Brush- this is nothing more than the simplest tool that helps the artist to fulfill his plans. But as with every tool, you must also be able to handle brushes.

Brush composition. Artistic brushes consist of three main parts: a hair bun, a metal clip (capsule) and a wooden handle. The hair bundle, the actual working part of the brush, is natural or synthetic hair, gathered in a bundle of a certain shape and size. The clip serves to shape, preserve the beam and connect it to the handle. The clip is made of metal and other materials. Seamless clips are the most convenient to work with and more attractive in appearance. Handle good quality can only be made from hardwood of deciduous trees (beech, birch ...).

Types of brushes;

	ROUND One of the most versatile brushes. Designed for applying paint with a line with a constant thickness, or a line that varies in thickness. This is a great brush for drawing, creating textures, working on details. With the help of a round brush, you can penetrate into the most “inaccessible” areas of the picture.
	FLAT Flat brushes are made by squeezing the holder so that a flat beam is formed. With such brushes, wide, even strokes are applied: they are good for working on large areas of the canvas. Due to the thickness and length of the hair, the brush holds a lot of paint.
	CONTOUR This type of brush is close to flat: both have a similar shape, but the bunch of these brushes is shorter, which gives the brush more elasticity and improves control over the quality of flat strokes. In addition, more short hair makes it easier to create a smooth transition from one color to another and highlights the outline well.
	CAT TONGUE It is a flat brush with a domed or oval outline. Its application is very diverse - it can be painted like a regular flat brush and, at the same time, in a perpendicular position to the surface - like a round one. It is the perennial leader among brushes used to transition from one color to another.
	Retouched If you need to apply a very precise stroke, there is no better brush. It looks like a flat, short-haired brush cut at an angle. Since the tip of the brush allows you to quickly and confidently change the volume of the hair or bristles carrying the paint, this part is an excellent tool for creating a transition from one color to another in hard-to-reach, narrow, small areas of the painting.
	SCREEN The tip of the hair of this brush is blunt and flat, and the paint is applied to the surface with vertical strokes. Brushes are used to apply an even layer through the stencil. In addition, they are excellent for glazing or free-standing paint coats.
	FLUTZ Brushes are designed for free fill painting; used mainly with watercolors and are almost always made from soft squirrel hair. They live up to their name as they can hold a lot of paint. A Shore Dry Brush works great when working over wet paint - especially with oil - to blur and soften contours.
	FONT Used with liquid paints and is a variation of the round brushes with very long hair... They apply thin straight lines. The visible part of the hair serves as a reservoir for dye. Therefore, it is possible to draw a long line without refilling the brush. Working with these brushes takes some practice. As their name suggests, they are great for lettering.
	LINEAR It's the little sister of type brushes. They are shorter than the latter, but longer than round ones, they leave precise lines, long strokes and are also suitable for drawing inscriptions.
	FAIRY Flat brushes with a thin fan-shaped bundle. With their help, it is possible to make a subtle color stretch. You can also soften contour contrast and texture.

Brushes share common design characteristics; in addition, they have a number of properties in common with respect to shape. The shape of the beam and the purpose of the brush are directly related.

Flat brushes, as opposed to round ones, are more flexible, make it possible to obtain a more defined flat shape of the stroke, so they are convenient for depicting grass, earth, leaves, architectural details and anything that requires precise outlines.

By the type of hair, the brushes are divided into bristle, sandstone, badger, bear, core, squirrel, ear (cow), as well as synthetic.

Pork bristles: A great choice among the best oil and acrylic brushes. A pig bristle brush works just as well for thick paint as a columnar brush for watercolors. The best bristle brushes are made from the hair of the Chinese Angking boar. The elastic, strong bristles of this animal (hair up to 20 cm long) are processed - the bristles are boiled and bleached and only white hair goes for the manufacture of professional quality brushes. Following the elasticity, the most important characteristic of pork hair is its split tip - it contributes to a good fullness of the brush and even application of paint to the surface of the base. The best brushes contain about 80% split hairs.

