Time to buy new brushes. Need size conversion info

[CMDR_Welles]

It's time to buy new brushes. I'm stupidly hard on brushes (yes, I clean them... but still), and honestly it isnt really cost effective to buy expensive brushes, if I am going to run through them so quickly. I've been using Army Painter and the newish Citadel brushes, but I'd really like to find some cheaper alternatives.

 

Been trying to find a conversion to generic sizes, but the only information I seem to find is 10-15 years out of date (or a Spikey bits link...). The former isnt very helpful with the new brushes, and the latter is not an option (I wont support his cancer).

 

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

 

I really like the Citadel Base, and Drybrush brushes.

[armarnis]

the citadel drybrushes are indeed very good, the others are just a rebrand of a windsor and newton lower grade (synthetic) brush at a big price markup.

 

the big question is if you wanna invest into 1 or 2 very good brushes made of true hair or if you wanna stick with synthetic ones (which are indeed more a fire and forget type)?

 

usually, you should be good with a size 1 and a size 0 brush, for details you might throw in one of those army painter detail brushes, they are imho, dirt cheap yet very pointy

[FelipeFlops]

So I'm like you and seem to go through brushes alarmingly quickly even with proper care. More recently I've been using these, they're a good range of sizes, have relatively good durability and they are cheap. Bear in mind they are cheap synthetic hairs, so there may be some duds but the majority hold their point for a decent amount of time.

[Spacecow]

The size of brushes are something weird and I've never figured out the conversion to other brands. I tend to just look at the actual size and not the number.

 

I use up quite a bit of cheap synthetic brushes. (i use inks and glazes, they pretty much destroy brushes once they get up the ferrule) Honestly any brand will do.

I tend to grab ones meant for aquarel/watercolour. (generally about size 5-6-7 depending on the brand) Especially if you are wetblending, go for bigger!

Once those are absolutely ruined = drybrushing brush.

 

For drybrushing I also use cheap make up brushes.

 

For precise edge highlighting I really like Raphaël 8404(1-2).

 

For precision work like eyes n such I go for windsor and newton series 7 miniature. (they are shorter, so you see better what you are doing). (1-2 pretty much gets me buy, occasionally i need to 0 or 00)

[Arkhanist]

It's time to buy new brushes. I'm stupidly hard on brushes (yes, I clean them... but still), and honestly it isnt really cost effective to buy expensive brushes, if I am going to run through them so quickly. I've been using Army Painter and the newish Citadel brushes, but I'd really like to find some cheaper alternatives.

 

Been trying to find a conversion to generic sizes, but the only information I seem to find is 10-15 years out of date (or a Spikey bits link...). The former isnt very helpful with the new brushes, and the latter is not an option (I wont support his cancer).

 

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

 

I really like the Citadel Base, and Drybrush brushes.

 

When it comes to sizes, they're not actually a standard - they're roughly approximate, but can vary quite wildly between brands. *Generally* you go from 000 as the smallest insane detail (eyes) equivalent up to a size 2 or 3 for a basecoat brush, with a size 0 and/or size 1 being your workhorse brushes. 

 

Most Citadel (and army painter) brushes are synthetic or sable/synthetic blends, so it doesn't really matter how much you care for them, they will lose their point, and/or split pretty quickly - synthetic fibres just aren't that robust.

 

To be fair, that kind of brush does have their place for anybody - I use sable/synthetic blend when slapping down large areas of base coat, touching up primer, manual varnish touch ups, washes etc, and they're fine for that and last a decent length of time as i don't need a super-precise point.

 

In my case, I use Rosemary & Co series 401 sable mix in sizes 0 and 2, which are about the same price as army painter for convenience, but you can find student quality artist brands for cheaper.

 

The advantage of pure sable though is that they will last much longer compared to a synthetic, as long as you clean them reasonably - and even when the point does begin to fade, it's still going to be about the quality of a newish synthetic. You don't need to spend a fortune on winsor & newton series 7 etc, the Rosemary & Co series 33 might cost twice as much per brush, but will easily last more than twice as long while keeping a better point for that time. Just don't dunk em past the ferrule, basic clean in masters brush soap every couple of miniatures and they'll last ages.

