You are an enrichment on this hobby ;) seriously, after 5 years of painting, im using my cheap brushes 95% of the time. Sables are kinda limited to acryl paint. for washes, inks, oils and contrast/SP and Base-coating i strongly recommend cheap synthetics. thx for all of your great work, still learning from you or get inspired.
Some very reasonable points here. Have used a set of 5 rosemary and Co sable brushes for the past year and a half (1 size 1, 3 size 2, 1 size 3) and they're still as good as the day I bought them (200+ models later!) Have never really got on with synthetics but will certainly give them a go after watching this. At the very least I'll buy a bunch for my daughter to have a go with!
I used to work for a place making damien hirst, chadwicks, rembrandts, etc..ive been painting for years also. I totally agree with you luke! The works brushes that come in dark blue packets are very good. There is definately a place for more expensive fine brushes, but i only use them for details and touching bits in. The nice thing about cheap brushes is they are easily replaced and i can snip bristles and make my own without worry of ruining an expensive one. Drybrushing and stippling take their toll on brushes for sure
SPOT ON LUKE - your commitment to reasonable prices for reasonable people is just spot on! I've been crafting for over 45years and I know where a few pence more DOES make a difference, but on the whole there is no point paying for a name. Many cheaper goods aren't always the best, but they certainly offer affordability and can give good service. Its the wannabes who stock up with everything from the top range and often can't even use them 'worth a lick'. I sometimes think there's also a little bit too much provided for crafters, horses for courses but 'crafting' is about making [not pre-buying]. I could print a tree on my anycubic but I'd enjoy making one from scratch just as much, if not more.
Sounds odd, but my Artis Opus sable brush is the best value brush I've ever bought. Wasn't cheap, but used as my workhorse brush for nearly 2 years and still going strong. Incredible value.
@@kevski722 Honestly, I didn't do anything other than clean it. I have no explanation for its longevity other than it being a very good brush (or dumb luck).
I'm going to try those Pound shop brushes but I really only use Raph 8404 (except for drybrushing) and they'll last you 2 years if you look after them. A size 2 and size 0 will cost you about £25 for both of them and last you 2 years. To date, I've never had a synthetic (or cheap sables) last more than 2 or 3 hours of painting before they hook. Not sure if that's a symptom of my painting style but I don't treat the 8404 any differently. I even use them for washes. I think the synthetics for me would make a lot of sense if I did terrain but I'm strictly a mini painter
Yay, Workz! That's where I get mine. It's laughable how many brushes I get from there for a fraction of the price of a Games Workshop brush! I keep looking at them at our local GW outlet and they have exactly the same amount of brushes on the display as they did when they first put the display up, except now they are covered in dust!
I have a full range of synthetic and sables but never knew that watercolour brushes could be so good. Looks like I'll be taking a trip to the Works and Hobbycraft soon. Cheers Luke. Keep the great videos coming
If you have a Poundland nearby head there for the daler rowney stuff, get some of there acrylic and watercolour brushes. They also have really cheap good craft paints for terrain and bits like that. The oils I use are the daler rowney cheap 5/6 pack they sell and they even have low oder thinner in my local one, On top of that they have lots of small craft bits that are useful for terrain, basing and kit bashin. Hobbycraft is good for having a large stock and good selection but is very over p[riced. The works can be hit or miss on the quality of there stuff, ive had some ok brushes from them but there cheap craft paints are crap.
Best synthetics I've bought so far come in sets of like 12, they've got triangular grips and cost about 15 euros on amazon. Now that doesn't really say much because there are hundreds of different brands selling similar but not exactly the same thing over there. However the ones I'm talking about were some black chinese ones that came with insanely good tips,like their size 1 had sharper tip than any of my detail brushes, including sables. I can't tell you what brand they are because I can't read chinese and they were pulled from the website when I went to buy another set of them. Was like I caught lightning in a bottle.
Been using those Daler Rowney watercolour brushes from Poundland for a couple of years now, I bought five packs and am still using the first one, they last really well if you use brush soap and care for them, seriously impressive for a quid!
been using that exact blue brush set from the start of the videos for a few weeks now. Couple quid from The Range. Punching well above their weight. I keep a fancy sable brush as well, but only bring it out for the special occasions now like highlighting faces on character models and some glazing stuff
The trouble I've found with synthetics is a lack of consistency. For every good one, like Bishop, you get a couple of murderous psychopaths, like Ash and David 8.