Badger: Badger hair brush is softer than bristle brush, ideal for use with moderately thinned paints. She has no equal when kneading oil or acrylic. The hair of this brush has a conical shape, and the "belly" of the hair is located closer to the tip. Therefore, the brush is very fluffy. The best badger hair brushes have a white tip and a dark streak in the middle. Manufacturers sometimes imitate them by coloring pig bristles or a goat hair brush. However, the latter cannot be compared with a badger hair brush in terms of their working properties. If you are not sure about the authenticity of the brush, pay attention to the following: if the hair has no “abdomen” and tip, but along its length there are twisted and curled hairs, then this is a brush made of goat hair; if there are split hairs, it is pig bristles.

Synthetic brushes. Polyester synthetic hair is available in a wide range of diameters and elasticity. It behaves well with oils and acrylics - both thick and thin. In short, a bristle or synthetic brush with bouncy hair can be used effectively when working with paint straight from the tube. If you apply the paint directly from the tube or thin it moderately before that, then medium-hard hair with synthetic or natural (badger) brushes will do. With thinner paint, work with a soft synthetic brush or a brush made of natural hair.

Sandstone brushes are made from processed sandstone tail hair. In shape, they are produced only flat with an elongated or shortened hair part. The hair is very soft, not elastic. It is mainly used for working with tempera, gouache and watercolors, when working with oil paints, for glazing, varnish coatings, for applying a thin painting layer, etc.

Bear brushes are made from processed polar bear hair. In shape, only flat ones with an elongated or shortened hair bun are available. These brushes are less stiff, but more elastic than bristle brushes, they have high elasticity and softness. They are used to work with oil paints, as well as tempera, gouache and watercolors.

Core brushes are made from processed hair from the ponytail. They are round and flat in shape, with an elongated or shortened hair part. These brushes are distinguished by exceptional firmness and elasticity with satisfactory softness, they are used in all types of painting and are absolutely indispensable for working with gouache and watercolors when greater elasticity is required from the brush. IN oil painting, mainly when making small details, in mural painting, for drawing long contour lines, round brushes are used, for applying thin layers of painting - flat. Column brushes are handy for wet glazing.

Squirrel brushes are made from processed squirrel tail hair. Only round are produced in shape. Squirrel brushes are very soft and elastic.

The practical use of brushes depends on the individual requirements of a particular master, on the technique in which he solves certain pictorial problems.

Choosing brushes

You may have noticed that finding the right brush is not that difficult. Here are some more tips to help you do right choice... Don't buy brushes at random. The bundle should be checked carefully first. Many brushes are supplied on the market with protective caps. If the caps have been removed and then put back or replaced, there is a chance that the brush bundle is damaged. After that, try the watercolor brush in action. Any serious seller will provide you with some water and a place to test. Remember the basics: fine tip, firmness and flow control. Before picking up water with a brush, remove the protective elements from the bundle, according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Now fill the brush with water. A new brush in contact with water behaves differently than a used or damaged one. Let the new brush hold the water for a few minutes before testing. Be patient - you may need

fill the brush with water several times before the bundle takes the desired shape. Next, lightly tap your hand with the handle. The tip of the bunch of a good brush should be pointed. Now you can try the brush on the work surface. Also, during the test, the end of the hair bundle is bent, the bundle must take the correct shape again and not puff up. When choosing round brushes No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 for drawing small details, the brush is also moistened and they try to draw a figure of eight on the palm of the hand. If the tip is elastic and the brush is made correctly, the hair does not bristle, it is gathered in a tip and clearly follows the contours of the movement. And note, as it dries or the amount of water used, the brush does not change shape, flexibility and elasticity. When detached from the palm, it takes its original shape, and does not remain with a bent tip.

General rule for all brushes - make sure the clip is securely attached to the handle. When choosing bristle brushes, carefully check the bristles - are there many hairs with a split tip? Run a synthetic brush over your fingers - feel the relative elasticity of her hair? Is it suitable for working with thick paint?

