Artis Opus Brushes and Dall-E

[Teetengee]

I recently got these kolinsky sable brushes from artis opus which I'm really excited for, but I noticed the woodburnt case had a Dall-E logo on it. I can't find anything on the website about a collaboration or anything, so I'm curious if anyone has seen anything similar or knows anything about it?
 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Isn't Dall-E OpenAI's AI image generator? Could it be that some of the imagery they used was generated by it and they're giving a credit?

[Teetengee]

That seems likely, but there's no indication I could find on their website of the AI usage, and I was curious to what extent it was used/which images on the box are ai generated.

[Teetengee]

So, a little more looking and I did find an image with the logo on their website, but still no explanation of what it was used for, precisely.

[MithrilForge]

are you going to paint with the box or the brush ?... cause I wouldn't worry about the box or labels and focus on the brushes and your models... 

[Wormwoods]

6 hours ago, MithrilForge said:

are you going to paint with the box or the brush ?... cause I wouldn't worry about the box or labels and focus on the brushes and your models... 

Nothing wrong with wanting to know if the company you're getting tools from is decent. Won't impact this particular set of brushes, maybe, but it may determine if one wants to get anything else from them in the future if they turn out to be drinking from the slop hose.

[Firedrake Cordova]

8 hours ago, MithrilForge said:

are you going to paint with the box or the brush ?... cause I wouldn't worry about the box or labels and focus on the brushes and your models... 

Whilst the brushes are the main thing, there's nothing wrong with having a sense of curiosity about the markings on the box. Speaking more generally, sometimes I see something, go "huh, what's that?" and then end up having to find out because it's nagging at me in the back of my mind.  

Edited December 6 by Firedrake Cordova

[MithrilForge]

20 hours ago, Wormwoods said:

Nothing wrong with wanting to know if the company you're getting tools from is decent. Won't impact this particular set of brushes, maybe, but it may determine if one wants to get anything else from them in the future if they turn out to be drinking from the slop hose.

Well if you truly wanted to buy from anyone “decent” you wouldn’t buy sable hair at all  , you’d buy synthetic (but that’s just me the vegetarian not wanting to harm animals etc) I see the point of wanting to be curious about labelling on the box… 

 

cheers, M 

[Firedrake Cordova]

The question of the morals of natural or synthetic fibres is one of individual conscience, and isn't really appropriate for discussion here, I'm afraid.

Edited December 7 by Firedrake Cordova

[Teetengee]

On 12/5/2024 at 11:26 PM, MithrilForge said:

are you going to paint with the box or the brush ?... cause I wouldn't worry about the box or labels and focus on the brushes and your models... 

I'll still use the brushes of course, but the box was a premium art edition and if it's just slop that feels pretty bad to me.

[Teetengee]

On 12/7/2024 at 2:32 AM, MithrilForge said:

Well if you truly wanted to buy from anyone “decent” you wouldn’t buy sable hair at all  , you’d buy synthetic (but that’s just me the vegetarian not wanting to harm animals etc) I see the point of wanting to be curious about labelling on the box… 

 

cheers, M 

I do appreciate the thought though, and if you have any recommendations for synthetic brushes which meet the quality of kolinsky sable I'd be very excited to hear them, particularly after a less than 100% experience with the product I've received from artis opus (even if it isn't the brushes themselves that I've found disappointing, haven't even had the chance to test them yet).

EDIT: Sorry, was replying in order and just saw the comment from Firedrake!

 

Edited December 9 by Firedrake Cordova
hiding off forum topic discussion

[Teetengee]

Got a reply from Artis Opus. AI was used in the Moons and Many Worlds external images, but not the asteroid one for their Odyssey special edition boxes. No clear understanding as to why this wasn't made clear.

[Firedrake Cordova]

11 hours ago, Teetengee said:

if you have any recommendations for synthetic brushes which meet the quality of kolinsky sable I'd be very excited to hear them

Distilling it to a single sentence, none of the synthetic brushes I've tried have been as good as a high-quality natural hair brush, I'm afraid, although there is the possibility that "not as good" is still "good enough". Synthetic brushes generally don't have the same colour-carrying capacity (due to having a smaller "belly" and normally lacking the microscopic surface area increasing scales); they also have a tendency to develop "tip curl" especially in the smaller sizes (which can be re-set with hot water and gum Arabic) and don't come to as fine a point, which can be limiting when trying to paint small details (I've italicised "can", because I suspect it will limit Angel Giraldez "somewhat" more than me).

 

What I would say is that Winsor & Newton Cotman brushes are very good "general purpose" brushes (for base coats, etc). Escoda's Versatil brushes come close to the colour-carrying capacity of natural hair, but don't come to as fine a point (so they're better for washes); their Prado line come to a finer point but don't carry as much liquid.

 

It's probably worth noting that there's a lot of personal preference when talking about brushes, e.g. I quite like the extra stiffness that synthetic brushes can have.

Edited December 9 by Firedrake Cordova

[MithrilForge]

Winsor & newton cotman series are indeed good synthetic brushes - firedrake cordova is bang on the money on that recommendation  . 
 

synthetic brushes are harder to use well , so in my opinion natural hair brushes are good for beginners and synthetic products are when your skilled - you can make up the difference in your brush skills then . 

[Magos Takatus]

8 hours ago, MithrilForge said:

Winsor & newton cotman series are indeed good synthetic brushes - firedrake cordova is bang on the money on that recommendation  . 
 

synthetic brushes are harder to use well , so in my opinion natural hair brushes are good for beginners and synthetic products are when your skilled - you can make up the difference in your brush skills then . 

In that case I really suck because I just can't get on with synthetic brushes. I'd probably paint better with my fingers. 

[MithrilForge]

@Magos Takatus- Slap chop with fingers… I can just picture Ninjon right now doing it …really really well  

 

M 

[Teetengee]

On 12/9/2024 at 9:34 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

...they also have a tendency to develop "tip curl" especially in the smaller sizes (which can be re-set with hot water and gum Arabic) and don't come to as fine a point, which can be limiting when trying to paint small details (I've italicised "can", because I suspect it will limit Angel Giraldez "somewhat" more than me).

I really want to work more on detail stuff and have struggled with my current brushes, so I do wonder if this is part of it.

[Bryan Blaire]

Teetengee, it really depends on which details you’ve been struggling with.  Fine points are only part of it, but proper paint consistency and brush loading (which may involve actually draining paint out of the belly, depending on what you are doing) for what you are trying to do is also key.  Brush care is also critical, especially for your finer point natural hair brushes, it will help them retain that point and proper belly to give you better results.