First brushes

[Ezr91aeL]

Hi!

I'm going to start the hobby and I was wondering which brushes to buy for my first approach. I was thinking about a fine one, a normal one and a dry brush. What do you say?

[Chaplain Raeven]

I would add a washbrush to those three, although you can use your normal brush for washes.

I don't use much more than 4 brushes.

[Imren]

Get an armypainter monster brush for your basecoats, a Windsor & Newton series 7 size 0 for your higlights and detail, and a GW medium size drybrush for your drybrushing

[Stoic Raptor]

While I'd normally recommend investing in good brushes from the start, I think it's probably better to get some inexpensive but decent brushes until you've got the hang of using and caring for them. Kind of the same reason I wouldn't buy a new car for a teenager who just got their license.

When you start out, you might get paint up under the ferrule, might not clean the brush well enough (or by scrubbing it against the side of your water pot), might not store them properly (or catch bristles in the brush guard)... once you've got the knack of all that, then get some good Raphael 8404's or W&N Series 7.

Still, I always recommend synthetic brushes for priming, metallics, washes, drybrushing and topcoats, because all of those things will ruin a brush quickly.

I usually use a size 2 brush for basecoating, a size 1 for layering and a size 0 for detail work. Those three brushes meet most of my needs. Then I have a 20/0 "spotter" brush that I use for eyes and freehand writing.