• Soft Bristle Paint Brush
• Fine Bristle Paint Brush Refills
• Natural Bristle Artists Brushes

Painting fur is one of the main reasons I love depicting wildlife; it is so easy to get lost in building up the textures and colours that can be found there.

Choose a natural bristle brush when applying oil-based paints and top coats, varnishes, shellac, decorative chalk paint (for an antique look), enamel, and polyurethane. You’ll also get good results. A natural China bristle brush is the best choice for oil-based paints, stains and varnishes. Angle sash: Bristles are precisely trimmed at an angle that allows painters to hold the brush more comfortably while painting trim and corners. Brush ends are rounded for a smooth, gradual paint stroke.

However, it can at first seem quite overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. If you’re struggling to achieve the realistic fur look that you’ve been aiming for, part of the problem may be that you’re not using quite the right tools for the job.

The Badger Fine Finish Natural Bristle Paint Brush is an excellent handmade flowing brush for urethanes, varnishes and enamels. It features ultra fine finishing results and a natural badger-style China bristle. The trim features a hand-formed chisel edge. The handle features a pencil style design and is constructed with clear wood. Size 00 Fine Paint Brushes Anezus acrylic brush set comes with 30 fine point paintbrushes. A fine finished brush is used to eliminate brush strokes. Natural bristles are made from animal hair, usually hog or badger. Natural bristle brushes are used for applying oil based alyked paints. High-quality natural China bristle brushes have qualities that control oil-based coatings for better flow and leveling for the smoothest finish.

Brushes I use most often for wildlife paintings

• Flat
• Round
• Filbert
• Angle
• Detail

Choosing the right brushes (and using them at the right time), is key if you want to create a genuine sense of texture in your artwork. Of course, the textures found within fur vary enormously throughout the animal kingdom.

Hair lengths also vary so much within the subject itself, and selecting the right brushes can really assist with capturing the fine details that will bring your painting to life. To help when it comes to your own work, I have put together a brief guide on the brushes that I use most often within my wildlife acrylic paintings:

Flat

Before I even think about painting the fur, I have to make sure that I have the right base coat in place. This is where the flat brushes come in.

Looking at my reference, I block in the darkest shade I can see within the different areas of my subject.

It doesn’t need to be perfectly blended at this stage, as the next layers of the painting will mean that only a hint of the initial base coat will show through. The main idea at this early stage is to simply block in the darkest shadows, so that the details and highlights can be built on top.

I find that a large flat brush is the best way to create a block-in quickly and effectively, and if you are aiming to have a smooth texture to your final painting, the flat brushes will allow you to manoeuvre the paint very evenly.

Filbert

After the flat brush, the next brush I move on to is the filbert. This is an oval shaped brush that, when used flat, I find is perfect for creating soft marks to mark the direction of the fur.

When used on its side, filbert brushes are also great for establishing the long, sweeping hairs such as those found in a lion’s mane.

I usually reserve these brushes for creating the mind-tones, leaving the highlights for the next stage.

Round

Round brushes consist of densely arranged bristles shaped into a pointed tip. Once the fur direction has been established with the filbert, I find that the round brushes can be used with greater precision which is needed to start building the highlights.

They hold much more paint than the detail brushes that I will come back to later, which mean that it is easier to create more gestural marks that the brightest highlights can then be built on top of.

Whilst it is tempting to reach for the detail brushes straight from the offset- building softer layers with a round brush initially can help create more depth to your work.

Angle

Angle brushes are shaped similarly to the flat brushes, but the ends of the bristles are slanted at a 45 degree angle.

In comparison to the round, I find angle brushes create slightly sharper and more definitive marks. Since they hold less paint, they are ideal for shorter-haired animals, but if the paint is thinned sufficiently they can also be used to create the final loose strands on a longer haired subject.

The shape of this brush allows for a high level of control, which is ideal for creating precise curved lines found so often within the fur.

Detail

Even in my largest works, I will use a size 1 or 0 detail brush to pick out the lightest hairs on my subject, which I find really brings out the depth and contrast within the fur.

It is also worth keeping in mind the condition of these brushes in particular; as once they lose their point they can definitely compromise the scale and shape of the individual hairs.

It is not unusual for me to retire this type of brush to less detailed work after using it on just one painting, as even the slightest amount of fraying can make achieving a realistic fur effect far more difficult.