 

Switching to kolinsky sable brushes saved me a *ton* of money over the years compared to the synthetic blends I had to replace like every month. My best brushes are raphael 8404 (which I try to reserve for detail work), even nicer than rosemary and co but I do love em.

[Spacecow]

 

 

It's time to buy new brushes. I'm stupidly hard on brushes (yes, I clean them... but still), and honestly it isnt really cost effective to buy expensive brushes, if I am going to run through them so quickly. I've been using Army Painter and the newish Citadel brushes, but I'd really like to find some cheaper alternatives.

 

Been trying to find a conversion to generic sizes, but the only information I seem to find is 10-15 years out of date (or a Spikey bits link...). The former isnt very helpful with the new brushes, and the latter is not an option (I wont support his cancer).

 

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

 

I really like the Citadel Base, and Drybrush brushes.

When it comes to sizes, they're not actually a standard - they're roughly approximate, but can vary quite wildly between brands. *Generally* you go from 000 as the smallest insane detail (eyes) equivalent up to a size 2 or 3 for a basecoat brush, with a size 0 and/or size 1 being your workhorse brushes.

 

Most Citadel (and army painter) brushes are synthetic or sable/synthetic blends, so it doesn't really matter how much you care for them, they will lose their point, and/or split pretty quickly - synthetic fibres just aren't that robust.

 

To be fair, that kind of brush does have their place for anybody - I use sable/synthetic blend when slapping down large areas of base coat, touching up primer, manual varnish touch ups, washes etc, and they're fine for that and last a decent length of time as i don't need a super-precise point.

 

In my case, I use Rosemary & Co series 401 sable mix in sizes 0 and 2, which are about the same price as army painter for convenience, but you can find student quality artist brands for cheaper.

 

The advantage of pure sable though is that they will last much longer compared to a synthetic, as long as you clean them reasonably - and even when the point does begin to fade, it's still going to be about the quality of a newish synthetic. You don't need to spend a fortune on winsor & newton series 7 etc, the Rosemary & Co series 33 might cost twice as much per brush, but will easily last more than twice as long while keeping a better point for that time. Just don't dunk em past the ferrule, basic clean in masters brush soap every couple of miniatures and they'll last ages.

 

Switching to kolinsky sable brushes saved me a *ton* of money over the years compared to the synthetic blends I had to replace like every month. My best brushes are raphael 8404 (which I try to reserve for detail work), even nicer than rosemary and co but I do love em.

I agree that using Kolinsky haired brushes for your detailed work is the way to go. Keep them clean and you’ll be able to keep them for years.

 

(Windsor and newton series 7 is also Kolinsky )

 

I’d never use mixed or Kolinsky based brushes for heavy duty base work or blending. I’d fly through those as well and that would end up being very expensive! I buy cheap synthetic ones for that. And I do mean hobby 10 in a pack for nothing cheap.

[PeteySödes]

I just replaced my ancient W&N series 7's for some Artis Opis Series S and i really like them. They arent the shorter miniature brushes so there was a bit of an adjustment but they load paint beautifully. 

[Fajita Fan]

So I'm like you and seem to go through brushes alarmingly quickly even with proper care. More recently I've been using these, they're a good range of sizes, have relatively good durability and they are cheap. Bear in mind they are cheap synthetic hairs, so there may be some duds but the majority hold their point for a decent amount of time.

I'm pretty sure those are very similar to this set I got from Amazon and I like them, especially the handle shapes. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7UFLP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'm also very hard on brushes - not as bad as in years past - but I've gotten better about them now that I use Masters brush soap.

https://www.amazon.com/General-Pencil-105-BP-Masters-Preserver/dp/B0027AEANE/ref=sr_1_1

 

I bought a couple of more expensive brushes that I'm saving for as I get better with painting.  One thing I'd really recommend is getting a couple of cheap liners and watercolor brushes for doing washes and contrast paints.  They have some nicer points for getting in places but hold more paint so you're not dabbing the brush back and forth as often.