Painting is a way of expressing yourself! Painting allows us to express the inside feelings which we otherwise hide deep inside of us. It feels like you are transported to some other world where you give color to your imagination. Painting can fill you up with inner satisfaction and convey your unspoken, hidden words in an art form that solely represents you.
For paintings, we can use numerous art tools. But paintbrushes are the most common ones. We use different types of paint brushes for different styles of painting. There are almost 24 varieties of paint brushes out there. Each of them has a specific use and task.
The knowledge of using all types of paintbrushes enables you to create magical artworks. Hence, needless to say, an artist’s most beloved tool is the paintbrush. If you are a beginner, it would be helpful to know about the types of paint brushes. Hence, here’s a rundown of a list of paintbrushes absolutely loved by artists!
Understanding The Types Of Brushes And How They Are Used
If you are amateurish in the world of painting, it might be daunting for you to make the right decision while choosing paint brushes at a stationery shop. Art shops exhibit a huge collection of paintbrushes and it’s quite confusing to choose the paintbrush you need the most. Even I get perplexed by the huge collection!
But there’s nothing to fear as in this article we will explore all kinds of paint brushes so that you can make the right choice. Knowing your paintbrush types is a fundamental step in becoming a better painter. Hence it is necessary to follow this handy guide in order to open the door to a better understanding of art!
Flat Brush
Flat brushes are the most basic paint brushes. And if you’ve ever given painting a go, you’ve probably held one. In these brushes, the bristles are wide but not thick. Various flat brushes have various lengths. Some are longer while others are shorter.
Flat brushes are great for carrying a lot of paint and applying paint to large areas with single strokes. If you are painting something where a wash brush might be just a tad bit too big, the flat brush is what you’ll be needing.
Flat brushes provide greater coverage than most other brushes while providing much more control and accuracy than other high coverage brushes.
These brushes are also sometimes used to make thick lines. But, pro painters use angled brushes instead as it is much easier with those.
Filbert Brush
The most common usage of Filbert paint brushes is in acrylic artworks. Filberts are particularly effective in blending work, usually of a symbolic nature. It has a thick ferrule and medium to long hairs in the shape of an oval, making it easier to blend the paint. Filbert brush is a hybrid of flat and round brushes and has both of its best features.
It can give details to your artwork and also cover more space, proving itself to be a staple of oil and acrylic painting. This brush is also best for creating shapes with soft ends, like flower petals or leaves. The main brush stroke is broad but with a smooth, subtle top line allowing marks to blend with previously laid down patterns instantly.
If you are using a filbert brush on its side, it produces a neat, clean life. It is also capable of producing a tapered line when swiveled in mid-stroke. Because of its lovely stroke work, the usability of this type is immense. Also, the shape of the brush makes a floating color over the round shapes effortless.
Hence its versatility makes it a very popular shape among artists. Most artists will undoubtedly have a number of filberts in their brush collection as it is an essential tool in creating beautiful artworks.
I would honestly recommend this brush to beginners as you won’t even realize how dependent you will get on it once you start using it. Filbert brushes are an exceptional tool for creating smooth textured artworks and an absolute necessity for smooth blending and stroking.
Fan Brush
This paintbrush is flat and has splayed bristles. It is a semi-circle fan brush that is known for creating multiple lines and dots in uniform. This natural hair brush is ideal for oil paint. Many artists use fan brushes only for blending colors, but they are also extremely useful for mark-making. These brushes are perfect if you struggle with creating smooth artwork.
When we use their flat side, they can create broad strokes that taper gradually to thin lines. If you use them on their edge, they can create nice lines.
You can also use them lightly, just maintaining engagement on the point to develop lovely details. Hence, Fan brushes are really more of a special effect that we can use for creating nice textures like clouds, leaves and many more.
It is an ideal choice when you are planning to paint realistic scenarios and landscapes. These brushes have excellent precision points with an excellent liquid holding capacity that results in an easy, consistent, smooth flow of paint.
It’s super versatile and definitely worth every penny. If you are looking to replicate a wide array of textures, then you are at the right place, as this brush might just be the right thing for you. These brushes provide the perfect combination between balance and comfort! It delivers consistent paint strokes that every artist desires.
Angled Brush
Well, the name of the brush allows us to get a hint of the shape. The tip of this brush is quite tilted. Hence, it is also well-known as the slanted brush. This brush type is flat, with short hairs on one end and longer hairs on the other end.
This brush will prove to be quite useful if you face problems while coloring corners. This brush enables you to color narrow spaces with its tip hence best used for precise lines, strokes, and curves. It is highly flexible, allowing you to fill small spaces into big spaces effortlessly.
The angled paint brush is one of my go-to paintbrushes. I use this brush almost more than any other brush, as the clean-cut edges of this type of brush make precise strokes and coloring in tight spots easier.
It is an extremely useful paintbrush for creating neat, sophisticated artworks. It is basically a utility brush as it can perform many techniques. This type of brush also functions well in calligraphy. So, needless to say, it’s basically an all-purpose paint brush that makes coloring easier.
Round Brush
These brushes consist of a slender handle with a fat, round head tapering to a fine point. The classic, rounded shape is adaptable, allowing artists to lay down washes, fills, and lines of all sizes. Rounds on the larger side can efficiently transform broad surface areas with fewer strokes.
This brush gives you maximum control over the flow of paint and hence is the best for creating different details in your painting. It is also unique as it can make thin to thick lines- thin at the tip but wider when pressed down.
This kind of brush is excellent for drawing or filling in large areas. With a round brush, it is effortless to get variations in line width. These brushes provide you with a familiar feeling you would have when holding a pen or pencil, so it’s a huge comfort to use these brushes. It is a great paintbrush to have in your painting toolbox.