Can confirm, some of the best brushes I've used have been cheap synthetics that I bought from eBay for less than $10AUD. Same for sculpting tools, craft knives and files, etc. Brand name brushes from my FLGS are $10+ each and seem to be fairly low quality shite.
I've never had the fuller break off a cheapo brush, but I have had it happen twice on Army Painter's brushes and once on an AK Interactive brush _after one use._ Sure, the tip on the cheap ones gets hooked after maybe half a squad, but I paid a couple of bucks for it so meh.
There seems to be little to no reason to buy expensive synthetic brushes. I think the best I've bought was a pack of 144 from eBay for like 30 bucks. A couple weren't glued properly but at like 20c a brush I don't really care When I'm in the mood to use a sable I do like Raphael 8404 for the price (for sable), I picked them up for 8-12 dollars online from a reputable art materials seller (they were double to cost from hobbyshops)
Been really pleased with the ones I got from Artiscapade. They’ve put in a good graft and taken some abuse over the last few months and are still in good shape.
Are they the ones you had the code for? Picked some up as a direct result of your video and found them very usable - prefer them to some much more expensive sable brushes I got a few years ago.
I'm not keen on the finger grip bits on those brushes. Although saying that, I've not tried the Artiscapade brushes because I tried a similar looking brush and found it very uncomfortable.
The watercolour brushes are fantastic, I have a few that I use quite often, some of my best brushes are the cheapest you can get! I do have some I got from a company called “the brushman.” He has some nice cheap sable brushes if you interested in quality? Great vid and full of thoughtful information that serves the entire community!
Cheap synthetic brushes are fantastic. I have recently become a student to become a nurse. I have gone from full wage, to no wage. So mini painting is truly a luxury for me. I have used The Range brushes for ages. A little bit of soap after use and they will last you for ages! Great wee info video Luke. You are a credit to this hobby!
Great vid, All the ones you mentioned are my tried and tested ones too. I love the stiff brushes and also have sable Raphael that are amazing better than w and newton or DaVinci in my opinion.
I had W&N and years ago they were brilliant but in the last few years their quality control has gone down the pan and they are very hit and miss. These days I use Broken Toad and Artis Opus.
Good call on synthetics! I can finish a table top AOS army with 1 size 3 synthetic and some brush soap to extend its life. Still havent cracked my squidies as i have a lot of nice pointed synthetics
It's all about tools for the job. I have a load of REALLY cheap synthetics of all sizes that I use for things like basing, drybrushing, and even basecoating, but leave the detail work to the few Rosemary & Co series 33 brushes that I have. I buy the synthetics pretty much by the handful and given the cost, if I only get a single basing or big drybrushing session out of a brush then no worries, at the very least, the handles make for decent stirring sticks.
I’ve got a bunch of cheap synthetics that I use for basecoating, metallics, washes... anything where the brush gets battered really! Found the tips curl really quickly so no good for detail. Got a couple of Windsor and Newtons for detail work which are amazing.
Yeah, any kind of brushes can be a bit of a lottery, you can get a cheap one that keeps its point or a more expensive one that is hooked out of the pack. I was on holiday last week in Wales and I couldn't resist going into the Works when I saw it to get some some brushes 😁 They're nice too, mostly on the larger side for terrain but the smaller ones are great for drybrushing and washes like you said, better than using my old good brushes, now knackered old brushes for the same job.
The only issue I've had with cheap brushes is the ferrule falling off :p I just try to keep paint from getting in the ferrule, clean them well and hang them tip down to dry.
Something I've found useful with cheap synthetic brushes is to get some super glue, one of the bottles with a fine applicator needle, and squirt a tiny bit of glue into the base of the bristles, down in the ferrule. It stops paint going up into the ferrule and it holds the ferrule on too. Don't go mad with the glue. It also helps the bristles keep their shape. Don't do this with sable brushes, I did it to a new Artis Opus brush and it was ruined.
There's a point about this reasoning, for drybrush I use cheap makeup brushes, they're perfect, but for the precision works I choose some good quality ones, at least they don't lose some hair on my minis!