A detail brush that has become blunt can still be useful for other areas where softer blending is required, such as when painting eyes and noses.

What types of bristle are there?

Perhaps the most commonly used bristle types for acrylic and oil painting are hog and synthetic. Hog brushes are made up of coarse, thick bristles that are ideal for applying an even coat of paint over large areas.

They are most commonly used in oil painting due to their stiffness and durability, but I have found that they can also be useful in the blocking-in stage of an acrylic painting too.

Depending on the quality, I have also found synthetic brushes to be very durable, but the real advantage of this types of brushes is their softness.

You do not want the brush to be so soft that you cannot make a definitive mark, but when aiming for blended areas, their smoother bristles can leave less obvious brushstrokes in comparison to the hog.

I have no real preference between the two bristle types,when choosing a brush this simply comes down to the particular section or stageof the painting I’m working on. If you paint in both oils and acrylics, it isgenerally advised to keep separate sets of brushes in order to keep the brushesin the best possible condition for that particular medium.

Which bristle type should you use?

I have both hog and synthetic varieties of most of the brushes that I own. I find that the hog brushes are ideal for covering large areas in the earlier stages of the piece, as the split ends (known as flags) hold more paint and allow for more fluid application.

I reserve the synthetic versions for creating softer brush strokes on the final layers, as this way the strokes are far easier to blend. For the fine details I use only synthetic brushes, as they can hold a finer point and allow me to position the hairs more precisely.

For the same reason I also use synthetic detail brushes to complete the whiskers, or alternatively a rigger brush for longer continuous strokes on a larger piece.

Taking care of your brushes

To maintain my brushes for as long as possible, I make sure to wash them in warm soapy water after each painting session, very gently rubbing the bristles so that they retain their shape.

This is more than enough to clean the brushes when working with acrylics. If I have been working in oils then the cleaning process takes a little longer. I firstly remove as much excess oil paint as possible using my paint thinner and wipe them with a paper towel.

After rinsing them in warm water, I then use soap to work deeper within the bristles, rinsing and repeating until no evidence of paint is left when wiped on a paper towel.

If you’re aiming for realism, recreating authentic fur texture can really make or break your artwork, and I hope that this guide gives you more confidence when choosing the right brushes for your work.

Soft Bristle Paint Brush

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to creating art, and you may find that your technique is best suited to one brush type over another. The most important thing is to keep experimenting and finding out what works best for you and your style!

Make sure to share your paintings with us by tagging our Instagram page@StudioWildlife_art and let us know if you found this useful.

Art Lesson 6, Part 1

In this lesson, you will discover How to Choose Brushes for Oil Painting

Fine Bristle Paint Brush Refills

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How to Choose Brushes for Oil Painting

“How to Choose Brushes for Oil Painting” is an important topic for a fine artist. Have you seen the huge variety of brushes they offer at art supply stores? Yes, it’s totally confusing. All the natural and synthetic brushes of different shapes, sizes, brands, and qualities – there are too many choices.

With shapes alone, at least 10 types were invented, as the typical brush shape used by the Old Masters was a Round Brush, nothing exotic. Titian, for example, is well known for his desire to be different from Michelangelo and Raphael. Reportedly he had his brushes unkempt as a broom.

Let’s look at the most popular types of brush shapes that we can choose from:

• Round Brush. There are two sizes of Round Brushes.
• Flat Brush. There are also small and bigger sizes of Flat Brushes.
• Bright Brush. There are three sizes of Bright Brushes. This brush is actually a short version of a Flat Brush.
• Angle Brush.
• Filbert Brush. This is like a flat brush, only with a rounded shape.

Each type of brush produces a different stroke. But let’s be honest, it is enough to have just two types of brush sizes to create impressive and diverse strokes. It is the manufacturers’ wish that we buy many kinds of brushes, that’s why they make them seem vital. Actually, Round and Flat brushes can satisfy your needs entirely. I use Flat brushes more often than Round, but it is more out of habit and I can easily do all of my artworks with nothing but Round brushes of different sizes.

Do we need all shapes? Not at all. It’s perfectly fine to have round brushes and flat brushes – they can satisfy our needs entirely.

So, what are the best materials for brushes? In the Old Masters .Academy ™ we will use both natural and synthetic types of brushes, appropriate for different purposes.

This table, that you can find in your Workbook, helps us understand what the best use is for each particular brush.

They are placed in order, from the most expensive to the least expensive.

