When oil
painting, brushes will make or break your finished masterpiece. A good brush
will help you bring your creation to life while a bad brush will just serve to
frustrate and impede your painting every step of the way. Even the best
painters will have trouble painting something they can be proud of with a bad
brush. The best brushes for oil painting are a valuable investment and worth
every penny. When deciding on the best brushes for you, you will need to
consider the purpose of the brush, the feel of the brush in your hand and the
end result you want to achieve.
Best Brushes
for Oil Painting:
Purpose
Essentially,
oil painting brushes are made from two different hair types. The bristle brush
uses bristle hair from pigs while sable hair brushes use sable hair from the
sable, which is similar to a weasel. Bristle brushes work exceptionally well
when first starting out your painting as they cover large areas with ease. The
ideal bristle brush is a half-inch or wider. Sable brushes are perfect for
incorporating details and working in small areas, and should be smaller than a
half-inch. If you buy a sable brush, make sure it is a sable brush specifically
for oil painting as watercolor sable brushes lack the spring needed when
painting with oil.
Shape
There are
several different shapes and styles of brush heads for oil painting including
rigger, mop, angle, fan, filbert, bright, flat and round. If you use the wrong
style head for a certain aspect of your painting, you are not using a bad
brush, just the wrong one. It is important to know which type of style will
work best for the aesthetic you are wishing to achieve. If you are just
starting out, and want to jump right into painting without experimenting with each
set of style just to find the best brush for you, go with the flat and filbert
brush. You can achieve nearly every look you want for your painting with those
two brushes. The flat brush will create the sharp edges while the filbert
provides softer, rounder strokes.
Feel
Just as each
artist is different, so are their hands. Where one type of brush handle feels
good and natural in one person's hand, that may not hold true for another.
Visit an art supply store and notice how each brush feels in your hand, run
your fingers along the tip of each bristle and watch to see if the hairs are
stiff and bounce right back in place as they should. Natural bristle and sable
brushes are always better for oil painting than synthetic fibers.
Determining the best brushes for oil painting is
about as individualized as each painting they create. Don't be afraid to
experiment with different brushes and different brands to find the best brush
for you.
