What Brushes To Use For Watercolor

Watercolour brushes. Wonderful pieces of kit that enable you to produce stunning paintings.

But what shape should you go for? What about all the various sizes? Is natural or synthetic hair best?

Between these and all the different manufacturers, there are hundreds of watercolour brushes to choose from. It can be daunting and invariably leads to you spending more money than you need to 'just to be sure'.

As a newcomer (or if you've been painting a while and you're not happy with your results), you need to keep to a limited range of watercolour materials. That means just a handful of brushes.

Fewer materials will help you improve faster. If you want to know why read this guide.

In this quick guide, I'll tell which watercolour brushes I think you should start with (or restrict yourself too if you have lots already). It's a short list but the mix will allow you to create the majority of washes and marks you need.

I'll also give you a brief overview of the various brush options on the market.

Brush Sizes

As you might image, watercolour brushes are available in a range of sizes - from the small rigger brush capable of producing ultra-thin lines to the large mop and hake brushes used to cover large areas quickly (such as a sky wash).

We can't really talk about brush size without talking about brush type or shape. That's because different brush types have different measuring units. For example, round brushes are simply numbered (with a #1 round being very small and a #20 round being very large) whereas flat brushes are measured in inches.

There's the added complication that brushes sizes can be inconsistent between manufacturers. For example, a #10 round brush by one manufacturer might be larger or smaller than a #10 made by another manufacturer.

Don't worry though, it's not as confusing as it sounds and I'll tell which sizes I recommend below.

Brush Types

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

Watercolour Painting Cheatsheets

Here's 12 handy colour charts and reference guides for watercolours, that will save you paint, paper and hours of experimenting...

GET THE CHEATSHEETS

Round Watercolour Brushes

Round brushes are the main 'go to' brushes for most watercolourists They can produce fine lines, a variety of broader strokes and with practice, good, straight edges.

Larger round brushes can be used for washes (where you want to cover large areas of the paper with a reasonably small effect).

Smaller round brushes are great for detail work.

If you buy your brushes from a local art store check to see that they possess a good point. Dipping the brush into clean water then flicking it firmly should make that point appear. If it stays somewhat 'ragged' at the end, reject it. And don't feel silly asking the store owner for a jar of water for this purpose!

Sizes for the round brushes are fairly consistent between manufacturers with the higher numbers representing bigger brushes (i.e. a number 16 round is bigger than a number 8 round). Here are the sizes you'll typically see:

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

Flat Watercolour Brushes

Flat brushes are also very popular with watercolourists of all abilities. They enable you to produce good straight edges or to block in colour quickly.

Flats are measured across the width of the ferrule (the metal bit that holds the hairs in place), usually in fractions of an inch.

A small flat brush would be 1/8th of an inch and a larger flat brush would be 2 inches. Here are some common sizes:

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

The pictures above, by the way, aren't true to scale and will obviously show up at different sizes, depending upon the size of the screen on which you're reading this blog post.

Mop & Wash Brushes

As the name suggests, these are intended for looser work, providing great covering power. Some wash brushes though, such as those illustrated below, are capable of producing quite fine lines and other refined marks.

Mop and wash brushes tend to be numbered in their own world. A number 6 mop brush could be the equivalent size to a number 16 round brush, for example. The chart below gives the sizes in centimetres:

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

Rigger Brush

The rigger brush has a relatively long, thin set of hairs and was originally devised for artists to paint the ropes and rigging of ships - hence its name.

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

Rigger sizes are numbered in the following way (from smallest to largest): 00000, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 4, 6.

Aside from being useful for fine lines, using the full length of the hairs and scrubbed sideways, they is also very effective at creating things like rock textures and small bushes.

Watercolour Materials Made Easy

Walk into any art store and the amount of materials filling the shelves is overwhelming! Bob Davies has put together a shortlist of the best watercolour tools, surfaces and accessories for every budding artist to stop you from wasting money. See the list here...

GET THE LIST

Animal or Synthetic Hairs?

Watercolour brushes are available in a range of hair types. Broadly speaking, you can divide these into two categories - animal hair or synthetic hairs.

Animal hairs were always considered far superior but modern synthetic brushes have come a long way and are perhaps more hard-wearing than some natural versions. Many professional watercolourists are happy to stick exclusively to synthetic.

Sable is the most expensive animal hair and is considered the ultimate in quality, retaining a unique 'spring' and having an unrivalled water/paint carrying capacity. Going one step up (and several steps in cost), Kolinsky Sable is the 'Rolls Royce' of sable brushes.

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

If you do want to taste some of the benefits of natural hair, then there are many ranges of sable/synthetic mixes.

These are a little more expensive than synthetic alone but they give a nice balance between the natural properties of sable and the hard-wearing nature of synthetic. Their price range, unsurprisingly, falls somewhere between synthetic and sable.

^{Photo credit} ^{: Ken} ^Bromleys ^&^{www.artsupplies.co.uk}

The mop/wash brush is often described as being made of camel hair, but in fact, this is a misnomer and nowadays is more usually squirrel, ox, or goat hair.

It's usually softer and less springy than sable or synthetic but makes up for this in tremendous covering power - ideal for larger washes. Again, there are synthetic versions, if your budget or personal preference dictates.

Recommended Starter List

Here's my recommended starter set (or limited set for those wanting to deliberately restrict their materials list).

Go for synthetic rounds, flats and riggers. The mop brush can be animal hair or synthetic depending on your personal preferences.

A Number 4 and a number 8 round brush
A 1 inch and a 0.5-inch flat brush
A mop brush about 1cm (3/8 inch) diameter
A number 1 gigger brush

So, just six brushes to think about and learn to master. The odds are that if you've painted for a while, you'll have quite a few more brushes than these.

You're not alone. We all accumulate art materials over the years that seemed a 'must have' at the time, but have lain forlornly in a drawer ever since, perhaps after just a couple of outings.

So if you have any brush(es) near enough the types and sizes I've mentioned, don't go out and buy even more!

Use the nearest ones you have and only get those that you really can't match with your own. Incidentally, the ones shown are for illustrative purposes only. Many other brands are available.

Suggested Suppliers

Finally, here's a list of retailers that I've used with success over the years, with no connections other than as a satisfied customer. Of course, there are many more out there and I'm sure you'll have your own favourites as well as these:-

USA:

Amazon.com
Dickblick.com
Cheapjoes.com
Jerrysartarama.com

UK & Europe:

Artsupplies.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Cassart.co.uk
jacksonart.co.uk

Australia

Amazon.com.au

Canada

Amazon.ca

Watercolour Painting Lessons

Want to learn how to paint stunning watercolours? Take a look at our step-by-step video lessons covering everything from the basics to advance landscapes, florals and portraits...

BROWSE WATERCOLOUR LESSONS

This article is one of a series of guides on watercolour materials for newcomers. Other guides cover paints, paper and accessories. Go to the main watercolour materials page here.