I also need to touch on the size of the brush. In an art salon, you will probably encounter such a problem: the size of the brushes for different manufacturers are significantly different. In some factories, the size of the watercolor brush is determined by the diameter of the crimp hole. This means that the diameter of the # 12 brush holder is 12 mm. This method, it would seem, should contribute to the establishment of a unified approach to the definition of brush sizes by all manufacturers. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that in some countries there is no correspondence between the diameters of brass and copper tubes used in the manufacture of clips. In addition, each country has a different historical standard for determining the hand number. Ultimately, you will have to "by eye" compare the sizes of the brushes, regardless of the specified number.

Washing brushes

During daily work, if the brushes have not been washed, they are left in a jar of kerosene. Before work, the brushes should be thoroughly wiped off with a rag. For washing brushes, there are special washers, which are a conical bucket with a perforated or mesh bottom. This conical bucket is inserted into a bucket filled with kerosene. To wash the paint brushes, rub them on the mesh bottom of the inserted bucket. The paint is washed off the brushes and deposited on the bottom of the bucket with kerosene. Brushes can be left in kerosene for several days. Dimensions of the rack: diameter 130 mm, height 190 mm.

Brushes can be washed well in soapy water, just do not wash the brush with soap that you would not dare to use on your own hair. With a long break in work, brushes should be thoroughly washed in kerosene, then in soapy foam and rinsed clean with warm water. After that, the brushes must be dipped into a jar of linseed oil so that their hair does not touch the bottom of the jar.

Storing brushes

Spare brushes should be stored in a dry place, sprinkled with mothballs, treated with a special anti-moth liquid or covered with starch paste.

I have been writing this series of posts for a long time, but my hands did not reach to lay out.

Finally I checked everything and is ready to tell you :)

Brushes
Different materials are used for watercolors: protein, columns, synthetics. There are many opinions about which brushes are ideal, but it all very much depends on the quality of the brushes, the painter himself and the habit.

Squirrel brushes very soft and take up water the most. This means that they will give it away longer and more willingly. Another feature: if you wet even a very thick round squirrel brush, it should converge into a thin tip. Such a brush can be used to paint both large and small. My most popular squirrel brush so far is the six.
Round brushes are the most common, everything is clear with them. Flat ones give a characteristic angular brushstroke, sometimes they are very convenient to use for architecture and, oddly enough, the sky.
The batik brush takes in an incredible amount of water and pigment, and produces savory strokes, sometimes too much. It would be good for a large format like A3. On A4, I used it for a long time to wet paper, and now it is being successfully replaced by a thick core brush # 7.

Column more “dry” in comparison with a protein, it collects less water, but more elastic. With it, you do not have to worry that the smear may be too wet and overflowing with water. For a very long time I painted only with columnar brushes, but now in constant use there are seven columns for wetting the paper and a thin unit for small details. For "little things" the speakers are just perfect.

Synthetic brushes I didn’t take root too much. I bought them because of their exoticism, for trial, but I use only Cat's tongue - it is convenient for them to "choose" paint from a sheet.

Synthetics are even more “dry” than columns and the most resilient.

Brushes are made from the wool of different animals, for example Japanese from goat- they will not give a straight thin tip when wet, but they are good for making a "shaggy" stroke. Of course, this is not an essential brush.

Pony will not even gather in the semblance of a tip, it is good for them to wet the paper.

What kind of brushes are needed and how to choose them?

If there is no way to try which material for brushes you like best, I would advise you to buy this set:
A round six of a squirrel and a round three of a squirrel.
Round four and one of columns.
You don't have to buy very expensive brushes. See that in a dry state they have a uniform bunch without sticking out in different sides hairs. A good manufacturer protects their brushes with special caps.

How to choose a squirrel brush.

Round squirrel brushes must necessarily converge into a thin tip. It is necessary to carefully look, that it would be a brush from the hair of the tail, and not pulled from the skin. Here's an example of a good and bad squirrel brush. With a silver holder, it is good, when wet it converges into a sharp tip (production: "painting brushes", squirrel, master series). With golden color, it has a hard shiny pile, converging into an oval (production "Gamma"). You can highlight the tip, but you have to try, and this is not good. (I have a complicated relationship with Gamma, I would not recommend buying their brushes as workers at all. They always have hairs sticking out in different directions and they look ugly.)