If you have just one type of brush, let’s say only Hog brushes of different sizes, you can certainly apply them in any of the processes listed above – not only in processes that are mentioned as suitable, but also in glazing and varnishing. And if you have more appropriate type of brushes for each type of task – use them. If not, it’s ok, deal with what you have.

Let’s look at each brush type, one by one.

Sable Brushes

Sable Brushes are expensive but worth the price. They are long lasting (if you carefully maintain them); they do their job perfectly and are just pleasant to use. These brushes hold their shape when loaded with paint, they will bend and return to their original shape, stroke after stroke. Pony and Squirrel brushes also have soft hair, but they are too soft, they do not keep their shape and are inappropriate for oil painting.

Choose Russian Sable, Kolinsky, Red Sable or Black Sable, whatever you find more appealing to you; they perform great, in similar ways.

Sable brushes have soft, flexible hairs that are ideal for applying thin glazes.

It is possible to use Sable brushes for impasto layers as well. They work excellently in detailed passages, as they form a sharp point which helps you achieve precise strokes.

You can also use them for varnishing, however that would be an uneconomical decision – you need to have individual brushes for varnishing that are absolutely unadulterated and doesn’t contain any particles from oil paints.

Sable brushes are also perfect for painting smooth layers. I wouldn’t create sketches using scumbling and drybrush methods with such costly and delicate brushes. More rigid brushes, that we will look at a bit later, should be chosen for these purposes.

Mongoose Brushes

Mongoose Brushes are very much similar to Sable Brushes in performance, but are slightly less soft. Mongoose hair is responsive and firm, yet delicate to the touch.

Mongoose brushes are excellent in cases when Hog brushes are too rough and Sable is not stiff enough to move thicker paint over the painting surface. Mongoose is priced between Sable and Hog.

You can choose either Sable brushes or Mongoose for your painting process, or you can have both.

Hog Brushes

Hog Brushes are less expensive than Mongoose brushes and has a completely different nature. This type of brush can be used for many purposes, but with limitations. They are perfect for Sketching.

These brushes are suitable for Impasto – brush marks, in the paint, make artwork more vivid. You need to superimpose paint with the brushes carefully, otherwise it’s easy to “plow up” newly applied lower paint.

Stiff and hard Hog Brushes are especially created for such techniques as Scumbling and Drybrush. They are just irreplaceable for the task.

Bristles of the brush wear out relatively fast, especially when used vigorously, and leave small particles of bristles on the surface of the painting. That’s perfectly fine while painting, but for Varnishing it’s better to choose a safe option, like a Synthetic brush.

Bristle brushes are multi-tasking, you can even glaze with them; but test them in glazes yourself. Not everyone will be satisfied with using such a rigid brush during glazing.

When choosing a Hog Brush, be sure that the bristles have natural split-ends. If brushes are suspiciously cheap, they are usually trimmed and are usually only suitable for sketching or unimportant works.

This is how cheap, cropped Hog brushes look and here you see a completely different quality. When it comes to brushes with natural split-ends, they are shaped perfectly.

You can reuse old brushes by trimming them and giving them the desired shape. Such reused brushes can be used for the purpose of Scumbling. Such brushes are even better than new brushes with long bristles.

For priming with Gesso – employ broad bristle brushes, rich in hair, and make sure they are flat-shaped like those used for wall painting; the wider and thicker the brush is, the smoother the Gesso is applied and distributed over a canvas.

Synthetic Brushes

Natural Bristle Artists Brushes

Synthetic Brushes are on the same level as Sable and Mongoose brushes when used in glazing technique. They are equally soft and flexible, however whatever one may say, synthetic is synthetic and you will sense a non-natural feeling during your work, especially if you are used to natural Sable and Mongoose brushes.

What may impress you is the price, which is tangibly lower than the price of Sable and Mongoose.

Medium sized, flat, synthetic brushes are ideal for final Varnishing – neat flexible hairs help spread the varnish evenly on the painting surface. Buy a few Synthetic Brushes, especially for Varnishing, and stick a label to make them distinct from others and keep them exclusively for Varnishing purposes. Varnishing brushes shouldn’t contain oil paint particles.

Synthetic brushes can be used as disposable brushes, for any dirty work, numerous sketches, and for covering a canvas with fast and expressive brush movements. Underpainting can be done with these brushes, the upper layers of a painting can be continued by using other brush types.