# What brush sizes do I need?



## MellonFriend (Jan 16, 2016)

Hi, First of all I want to say I am very new to forums in general so if I am doing something etiquette wise wrong please tell me.
Okay, I have recently started to pursue a higher level of painting and wanted to step away from just lame o cheap paint brushes. What different sizes and shapes do I need so that I can do a wide verity of painting styles?


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## TerryCurley (Jan 4, 2015)

Welcome to the forum. If you need any help navigating the site just post it and one of us will be happy to help you. 

As for brushes....well that's a rough one...so much depends on the size of your piece. Basically I find flat brushes and filbert brushes the most valuable tools of all. Next would be a bristle type scenery brush. This is a must if you are going to do any landscapes. Liner brushes is the next on my list. Most people I've talked to say that fan brushes are high on their list, but I don't find them as valuable as most people do. If you are going to do detail work round brushes are great for drawing the subject. I'm sure not everybody will agree with me on my selection.


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

It's simple. watch as many videos as you can and see what they use. Then either buy them all or one at a time as you think you need them. There is a good brush video on Clive5art.


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## MellonFriend (Jan 16, 2016)

Since I do not know what sizes of painting I will be doing would it be best if I just go with a round, a flat, a filbert, and a fan in around the medium sized range like 8-14?


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## Sorin (Jun 15, 2015)

Cheap... Ha. The price has nothing to do with it. Nada, amigo. Only thing that matters is what you can make them do. Period! I've gazillions of brushes but my favs are mostly the cheapos. Plus, I can chop them to make a different tool without wincing.


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## MellonFriend (Jan 16, 2016)

Sorin said:


> Cheap... Ha. The price has nothing to do with it. Nada, amigo. Only thing that matters is what you can make them do. Period! I've gazillions of brushes but my favs are mostly the cheapos. Plus, I can chop them to make a different tool without wincing.


No offense, but I keep buying too cheap brushes that the bristles fall out of and the paint on the handle chips off and gets stuck in my work. It is very annoying. I'm not going to buy the super expensive 70 dollar brushes from like Winsor and Newton, but I'd like to buy some that last.
:shog:


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## Sorin (Jun 15, 2015)

I see your problems... Yeh, hairs do tend to fall out sometimes. Even from "good" brushes. Seems less of a prob from brushes used for high-plastic paints cuz the ferules get glued up, even after cleaning. I've gotten used to fluffing & pulling looses hairs before painting. No biggie. I also keep some fine tweezers! Ha. Sometimes ya hafta pick yer... eeywww! As for chipping paint... Oh well. A few sqweezes & a twirl & its gone. The expensive brushes tend to have the paint so they're the ones with the prob. Cheepos are bare wood.


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## TerryCurley (Jan 4, 2015)

That problem of hair falling out of the brushes drives me bonkers. I do oil painting and tend to use blending brushes frequently and I have not found any blending brushs that does not have hair falling out. Grrrrrr


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## Bri (Aug 17, 2015)

I usually buy any shapes and sizes, it just depends on what I'm going to do with them. From the smallest to largest size, to me it's what brush just feels 'right' at the time or which brush can get in that fine detail or which brush covers more space. 
But I have my three 'go-to-brushes' that I'm pretty sure I use for every piece of my acrylic and watercolor paintings and they are still going strong. :biggrin:


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## MellonFriend (Jan 16, 2016)

Bri said:


> I usually buy any shapes and sizes, it just depends on what I'm going to do with them. From the smallest to largest size, to me it's what brush just feels 'right' at the time or which brush can get in that fine detail or which brush covers more space.
> But I have my three 'go-to-brushes' that I'm pretty sure I use for every piece of my acrylic and watercolor paintings and they are still going strong. :biggrin:


Could you tell me what your "go-to-brushes" are?


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## Bri (Aug 17, 2015)

MellonFriend said:


> Could you tell me what your "go-to-brushes" are?



I don't remember the brands because I brought them over five years ago, from this art/school supplies store which had closed down, over two years ago. I keep trying to remember the brand of the brushes (they are different brands). They are mostly covered in paint now. 
But one is a round 12 brush, brown hair and was a reddish brown handle.
The other is a bright brush which is blue.
And the last one is a mop brush which I don't know much about; since I spray painted it gold to mark it.

(If you don't want to spend $70 on one brush) some brands I use off and on are; Royal and Langnickel, Princeton and Protege. And they have been pretty good.
I would suggest reeves but the paint on handle of their brushes are always chipping, good hair in the brushes but very terrible handles. :unhappy:


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## MellonFriend (Jan 16, 2016)

Bri said:


> (If you don't want to spend $70 on one brush) some brands I use off and on are; Royal and Langnickel, Princeton and Protege. And they have been pretty good.
> I would suggest reeves but the paint on handle of their brushes are always chipping, good hair in the brushes but very terrible handles. :unhappy:


Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it:vs-kiss:. I was thinking about going for some Royal and Langnickel brushes and its nice to know they are pretty good ones. Thanks again!:vs_closedeyes:


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