In order to paint a picture, an artist needs a stretched canvas, as well as paints and brushes. The success of his work largely depends on the quality of the latter, therefore, the choice of such tools must be approached responsibly. To choose the right brushes for painting, you need to consider what paints you will have to work with, as well as the possibilities of your budget.

In an effort to choose the right brushes for painting, you need to know what they are, what the brushes are made of and what colors they are intended for. So, for example, to paint with gouache or watercolors, they use squirrel, columns and synthetics. They all have their own quality characteristics:

The loudspeaker is suitable for all styles of painting, but its price is quite high.
Squirrel is ideal for watercolors, and synthetics are ideal for acrylic painting.
The pony brush is a good alternative to the column and squirrel brushes.
A brush made from pig hair is more suitable for oil paints.
The badger brush is used for soft paints.
Sable in its quality has the properties of a column and a squirrel, but such bristles can be used to write large works and miniatures.
Synthetics are unusable brushes for watercolors, they are more often used for acrylics.

Any brush is made of a handle, a hair bun and a base. The quality of this drawing tool determines whether it will be convenient for the artist to work. In turn, its durability in use depends on the quality of all components of the brush.

To choose the right brush sizes and the tool itself, you need to focus on the following points:

the material from which the brush is made - a good quality brush is convenient to use;
the handle of the brush should be smooth;
its length should be comfortable for the user.

The base of the brush should cover the handle as tightly as possible, fixing the hair bundle motionlessly. There should be no seam on it so that the tool is comfortable to hold in the hand. The most important part of the product is the hair bun, which differs in material. The synthetic brush for painting is inferior in quality than natural brushes. Such drawing tools are classified by number.

Artists know how to choose brushes and what kinds of brushes are available on the market. The correct choice is also influenced by the size of the brush, as well as by what colors a specialist in artistic creation plans to paint. One will do fine brushes, the other needs a round one.

Brush with good hair possesses the following qualities:

her hairs are elastic;
when wet, they do not lose their shape;
do not fall out during work;
the glue with which they are held does not go beyond the holder.

All these characteristic signs you need to pay attention to choose a good brush.

In the video: how to choose the right brushes for painting.

Types of brushes and their purpose

To choose the right brush, focus on the bristles from which the bunch is assembled. You also need to know which brushes are best for watercolors, gouache or oil paints:

Squirrel wool brushes. Ideal for watercolor painting. Thin and soft brushes allow you to control the flow of paint, so they are convenient to paint over small details of the drawing. To make a high-quality squirrel hair brush, the bristles are pre-degreased, sorted by length, unsuitable hairs are removed and straightened.

Designed for watercolor paint, the artist can not only use them comfortably, but also save on price. To choose a paintbrush for children, look at their painting skills.

Sable wool brush. It is the most expensive tool used by professional artists. The choice of such brushes makes it possible to draw thin lines, they can be painted with gouache and watercolors.

Pony wool tassels. Quite resilient and soft, suitable for ink painting. However, for those who are going to paint with gouache, this is also a worthy option. These bristles make it easy to apply paint strokes.

Nylon tassels. Recommended for acrylic paint, there are different shapes, it all depends on the specifics of the artist's work. A sales assistant at an art store will help you make the right choice for a newbie.

Natural brushes are characterized by the fact that the bunch in them is made of animal hair. Made from natural material that is much better than synthetics, these brushes will last much longer.

Suitable brushes for working with oil

For artists who paint with oil paints, it is recommended to purchase the following brushes:

bristle, characterized by special elasticity and quickly absorbing paint;
mongoose brushes medium in softness;
badger hair brushes that are suitable for mixing oil and acrylic;
synthetic nylon brush, which is practically not inferior in quality to natural ones.

Synthetics are valued inexpensively, so they paint with such brushes at school on landscape paper. Thanks to the light nylon hairs, children can clearly see the shade of paint on the bristles. It is convenient to outline the contours and boundaries between the color with a thin brush, and with a thick one - to paint large areas of the picture.

Paint by number tools

Brushes by numbers are included in the kit, which is sold with paints under the numbers. Drawing by numbers - modern look art, when a non-professional artist has a chance to create a canvas of a famous celebrity.