Round brushes come in pointed or blunt tips. You can use both of them to create beautiful artwork, but the pointed one is ideal for detailing. You can also conduct experiments with this kind of brush by using them both wet and dry to create different textures in your painting.
Liner Brush
This brush has long, thin bristles, and artists mostly use it for lines and lettering. The longer hair allows the hand to hold the brush nearer the brush head for better control. It also minimizes handshaking as the brush steadily moves across the surface. Hence it limits the wobble in the artwork. Its tuft is longer than usual, so it can hold more paint and water at once.
These small brushes give you a lot of control over where you are going to be putting your paint. It also helps to prevent you from overpainting the area. A liner brush enhances your painting with detailed lines, outlining or fancy borders. It allows artists to put fingers of the brush-holding hand on the surface to guide and control the line.
These brushes also have widespread popularity in calligraphy. The tiny tip of the brush makes numbering and writing on a canvas absolutely effortless. When you want to create fine detailing in your artwork, this is the brush you will need to look out for.
Many artists who sign their artwork use a liner brush when writing their signature. These brushes provide you with a great way to add texts and words to your pages, especially in art journaling. Hence, this brush is extremely useful for perfectionists who would leave no table unturned to turn their artwork into a masterpiece!
Wash Brush
Wash brushes come in varied shapes. The oval wash brush has rounded hairs, flat ferrules and produces a soft edge with no point. This brush type has large, soft, flat bristles and is mainly used for watercolor as it creates flat washes.
A wash brush is useful for laying large areas of water or color, wetting the surface, and absorbing excessive paint or water. Hence, if you accidentally put excess color or water in your canvas, these great brushes can pick up the excess paint off the canvas. So it is an ideal brush to fix your blunders and make the artwork look good as new!
It is ideal for varnishing because it gives maximum coverage and is best known for covering large areas of the canvas with the blink of an eye! I would honestly suggest you dip it into some water to achieve maximum coverage quickly.
These brushes help to produce nice bold strokes while using their edge helps to create fine lines. Hence, this multipurpose brush is an essential tool and one of the most beginner tools you must have in your brush set.
Stencil Brush
A stencil brush is a specialist brush with strong, firmly packed bristles. The bristles are all the same length which allows the user to press it firmly against the canvas. Also, you won’t need to worry about causing a mess because the bristles would not lift the side of the stencil while pressing.
The stencil brush might look similar to other types of brushes. But the difference is that it has a flat top. This flat top makes it easier to dab and swirl the paint over the brush without the fear of leakage.
Hence the plane, the smooth top is the key to gorgeous artworks. They are used in a straight up-and-down pouncing motion to create soft textures in your drawing.
A good flexible stencil brush will give you beautiful soft shading and blending of colors similar to the airbrush effect. These brushes blend the colors smoothly, and hence by using this brush, blending work will become a piece of cake for you!
Mop Brush
A mop brush is quite similar to a wash brush. It is a large, round brush that can either be pointed or oval in shape. Mop brushes are most commonly used to cover large areas in watercolor. These brushes are incredibly soft and great for creating a smooth, even washer, making watercolor painting easier to handle.
The key thing about mop brush is that it is usually made with very soft limp hairs like a squirrel. So they are very absorbent, which enables them to carry a lot of water. Mop brushes do not snap back into their original form like stiffer brushes, so it is easy to coat them with colors.
These brushes can help to blend and soften areas and edges quickly. Mop brushes are also helpful for blending acrylic and oil paints. They are also commonly used for softening areas that have not yet dried. A fun way of using it is to dab the brush in some paint and twirl it to create perfect circles!
Hence these brushes allow you to create different dimensions in your painting. Mop brushes have made the creation of large organic features easier. This brush is a growing favorite among watercolorists but works well with almost all other mediums as well.
Using them from different angles will help you to create different shapes while covering large areas. These brushes are perfect for a lot of paint coverage. Also, by covering large areas, mop brushes cut down your painting time to half! Also, the textures it creates are unmatched by any other paintbrushes. These brushes also allow you to maneuver them more easily.
Bright Brush
Bright paint brushes are pretty much flat brushes with shorter bristles. The edges of this brush are curved inwards at the tip. They are useful for short, controlled strokes. These brushes are excellent for impasto oil painting techniques and a variety of acrylic methods. They encourage a more painterly brushstroke holding more color with a more fabulous spring.
When painting a textured surface, these brushes will perform better than any other brushes. The bright paint brushes style is coarse and fantastic for thick brushwork. These brushes are mostly made of synthetic fibers and work well in all mediums.
They are commonly used for blending on a smaller scale and are ideal for controlling heavy and thick paint applications. These brushes also excel in smooth paint applications, glazing, and softening effects. They are great for filling in large areas quickly and for scribbling.
The softness of these brushes lays down the ability to lay down thick paint on top of another layer of paint without digit further. Hence bright brushes are the favorites of almost all artists. These are the brushes we need for creating special effects as well as solid brushwork.
Artists mostly use them for a few final, strategically-placed strokes of thick impasto as they approach the completion of a painting. This brush is also a master of flow, and the bright brush has the ability to brighten your artwork no matter how little you use it (pun intended)!
Conclusion
As an artist, the more you will use paintbrushes, the more you will fall in love with them. The different textures and dimensions you will unravel by using them come as a total surprise to beginners and experts as well. Using different paint brushes allows you to take your artwork from a beginner level to an expert level after just a few tries!
The more you will understand how to handle paint efficiently. Before you know it, managing a paintbrush will become an instinctive process for you. But to do this, you need to know the types of paintbrushes there are by heart. I hope this article on types of paint brushes was able to help you out!
