Brushes

Brushes

Brushes are a whole world. Small - large, wide - narrow, round - rectangular, synthetic - natural... How to navigate this diversity?

First and foremost, you need to decide what you need the brush for when you're choosing one. It's advisable to think in advance about which brushes you already have and which ones you're missing. Because, as it seems to me, brushes have a tendency to multiply uncontrollably.

Start by checking how much water your brush can hold. This greatly depends on the type of bristles. Here's a scale that will help you understand this (from high absorbency to low):

Goat-squirrel-kolinsky-wolf-ox-horse-mongoose-synthetic-boar bristle.

Elasticity follows a similar scheme (from softest to firmest).

For each stage, you will need brushes with different characteristics:

• Wetting the paper and the initial wash - soft, wide brushes. For this, a wide goat brush is best suited.

• Middle layers - medium elasticity and water absorbency. For this, squirrel, kolinsky, as well as Chinese red wolf, ox, and horse brushes are suitable.

• Firm and low water absorption, liners, texture brushes. In this case, you will need almost dry, firm brushes, such as thin kolinsky, mongoose, and synthetic brushes. Also, brushes that help create a sense of texture, like boar bristle.

Now, remember a few rules to quickly orient yourself during the drawing process:

• The larger the sheet, the larger the brush.

• Draw rectangular objects with rectangular brushes.

• Drawing a wet layer? Use a brush that holds a lot of water.

• Drawing a dry layer? Use a brush that holds little water.

• Soft brush - for large washes, firm brush with a fine tip - for details.

Some brushes combine several characteristics. For example, Chinese calligraphy brushes made of red wolf hair hold enough water, retain elasticity, and have a fine tip for detailing.

It's also convenient to have a travel brush with optimal characteristics that can be folded.

With the advancement of technology, synthetic brushes are increasingly replacing natural ones, and nowadays synthetic brushes often have similar characteristics to natural. Check each specific brush. By using synthetic brushes, you can save quite a bit.

Summary

Choose several brushes for each stage considering the size you're comfortable drawing on, and purchase more as the sheet size increases.