Made from elastic nylon fiber, brushes by numbers are great for this kind of creativity.

To choose good brushes for painting by numbers, you need to consider that they are divided by purpose, hair quality and shape. This choice also depends on the paint that the artist uses. The nylon (synthetic) brush is perfect for painting with oil paints. Flat brushes are often used in shape, and everyone chooses the sizes individually. The artist needs those brushes that seem to be an extension of his hand.

What are the forms of brushes

All brushes for gouache, watercolors and oil paints may also differ in the shape of the bristles:

Round brushes. These products are suitable for painting with gouache paint, allowing you to paint over small details of the drawing.

Flat brushes. They are more elastic, therefore they are used for painting areas of paintings with a close-up image, for example, earth, sky, grass. Their capsule is compressed at the end, forming a flat tuft of hair. Artists use them to sketch cityscapes. The shape of the brush in its outlines resembles a cat's yak.

Flutes brushes. Their shape is wide enough to apply broad strokes to the canvas. They are used mainly in watercolors, sometimes with oil paints.

These brushes are round and very long in shape, they are needed to apply fine lines. They have found their way into graphics.

In all their characteristics, they resemble font ones, differing only in short hair.

Fan brushes. They are one of the varieties of flat brushes. They got this name due to their shape in the form of a fan. Their use allows you to soften the color stretch and contour contrast.

The final result of the artist's work depends on the correctly chosen tool. But for an experienced painter, such a choice is not a problem. And it is not difficult to purchase all these goods in a specialized art store.

Tips from professional artists (2 videos)

There is a lot of similar information on the internet regarding art brushes. Anyway, information for artists. But I still want to say a few words about artistic tools, namely brushes.

The artist's work cannot be imagined without brushes. Of course, you can paint a picture with a palette knife, but in any case, you will have to turn to brushes for help. The artist's brush is the only and irreplaceable tool.

Art brushes differ in the following parameters:

Pile type
Brush shape
Beam shape
Handle length
Pile length

The most important parameter is, of course, the type of pile, since the predisposition to different types paints and work techniques.

Pony.

Pony hair brushes are very soft, collected in a cylindrical bunch. The pony's pile easily picks up water, and just as easily gives it away. Brush nap is taken either from behind the ear or from the back. From behind the ear, the pile is softer and silky, from the back - a little harder and darker. Dorsal hair brushes are slightly cheaper than behind-the-ear brushes.

Pony hair brushes are used for educational purposes, mainly for the watercolor technique.

Squirrel.

Squirrel-bristle brushes are soft and designed primarily for working with watercolors. The beam is cylindrical or flat. The pile is taken from the tail of the squirrel. The most valuable pile is from the top of the tail. The peculiarity of squirrel bristle brushes is that they pick up water very well, while the pile is collected in a uniform, dense "hair-to-hair" bundle, which allows you to do very delicate and painstaking work. They also retain water well and give it away.

Cheaper squirrel brushes are used for educational purposes, more expensive ones are used by professional artists. For the most part, squirrel bristle brushes are intended for watercolor painting, but they are just as easily used with other liquid paints in painting on porcelain, acrylic well diluted with water (to the consistency of watercolor).

Columns.

Kolinsky brushes are very valuable brushes. The pile is similar in quality to the squirrel pile, but there are differences: the column pile is harder at the base, and as soft as a squirrel at the tip. The shape of the brush is either cylindrical or flat. Pile color varies from light red to dark brown. It is perfect for both liquid paints, such as watercolors, and for thick paints - gouache, tempera, acrylic.

These properties are due to the special structure of the villi of the column - at the base the awn is thick, almost like a pig's bristle, and the tip is sometimes thinner than that of a squirrel bristle. Due to this, the brush at the base turns out to be hard, and the tip is very thin.

Real kolinkist brushes are quite expensive. This is due to the fact that the animal itself is not so much, and it does not go well into the workpiece. Up to 2 grams of pile is collected from the tail of the Siberian column, which is suitable for brushes. These are 1-2 large brushes, or 3-4 thin ones.

Sable, red sable, black sable.

