best ones I've found recently are from Pro Arte. Renaissance Sable. £2.50 a go and they have brilliant points and are really well made. I'll stick with those as long as I can get them. Pro Arte Series 100 sable/prolene mix come to a serious point if you want a REALLY fine brush - 000 or smaller. Great for spotting pupils in.

I usually find that brushes hit a sweet spot after a bit of use and then gradually deteriorate over time, so I tend to move onto another brush after a couple of months. I even buy GW ones, but only for dry/over brushing as they are complete arse! Also use fine artificial brushes for drybrushing as they take loads of punishment and clean up really well without falling apart.

As for storage - with the plastic jobbie on and upright in a pot! Cleaning - Swoosh in water and a quick lick.

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@MADMAX I had the same thing with W+N ,even the ones in store were rough and the one I got that looked good broke up after a day.

The Da Vinci are the same price as the W+N here so Im sticking with what I know now.

Exactly!

A note on the bristle size.

While the Da Vinci does have a larger tip I wouldn't call it a liner in the sense that it has a long fine tip that will offer no resistance.

m610a.jpg

Generic liner.

pBtwDVs1503r.gif

Da Vinci

Well, I exaggerate ;) No, they're not as long as a true liner, but as you get smaller in size (smallest I use is a 2/0), their bristles remain long, whereas a Series 7 gets shorter. The Miniature Series 7 is shorter still. (In art terminology the Da Vinci's are 'pointed rounds' whereas the Series 7 are true 'rounds').

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When you clean them though, do you just kind of run them along the bottom of your water dish or what do you do? I tend to dip them in and stroke them across the bottom before taking them out and padding them on a paper towel.

Conditioner - never thought about that. Might have to try that next time!

While painting I just rinse them in the water, swirling them gently on the bottom of the jar to clean paint from the tip.

After a full session I clean them with brush soap (Grumbacher brand). I use a crappy brush to sud up the soap then move the suds to my palm and swirl the kolinskys in them with a touch of water. I pull back the brush (never, ever push them!) or use a side to side motion until the suds get dirty with paint. I repeat as needed.

After each session I use Mona Lisa brand "Pink Soap" to condition them. (It's a gentle lotion-like soap which doesn't clean well IMHO, but makes a great conditioner.) Dip the bristles in some of the soap, shape across your hand to a point, and let dry.

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So is this the place to admit I use GW brushes? I use a GW Detail brush for 99% of what I do... This is the crappy brush addiction self help group right?

May not be a bad thing. The thing is if you learn to paint well using crappy tools you can actually switch to better tools and get *even* better. I used to be a nylon brush painter for years... Learned to get pretty good with them, curled tips and all. But it was hard to blend with them and I was using up a new paint brush for each mini I painted.

Then I switched to kolinsky brushes and it was like my technique took a quantum leap! And the brushes last forever with proper care... I'm going on 8 months with my Da Vincis now.

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you may be right, one of my new years resolutions last year was to find new (better) brushes, and it's the only one I haven't done yet!

The problem I've had with most of the "better" brushes I've tried is that they are too long which makes the point "softer". I don't like my point to have much give when it touches the mini so even if these are better brushes, they didn't feel right. I have high hopes for the miniature brush line of series 7's, which seem like they're designed for someone like me. I just haven't gotten around to getting any yet. Perhaps I'll treat myself soon, for my birthday :D

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