Watercolor BRUSHES

3/22/2017

There are different types of brushes you can use in your watercolor paintings.
They come in different types of hair and fiber (synthetic brushes are usually made of nylon or polyester).
A good brush should be able to keep water and paint in its body and distribute it smoothly on your watercolor paper. It should also not loose it's shape after few strokes. A good brush should be able to go back to it's shape and should hold a point.
The best brushes are made with sable hair.
There are also flat brushes made of bristle. These are good if you work with a lot of paint and water creating large washes.
Brushes come in different sizes, depending on what you want to achieve ... big stroke and washes or more of a detailed work.

Here's a list of the most common ones:

ROUND BRUSHES - the most common in Watercolors (round or pointed tip): great for details, washes, thin to thick lines depending on a size.
POINTED ROUND (more narrow then the standard "round brushes"): great for thin, fine lines
DETAIL ROUND BRUSHES (round and shorter than other round brushes) for short strokes and detail painting
ROUND WITH LONG HAIR BRUSH - The extra long, delicate bristles of the brush make it perfect for fine, straight lines and lettering. I often use it to paint whiskers, hair, flower stamens.
FLAT BRUSHES (with square ends) for sweeping type strokes, good when you work with a lot of paint and water
FAN BRUSHES (flat with spread hairs) good for blending special effects and texture
FULL BELLIED ROUND BRUSHES (round, fat with extra long point) great for outlining and long strokes
WASH/MOP BRUSHES (bigger brushes with different shapes) great for wetting the paper and when working with a lot of paint/water creating backgrounds like sky and water.
ANGULAR SHADER BRUSHES (my favorite ones) Flat Brush with shorter hair on one end. Great for precise strokes, lines, curves, straight lines,
DAGGER/ SWORD BRUSHES (thinner flat brush with pointy side) great for expressive strokes, thin and wide lines

Here's a list of basic BRUSHES I recommend for beginners:
Round: 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8
Angular: 1/2, 3/4
Fan: 2

8 Comments

Eileen

4/3/2017 01:03:33 am

Hi Maria, happy to visit your new website!☺️
I wanna ask you a question, sorry if the subject is not related to the article.

A lot of artist have their own, particular style, way to make art, When I'm painting or drawing, I often just base myself against one reference photo, or two. But, when I watch other artist's artwork, they often make their own composition for their piece of art, building their style, a "mark" that let you recognize who realized this painting. I want to have my own style too, but, when I start writing some ideas of composition, I 'm founding myself getting inspired of those artists that I really admire.
So I have this question : is getting inspired of some artist's style and adding some similar elements in your own artwork, is actually kind of steal their ideas/creativity?

Thanks☺️

Maria Raczynska link

4/3/2017 11:09:01 am

Hi Eileen, thank you so much for your comment :) I'm sure it can be hard at first to find your own style but when you are learning it's normal to get ideas from other artists and get inspired by them. That's how you learn :)
Eventually you will naturally create your own style. You will realize it when you start painting everything in one direction. So let's say you like the way I painted a sea turtle underwater. My style is detail and vibrancy, white gouache, richness of colors, painting mostly on hot pressed etc... so you picked up the style and start painting like I do, then you liked the way someone else has painted a sea turtle but in a loose watercolor way. And now you are painting this way. Then you keep painting more of these, back and forth then adding another style, but you also start heading in one direction after a while... you will see yourself let's say painting more in a loose style and you start adding a technique that you like the most... lets say a sponge technique. You find yourself being inspired by other's art and using their ideas but you are using a sponge this time. Let's say after a year, you look back at your art and you see the difference between when you were starting and now most of your recent paintings goes in one direction. Let's say everything is in loose style and with a sponge. It becomes something you enjoy the most and its easier for you to create. Then you start painting on your own, from images you pick yourself... you like to work with certain colors the most... like viridian hue and turquoise... that becomes your signature thing. So I guess what I'm trying to say is it takes time to create your own style when you have so many sources being inspired from so many different artists :) It might of been different maybe if you never watched any videos, then you'd be forced to crate your own style right away. The only thing you may want to remember is that whenever your painting looks a alike someone's else you definitely should mentioned that this piece was inspired by another artists painting. Also if you ever create a copy of a painting you should always mention that it's a copy of someone else's art. Then it would be a copyright violation. When you paint your own thing but let's say you like how I created sky and used white gouache to create milky way in my "Northern Lights with a deer in the middle", its ok to do that. If your painting looks completely different but you got inspired by my idea of white gouache and creating stars with spattering brush, you don't have to worry, it's not a violation. But of course it would be nice if you mentioned that the idea came from me. It's impossible not to do certain things, use other people's techniques. It's part of watercoloring. I know there are artists that use sparkling shiny texture to add to their watercolors, or they outline their whales or dolphins with a pen that has shiny pigment in it. If you paint a jellyfish and just use that idea of a shiny pen, you didn't steal the idea. If they didn't want anyone to get inspired by them they wouldn't post that on social media. If its something very unique you may want to mentioned that you got inspired by this idea by.... There's a lot of my subscribers that are using my idea of white gouache - instead of transparent watercolor white - to let's say create milky ways etc. They create now their own video painting tutorials. This was my original idea, part of my style. So I wish they would mention that the idea of white gouache mixing in with watercolors to create milky ways and stars it came from me. But there's nothing I can do. It's the price I pay for sharing and I don't mind :) So I guess the best thing you can do is if you feel the technique (something specific) - idea definitely comes from another artist, to mention it wherever you post it, as a courtesy thing :) I hope this makes sense :)) but it's impossible not to get for you inspired by other artists ideas, that's what we are creating the videos for... for you to learn and paint along with us. My thing is just that if you create a copy of my painting, I definitely want to see the credit :) Thank you so much :)