Sable bristle brushes are very similar to column bristle brushes. There are slight differences: the sable pile is shorter than that of the column, the awn of the pile is stiffer and more elastic, although thinner than that of the column. For the rest of the properties - the retention of water, paint, and their return - the brushes are identical. Therefore, most sellers and manufacturers do not share kolinsky and sable brushes. The shape of the brushes is both cylindrical and flat.

Sable pile brushes are used, as well as kolinsky ones, mainly in watercolor painting, but they are also suitable for gouache. tempera, acrylic. There are specialized brushes for make-up and nail art made of sable hair.

Mongoose.

Mongoose bristles are stiffer than kolinsky and sable, but softer than pork bristles. They can be distinguished from the column by the color of the pile - the tip is dark brown, the base is gray, black and white. The shape of the brush is cylindrical or flat.

Mongoose bristle brushes are great for thick paints such as oils and acrylics.

Pork bristles.

Pork bristle brushes are very hard and resilient, with a fairly long bristle. They are made from natural pork bristles, which are sorted both by color (white, gray, black) and by length, then chemically treated and bleached. Almost finished bristles are passed through boiling water - after such treatment, the elasticity and resilience of the bristles improves. The finished bristles are predominantly white. The largest amount of high-quality bristles is produced by Russia and China.

Pork bristle brushes - great for painting with oils and acrylics even in an undiluted state, tempera, gouache. The main feature of the bristles is the absence of an assembled end of the bunch - thanks to this, the brush picks up a lot of paint, and holds it very well. The shape of the beam is predominantly flat, but there are also cylindrical, fan-shaped, and flutty ones.

Synthetics, synthetic bristles.

Synthetic bristle brushes are modern brushes made from synthetic bristles. The pile material can be different - nylon, polyester and other synthetic materials. The shape of the brushes can be varied - cylindrical, flat, flutes, fan. A bunch of bristles can be either collected, like a column, or not formed, like a bristle.

The color of a synthetic bristle indicates the stiffness, elasticity and thickness of the hairs.

Black synthetic brushes are the softest. They are suitable for working with watercolors, gouache, tempera paints. They are not suitable for acrylic and oil.

Red pile - medium hardness of brushes and medium pile thickness. Optimal brushes for gouache, tempera, acrylic and oil. Auburn synthetics are slightly softer in stiffness than bristles.

White synthetics - appeared relatively recently. It is made from nylon hairs. Ideal for acrylics and oils.

There are a lot of brushes now, and the most unusual ones. Once again sorting out my brushes, I decided to deal with the types of pile, what exactly is suitable and for what purpose. After all, we draw so often that we no longer think about why exactly the squirrel or how the column differs from the bristle.

Squirrel

One of the most famous brushes with which many begin to learn to paint. They are made from hairs from the tail of a squirrel, and the pile taken from the top of the tail is much more valuable. Such brushes are only round, very soft and elastic, and they can also be used to make brushes in the form of flutes (but the width of the flutes is limited). They are mainly used for working with watercolors and water-based paints, because these brushes hold water well. At the same time, the protein is too delicate for the oil and can begin to crawl out from the solvent. Squirrel hair perfectly retains its shape, does not break, absorbs moisture and washes well under a running stream of water. The squirrel brush allows you to paint without uneven stripes and the overlay of blurred spots due to the fact that when in contact with paper, porcelain, earthenware, the hairs do not separate and lead a clear, directional line. Squirrel brushes need to be looked after carefully. The squirrel hair is very thin, blue, black or brown.

I read here that the material for these brushes can be a pile of different breeds of Siberian squirrels.

For example, the hair of the CASAN breed is considered the finest. It is used to make tools for painting ceramics and porcelain. The squirrel pile of the TALUTKY breed is longer and is used for brushes used for calligraphy. CANADISCHE proteins are valuable for their short, black hair. Each of their hairs has a fine tip. Therefore, watercolor brushes are excellent from the squirrel of this breed.

