Types Of Painting Brushes - How To Choose The Best Brush

As a professional artist, you know that the right tools can make all the difference in bringing your vision to life. The brush you choose is an extension of your hand, a crucial instrument that dictates the flow, texture, and detail of your work. But with an overwhelming variety of brushes on the market, how do you find the perfect match for your professional artwork?

Different Types Of Painting Brushes - A Detailed Guide

One of the most important choices you’ll make when starting an artwork is the paintbrush (or paintbrushes) you’ll be using. The type of hair, the shape, the size, everything will influence how the brush interacts with your paint and how the final product will look.

Here’s a breakdown of all the different types of painting brushes you should know of:

Types of Brushes By Hair Type

Paint brushes are generally made from four different types of hair: natural, synthetic, hog hair, and blends.

Natural Hair

Natural hair brushes tend to be softer and more flexible than hog hair brushes, which makes them ideal for working with both watercolour and gouache. The most common natural hair brushes are:

• Sable Brushes

Sable brushes are ideal for detailed and precision marks, as they maintain a perfect point which allows you to keep control whilst painting. These high-quality brushes are also absorbent, so they hold a lot of colour, allowing you to create a unique flow.

• Squirrel Brushes

Squirrel brushes do not have the point like the sable brushes, making them ideal wash brushes. They can hold a lot of water, as well as colour, so they are great for doing large background painting.

Synthetic Hair

Synthetic hair brushes are ideal if you have a tight budget or if you just want an alternative to natural hair brushes. These brushes can be either soft or stiff - the soft brushes are ideal for watercolours and the stiff brushes are ideal for oils.

Our Loxley SNOWCAP synthetic brushes are made from high-quality white nylon, which has been developed for acrylic and watercolour. Browse your options below:

Hog Hair

Hog hair brushes are an ideal choice if you are using oil or acrylic paints. You can tell if your brush is good quality as it will have the stiffest hair and will allow the brush to carry more colour.

Blends (Synthetic & Natural)

These brushes performed similarly to the sable brushes.

Types Of Paintbrushes By Shape

Each paintbrush shape can help you achieve different effects on your finished artwork - here are the main ones:

Round Brushes

Round brushes are one of the most commonly used brushes in painting, and it is what most people imagine when they think of an ‘artist paintbrush’. These brushes are ideal for sketching, outlining, detailed work, and creating thick to thin lines, making it a versatile tool for any painter, designer or illustrator.

You can get round brushes with either a pointed or a blunt tip: Pointed-tipped brushes are very useful for detailed work, whereas blunt-tipped brushes are a useful tool for filling in colour.

When looking for a round brush, you should make sure that there is a good spring in the bristles and that they snap back into shape when you take the pressure off the brush.

Flat Brushes

Another very versatile brush shape is the flat type. There are two types of flat brushes:

• Short-haired flat brushes (Bright brushes)

  A short-haired flat brush, also known as a bright brush, will hold less paint than a long-haired flat brush. Using your short-haired brush, you can produce solid lines in varying thickness depending on the weight.

  A bright brush also generates more resistance with the surface, making it ideal for applying short, strong ‘dabbing’ marks of colour. Brights are generally one of the harder brushes, however, the stiffness of the bristles can vary. Also, due to the shorter hairs, they offer more control for detail.

• Long-haired flat brushes

  A long-haired flat brush has more flexibility when painting and can carry larger amounts of paint. These brushes are ideal for washes, as well as varnishing. Long Flat brushes have a squared side edge, allowing you to create controlled strokes with a solid edge.

Filbert Brushes

Filbert brushes are somewhere between a flat and a round with a flat tip & long bristles rounded into an oval at the tip. Filberts come in a variety of lengths and fibre types, which provide varying results on the canvas.

With a filbert brush, you can produce a broad brush stroke with a soft top line by keeping the brush flat, allowing strokes to instantly blend, or you can turn the brush on its side to produce thinner lines. You can use your filbert brush for blending soft, rounded edges.

Most artists working in either oil or acrylic will have a filbert in their brush collection.

Fan Brushes

Fan brushes are shaped like a traditional hand fan, with a thin, soft layer of bristles spread out. The bristles are generally thinner, so it is important not to pick up too much pigment as it can clog the brush hairs.

These brushes are good for smoothing and blending out brushstrokes, feathering, or for painting grasses, branches, and hair. A fan brush can help create a sense of depth and add interesting texture to your work.

Types Of Paintbrushes By Medium

Not all brushes will suit your medium of choice. Depending on whether you want to master oil painting, explore acrylics, or create dainty watercolour artwork, you’ll need to choose brushes designed specifically for the type of paint you are using. You need to look for:

Oil Painting Brushes

When working with oil paints, look for hog bristle and other natural hair brushes, as they can handle the thick, heavy consistency of the paint. Synthetic brushes designed for oils can also be a good choice.

Acrylic Painting Brushes

For acrylic painting, choose resilient brushes made with synthetic fibres such as taklon, as they can handle the fast-drying paint. They are durable and retain their shape well, even after repeated use and cleaning.

Watercolour Painting Brushes

Soft, natural hair brushes like sable or squirrel are the top choice for watercolours. They absorb a lot of water and release it slowly and evenly, allowing for beautiful washes and delicate details in your artwork.

How Do You Choose A Paintbrush?

Once you understand the different types of brushes and how they interact with various mediums and techniques, you can build a full collection that empowers you to create your best work. Choose a paintbrush based on:

• The medium it is designed for - so you can have an easy time mastering your chosen medium
• The shape and size - so you can experiment with different brush strokes and textures
• The hair type - so you can easily manipulate paint in the best ways possible

Browse artist brushes from Loxley Arts and find the tools for your next masterpiece.