4/3/2017 03:43:49 pm

Okay, thank you so much for your long reply and advices, I really appreciate your explanation and point of view, it's getting clearer in my mind☺️

4/3/2017 04:33:04 pm

Your very welcome Eileen :) my pleasure!

Natalie

3/10/2018 08:03:11 am

Maria, I am so happy to have found you on youtube and have been checking out your websites and other social media. I have been searching for a water color teacher and so excited to find you. I am ready to start but am confused with the choices. Should I sign up on Patreon or your website to learn, also should I buy all the art supplies as your recommended to start?
Thank you so much.
Natalie

3/10/2018 10:38:39 am

Hi Natalie, thank you so much for your comment and inquiring about my teaching platforms. So basically patreon is a platform based on subscription ($6 a month in my case) where you support your favorite artists. For $6 a month which is called a pledge, you get perks. Every month I share posts. So every Friday theres a real time video of future video that will end up on YouTube or some of the past videos. Note: not all YouTube Videos become real time videos. Also, real time videos are just full versions of short YT videos, there's no voiceovers, they are not online classes, it's just music if at all. Additionally you get to download pencil sketches for every youtube video I share (if pencil sketches are applicable). Then I do update posts where I share my recent work, my Patreons help me choose paintings for future real time videos. My Patreons get discounts for online classes at Teachable etc. It's a community where you hear a lot more from me and stay in touch, bout 4 posts per week. Teachable is a different platform, it's classes, for each class you pay. You can join my school for free maria-raczynska.teachable.com and some clips are free to view from my online classes (they serve as a preview) but again, the classes are based on a one time purchase. I do voiceovers, I guide you thru the entire class, it's like sitting next to me and painting along. I hope this explains a bit :) My next online class "Watercolor Class" is very intense and its 4 hrs long. So far I have announced it to my Patreons only and they got discounts $10-$15 off. Sometime this week this class will be announced on my youtube channel as well but my patrons are first to get access to it. Thank you so much x

3/10/2018 10:43:46 am

Maria, thank you so much for your prompt answer, I will join Patreon. In the meantime, should I buy all the materials you suggested on amazon?
Thanks

3/10/2018 11:13:57 am

Hi Natalie, your very welcome. So if you don't have any supplies at all for watercolor painting, I'd suggest to buy 1 block or pad of Arches Cold Pressed 140lb Watercolor Paper, 9X12 or 10X14. You can try thru the links on my website to amazon and then compare with other sites. Then for the brushes: If you can try to buy some from the list on thebrushguys.com (my coupon code for 5% off mariar) you can find them on amazon too but brush guys have it cheaper. Try to google wherever you can find them cheapest anyways. and It depends how many brushes you can buy right away and it depends on what you are going to be painting most? landscapes? definitely a flat brush, I like a lot Flat 1/2 and 3/4 "Black Velvet" by silver brush. Then round 2 and 8 "Black Velvet". Then Round 0, 2 "Versatil" by Escoda. Then you should have a rigger brush/script liner you could go with Princeton "Elite" Rigger 0 or "Golden Natural" Series by Silver Brush size 0. If you are planning on painting animals you could also get a Liner 20/0 series "Ultra Mini" by Silver Brush. For the paints I recommend Holbein watercolors, tubes are cheaper in a way because it's more and they last forever. I'd go with a set, 48 or 60. thank you :) Amazon (you can go thru my website) had the best deal I've seen 60 small tubes for $120. But not sure if it's still there. thank you

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Watercolor BRUSHES

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