Column

The brushes made from its nap are considered to be very valuable. The loudspeaker is a cross between a ferret, marten and mink at the same time. There are few of these animals in nature, and besides, it is not so easy to prepare it. For example, the tail of a Siberian column gives no more than 2 g of pile, suitable for brushes. It will make 3-4 thin brushes and 1-2 large ones. For brushes, fur is taken only from its tail and only from animals living in the river valleys of Siberia, China and Korea. Column hair is very elastic, lightweight and has a sharp tip. The best quality kolinsky brushes are those made from the nap of a male caught in winter. By the way, a pile column suitable for painting is called a spine. Hair color varies. It depends on the season in which the animal was caught, it is mainly golden brown in color. They are similar in quality to squirrels, although there are differences. The villi of the column at the very base are much stiffer and thicker, and at the tip they are softer, very resilient and elastic. The brush can be cylindrical or flat, different shades light red to dark brown. These brushes are used for both liquid and heavy paints. In oil painting, they are used when making small details, and core brushes are also convenient for glazing technique on wet.

Sable

The golden mean between soft squirrel and elastic column. The peculiarity of sable brushes is that they are very durable and hardly wear off, even when working with rough surfaces, they are made from sable tails. The brush is very flexible, picks up a large volume of paint and dispenses it in a dose. Because of these qualities, these brushes allow you to work in a variety of techniques, from dry brush to wet technique. Everything can be done with one brush, which is very convenient. The best choice for working with watercolors, egg tempera, gouache. Sable brushes are quite rare and quite expensive, but well worth it.

Marten

They are made from the pile of the marten or weasel family. Brushes made of marten bristles differ in their properties, depending on what kind of marten: plain or mountain. Brushes made from the pile of the common marten are as soft as squirrels, but the brushes made from the bristle of the mountain marten are a little more elastic. On sale, such brushes are less common than squirrel brushes.

Weasel

Column alternative to pile. The hairs are red-brown in color, with a good sharp tip, good filling, but not as long as that of the column.

Bristle

Quite tough, elastic and long. It is sorted by shade (black, gray and white) and length, treated with chemicals and bleached. The prepared bristles are poured over with boiling water, after which it becomes more elastic. When finished, it has a light color. High quality bristles are produced in China and Russia.

You can distinguish this brush from others by visual inspection - the pig hair is split at the end. It was this feature that became the reason for the use of pig hair - the specific tip allows the brush to take in a large amount of paint and apply it evenly, again without dipping the brush. The best brushes of this type have up to 80% split hairs, but for art brushes, calibrated unsplit bristles are better. These brushes are chosen for painting with oils, acrylics (you can not dilute them), gouache and tempera. These brushes have a peculiarity - the end of the beam is absent, thanks to which the brush is able to pick up a sufficiently large amount of paint and retain it. The main shape of the brush is flat, although there are cylindrical and fan-shaped, as well as flutes.

Pony

Soft bristle with a cylindrical bunch, picks up water well. Pony hair is used that grows behind the ears or on the back. Brushes are often used in schools and kindergartens for teaching watercolor techniques. Brushes from pony hair are excellent at absorbing paints, but they give them worse than they absorb, gather in a cone shape, keep their shape well, but do not differ in sufficient elasticity. This type of hair, like that of a pony, belongs to the decorating group, since it does not have a sharp tip, therefore these brushes are not very suitable for professional work... They can be brown or white. Designed to work with water-based paint: watercolor, gouache or tempera.

Goat

Goat hair is elastic, resilient and rather long, it comes in white and yellow shades. Softer than pork bristles. Brushes retain their shape, perfectly absorb paints and water, as a result of which smooth strokes are obtained. They are used in watercolor painting, calligraphy, batik and pottery painting, and Japanese painting. It is noteworthy that for calligraphy, brushes are taken mainly with bamboo handles because of their lightness. This brush is suitable for batik work because it can withstand hot wax.

Ear Hair Brushes

Such brushes are made from hair that is taken from the inside of the ears of oxen, cows, the quality of which is determined by the breed of the animal. Usually these brushes are inexpensive, but strong, resilient and sensitive to work with, give good results and retain their shape well. The hair has a silky texture. They are made flat and round, they are also made brushes for covering large surfaces. Ox hair brushes are used for working with oil paints, acrylics, tempera, gouache. Cow hair brushes are used to work with almost all types of paints: watercolors, gouache, tempera, acrylic, oil paints.

