Are You Using the Wrong Brush for Miniature Painting?

I’ve been using water color brushes and never went back. Da Vinci maestro Series 35 has treated me very well, I snagged their miniature line too. For everything I don’t want to dip my davinci’s into, contrasts, shades, metallics, I use my army painter kolinskys. They have held up very well to the abuse and have been my work horses for 2 years.
I do however take care of all of my brushes, not just the davinci’s. (Although they get more attention and protection)

Truth is natural hair has been used for paint brushes for thousand of years for a reason. It's... hair. Consider how your own organic hair can be repaired and conditioned when it becomes brittle and frayed. At the end of the day there's no replacement for natural hair paint brushes.

Of course, as pointed out here, synthetics do have a great use for destructive and rough uses considering how cheap they are. Philosophically though, there is perhaps an objection there because it plays into a culture of waste and disposability. There are coarser natural hair brushes that have traditionally been used for rough work like stippling.

There is no place for synthetic. They are imposters.

i know it sounds like really bad advice but id recomend trying a cople different brands and sizes of kolinsky to feel what u like most. might sound like a waste of money but when u find the correct one for u u will fall in love

Mine says "filbert 3"

There is another downside with natural brushes that should be considered - you kill the animal to make them.

All right, fine...! I'll take out my fancy brushes and stop being afraid of ruining them!

i prefer acrylic brushes over watercolor brushes. watercolor brushes are delicate flowers that require constant cleaning and will self disintegrate if you don't take absolute care of it, while acrylic brushes tend to keep better after it's been scraped over some bump in the mini, and I've grown to absolutely love and rely on the snapback qualities for details. this is just me tho

A good brush soap is more important.

You told me about the Raphael's years ago and ever since I've used the for the moments I need the most control over my paint, and will NEVER look back.

Thank you ❤

I've bought the Da Vinci Nova synthetics but after just a few paint sessions they're already bent 😢

Being in the US, it is difficult to get Kolinsky Sable. I have purchased the Red Sables from Rosemary & Co. are adequate but like you’ve mentioned, they do not stand up to the Kolinsky.

Ultra useful vid, but TBH they're always great. Favourite painter on the 'tube.

I recently got a number 2 Winsor and newton series 7 sable hair brush and it was terrible. It didn’t hold paint right all the paint stayed in the belly and the tip became useless due to this (nice tip though) and the hairs kept getting all wild every time I went to go paint. 30$ for a brush waste of money. Luckily I returned it

Da schau ich dich seit Monaten und denk mir - wau einer der Besten! Dann komm ich durch Siren Games drauf das du hier in Wien bist... klein ist die Welt (ich dachte alle Großmeister sind in Spanien haha) :)
Grüße aus dem 12ten - ich freu mich schon wenn ich in 66 Jahren dann auch mal so toll Minis bemalen kann wie du XD

Trovarion Miniatures I have a favour to ask you: Is there a chance to create a grimdark painting video but for chaos space marines? The loyalist one was the best I have encountered guides on how to paint grimdark but I would like to hear from a profetional like you on how to paint grimdark Alpha Legion for example.

I’ve been on the same W&N S7 00 for about 4 years, used it on nearly every model I’ve painted. It still has a great tip but the belly is tiny. I have a 0 and 1 that I got at the same time and those have no faired as well over time. This made me realize I have probably earned some new detail and workhorse brushes. :)

Once a synthetic brush tip goes just cut it off straight and you have a nice little dry brush.

Rosemary and Co Series 33 have been my go to for good brushes.

Painting miniatures is like a journey through a Dungeons & Dragons maze: full of traps, optical illusions, and unexpected monsters, but always with a reward at the end!

Thanks for this video, I just got some monument hobbies brushes and their sable brushes split like mad unless they're soaked in water for me. I used the brush cleaner/conditioner from the artis opus brushes and unless they're being held together by the conditioner or saturated in water they split like crazy. I really don't think they're a good buy. I'm gonna give rosemary and co a try

This is a small idea, but the video you did 8 months ago trying the “Adrian smith paint scheme” was amazing and inspired my army alongside many others army. I loved it so much and your tutorials are so effective. I’d love to see you paint more of that scheme in the future.

In my experience, having a variety of both synthetic and hair brushes, along with others like Drubushes, is that way to get great results. I am still looking wchich brush brand I like more, but so far, my minins are looking pretty good as a begginer.

I'm a commission painter, I guess I've been lucky with my series 7s because I've ordered around 20 of the size 1/2 over eight years and only got a bad batch once. I did like monument hobbies brushes as well.

Great!

Damn, I wish this video would have been there some time ago. It would have spare me a lot of money I guess. BEST video on brushes around. Thank you for that.
I tried (and bought) a lot of brushes the last months. Citadel, Raphael 8404, scale color, Artist Opus, windsor and lately DaVinci. For me Raphael and DaVinci are really the best at the moment. They are superb and they have a fair price, while Artis Opus are good brushes too but a bit over expensive I think.
Thanks for the other brush Tipps I will have a look in that

I started cleaning my brushes with alcohol some months ago. After the soap I give them a bath in brush restorer. The impact on the longevity is massive.