Mongoose

Mongoose brushes are easily distinguished by the color of the pile, the tip is dark brown, and the base is black and white or grayish. The brushes are cylindrical or flat, resilient and slightly stiff; they are usually used for work with thick paints (for example, oil and acrylic). From my own experience, I can say that she can also paint with watercolors in dry technique, she perfectly holds her shape and a thin tip, but does not hold water very well.

Wolf

For us, rather exotic, but quite common in the east. These brushes are made from wolf hair. They are distinguished by special elasticity and elasticity, thanks to these qualities, such brushes are mainly used for calligraphy and painting of guohua (the style of traditional Chinese painting, which uses ink and water paints on silk or paper). yellow wolf, which is essentially a column.

Bear

Made from processed brown or polar bear hair. Polar bear hair brushes are flat in shape with a long or short hair bun, brown bear hair brushes are round, as in the photo above. These brushes are less stiff, but more elastic than bristle brushes, they have high elasticity and softness. Used for "heavy" type of paints: oil. gouache, etc. Brown bear hair brushes are round in shape and are more soft and elastic. They are used to work with tempera, watercolors, ink, etc.

Badger

The hair for these brushes is taken from the tail of a badger. Due to its properties, badger fur has become an ideal material for making oil tools. Badger pile brushes are softer than bristle brushes, have a conical shape, and are distinguished by "fluffiness". The best badger fur brushes are recognizable by the white tip and stripe in the middle.

Manufacturers sometimes imitate them by painting a pig bristle or a goat hair brush, but the latter cannot be compared to a badger hair brush in terms of their working properties. If you are not sure about the authenticity of the brush, pay attention to the following: if the hair has no “abdomen” and tip, but along its length there are twisted and curled hairs, then this is a brush made of goat hair; if there are split hairs, it is pig bristles.

Synthetics

Synthetic brushes are made from nylon, polyester, and other fibers.
Synthetic hair based on nylon is hard and does not give off water, so it is not suitable for watercolor painting, but this quality is just appropriate for oil paints and acrylics.
Synthetic hair based on polyesters provides varying degrees of elasticity. Hairs different lengths and the diameter is collected in a bundle which gives a capillary effect, which allows the use of such brushes even in watercolor.

Such brushes are less prone to degradation under the influence of thinners, insects, paints, direct sunlight. But from mechanical impact, these brushes are inferior in wear resistance to natural ones, the villi quickly wear out and become soft. There are many variations of mixed types of brushes with different bristles. Both natural and synthetic pile are mixed with natural. Recently, the production of synthetic brushes has been actively developing and high-quality synthetics may well replace or supplement natural bristles over time.

A quick guide to different materials and types of pile.

Oil - brush bristles, columns, ear hair, synthetics, badger.
Tempera - synthetic, badger, squirrel, brush bristles, columns, ear hair
Gouache - ear hair, synthetics, protein, brush bristles, columns
Watercolor - squirrel brush, columns, synthetic imitation.
Acrylic - synthetics, column brush, squirrel.

In addition, there are brushes made from the pile of a fox, a hare (these brushes are made from a special subspecies of a wild hare), a raccoon, from rat fur, from a wild horse's mane, from a pile of a camel, otter, ferret, pharaoh mouse, young seal, sandstone, Chinese Angking hog , rabbit, ermine, deer, vegetable fiber, chicken fluff, etc.

In the Petrikov painting, the masters themselves make brushes from the hairs of cat fur, the so-called cats. I even found a master class for those who like to experiment.

And here is how the brushes are collected.

While writing this post, I thought a lot about the ethics of making natural brushes. It is clear that the technology has been worked out for centuries and often brushes are made from the waste of fur production, but at the same time it is clear that demand can increase the volume of procurement. No one will catch animals and cut off the right amount of hairs from the right places. Therefore, here, as with natural fur coats, it is beautiful, comfortable, but how humane? I personally switched to synthetics and imitation for a long time, natural brushes are rather a rarity, while calmly painting watercolors with synthetics, not disdaining the cheapest brushes. I really hope that over time, synthetics will replace natural fibers and they will become exotic rather than a necessity.