People get thrown for a loop on the natural brushes and acrylics. For mini painting the thickness of the acrylic is way thinner so it is not going to nuke the brush. That being said I prefer synthetics for most work because we're bulk painting in warhammer. Those brushes are going to get nuked. I kill my dollar store brushes going through 10-12 infantry models. Citadel brushes can be just as bad or worse depending on how the game store is keeping those things.

Great to see Rosemary and Co getting a shout out - incredible value for money and in my experience their brushes have had longevity that W&N and Raphael brushes havent matched.

Have Windsor and Newton really gotten so bad? The end of an era... it's really hard to believe.

Thank you for the brush cleaning tips and education.

Great video! Suggest trying out the Rosemary & Co series 36, I have a size 0 and it holds an incredible amount of paint

The only thing I wish were different on the Raphaël 8404 is a slightly thicker handle, like the one on a W&N7. Possibly a minor detail, but it makes a lot of difference to me on how comfortable the brush is.

The best detailing brush I ever had was a 10/0 from Walmart. They stopped carrying it about 15 years ago, and I have never found one like it since.

Sometimes I noticed brushes are seemingly GLUED at the tip to give the appearance of a good tip, but then that quickly turns into a mess.

Bonjour

I was sitting here with my "Raphael 1 (8404)" in Hand starting the Video and thinking: "if he does not recommend this one i will have to write a comment." Now i´m writing it anyways.
I tried SO many High Quality Brands over the Years and without a doubt settled for the Raphael 1 as my "all purpose quality workhorse" - it keeps SUCH a sharp tip considering its size. Comparing it to a DaVinci 1 (i only use the 10 till now not the 76) it´s way bigger - even though i also keep that one at hand - also not a bad brush at all (maybe even one of the best) - but it does not have the versatility of the Raphael and looses it´s sharp tip faster. I also keep a Winsor Newton 00 around for very rare specific things - but noone "really" needs that tbh.

For cleaning and keeping it in good shape i "can" reccomend "Abteilung 502 - Magic Potion for Brushes" - it cleans out stuck paint pretty good (Like Isopropanol) but seems to have a lot more components to it that keep the hairs from drying out (the substance is a bit oily).

Btw: Don´t fall for "we are now making the best brushes" Kickstarter or other advertising - i backed the "Squidmar" Brushes back in the day - those were fabricated by DaVinci afaik - but they were WAY worse than their regular ones. Stick to you guns people!
And thanks Trovarion for recommending a product that is actually really really good and will help alot of painters that are stuck to worse brushes.

I guess I should ditch the camel hair brushes for something smoother.

Habe Jahrelang mit der alten w&n serie gemalt, nie probleme..habe dann durch ein Gewinnspiel 2 der neueren Pinsel bekommen, beide nach ein paar Malsessions schrott..

What about the 0 to 6/0 sizes? im just starting in the hobby and i get that they may not hold as much paint, but for details they seem a really good option aswell but i didn't hear you mention them

ye I got a windsor and newton thinking it was a good quality and barely lasted 2 sessions

For synthetics AND cheaper KS, you could do a lot worse than picking up the AIT art brushes on Amazon; the only issue I've ever had was some quality differences between brushes made in Germany vs made in China. Even under heavy use of metallics, contrast and even alcohol inks, these things hold up! The rigging/liner brushes do 99% of anything I do.

My brush advice is extactly the same as yours, about 8 years ago i gave raphael a try as i could get them about 30-40% cheaper than w&n series 7 and i found them to be a better brush, mostly becouse their brush hair length was a little longer and i found it easier to avoid getting paint up deep towards the head of the brush. I also use isopropyl and masters brush soap to clean my brush. Another trick i find to be great is if i make a mistake i can carefully remove the paint with isopropyl on a brush, it works like an eraser and saves me heaps of time fixing mistakes.

I started painting with a set of 10 brushes that cost me $2 and they lasted me nearly 2 years of painting once or twice a week and taking good care of the brushes.
There are a lot of techniques that don't rely on having fine brush tips but I got a Kolinsky for my next project to see how much a difference it makes.

Really good video! I try to use synthetics for base coating but often run into the issue that without a better tip I can't even do that, because nowadays especially GW models have so many small details and small spaces between things, beneath stuff and so on, that I can't get them even base coated properly without going to my better brush. Do you find that to be the same? Maybe I need better synthetics. Gonna give your recommendations a try.

Excellent video. 👍🏻🎅👍🏻
The differences in the brush bellies are the fuller English belly versus the narrower European. Among Kolinsky brushes Raphael 8404 are European; Da Vinci Maestro are English, as are Escoda and the older (better) Winsor & Newton series 7. The differences in hair (not bristle, bristle is from hogs) within natural hair brushes are male and female, with the male being stiffer and the female softer. Brushes with more body (snap) have a higher percentage of male hair, whereas softer (less snap) have a higher percentage female.
( I started in the hobby in 1972 using squirrel and red sable brushes! 😆)

thanks a lot for this video that was very helpfull .

YOOOO I'm in the video at 41s wooooo