I use synthetics a lot. I also love my sable brushes for detailing. But synthetics are wonderful for base coating, contrast, oils, washes, etc. They then turn into paint-transfer brushes or basing brushes.
Great video on synthetic brushes, they are my go to brushes for all my projects now. I rarely use a natural hair brush, and I can’t recall the last time I used one.
Good to see - have been getting these from the pound shop for the last couple of years. The smaller ones tend to curl quickly enough but I think thats more my use of them I think.
I've been using the Daler and Rowney Poundland watercolour brushes for over a year now. I pick up a couple of packs every time in the shop and think they are amazing. They get relegated after each project but mid lockdown I was using the same 2 for 6 months.
Daler & Rowney are okay from my experience. I did get burned by a super cheap no name mixed set of brushes from The Works. Most of them fell apart immediately as I was washing out the treatment they came in but they didn't look like any of the sets you got. Considering I'm not the best of painters and I'm quite rough on my brushes, I don't mind getting lower end stuff so long as they actually hold together out of the box.
This is a great video, I've usually stayed away from synthetics purely because... no apparent reason! So now I'm gonna check some out for myself. Thank you!
A very reasonable video. Joking aside, I have a few expensive sable brushes but the bulk of my painting is with cheap, bulk pack synthetics - they're awesome workhorses for 95% of what we do.
I primarily use synthetics. That’s what I’ve had my best success with. I can never really get a razor sharp point, though. But I’m happy with my overall results.
Good brush points are more a feature of the construction, rather than the material. So it will vary quite a bit between price points and brands, and even ranges within brands.
You are right. The only expensive brush you need is a tiny one you use only for eyes. For everything else a cheap brush is fine. I have some very expensive sable brushes from monument, and they don't hold a better point while painting than cheap synthetics I buy with 50 in the same bag. I've been using the same two brushes from two different 50 packs for the last 6 months...
Been on the lookout for some good cheap brushes since my last lot failed to live up to expectations - looks like a trip the The Range is in order, cheers Luke 👍
I’ve not used these particular Daler-Rowney brushes, but my standard go to brushes are the graduate range by them, literally use them for all types of painting/crafting and they are awesome! I may have to pop to the pound shop to get some of these to try and compare 😊 great video
“Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”
If those Dahler Rowney brushes are the Sapphire line, as they look to be, buy them up at that price. They're mixed red sable and synthetic, and while inexpensive, they're still $5-6 brushes.
I found those Daler Rowney brushes a few months ago and they're really good. I've considered doing a series on how to get into the hobby as cheaply as possible following a few posts I've seen on Instagram recently
My favorite set of brushes are teacher pack of 36 round brushes, from Hobby Lobby. They sell them for $19, but you can get then 50% off every other week, so if they're full price, wait for next week.
Do I own expensive sable brushes, ye sure. My suggestion would be checking out the local art store. While you don't get 10 brushes for £2 you can easily find good synthetic brushes from £1/piece. If you can find them, check out Mig Jimenez synthetic brushes. I just started using their Liner and Filbert brushes and darn, they're nice. The liner brush is the best that I've tried for panel lining tbh. Prices start from €1.25/piece. I'll keep in mind that I need to try out some watercolour brushes though. Thanks for the tip!
@Luke: I love cheap brushes, no guilt while using techniques that really work since the brush cost almost nothing. Also a great follow up to this video might be brush cleaning and care. Love love love
I've got Rosemary & Co for some nicer small brushes, but my daily drivers are almost always Daler & Rowney, they're easy to find cheaply, you can grab a couple at once, and they're fantastic quality on all 3 types, Watercolor, Synthetic and Oil brushes. I like the Orange/Yellow ones myself, but I'm definitely gonna grab a Blue pack now after seeing how well they flowed here.
I've never wasted money on nice brushes. I have series 7, Artis Opus, Da Vinci, Raphael, etc. Not only did it VERY OBVIOUSLY improve how I painted, but I've never had to buy new ones yet after like 3 years. Whereas cheap brushes die out in a matter of a few weeks typically.
Thank you for the video! I have only just started with age of sigmar mini figures and I am on a small budget so this is a lifesaver because I was just about to give up
I have two kinds of brushes, cheap synthetic or top of the line kolinsky sable. If it's not Kolinsky sable I can't tell the difference between a $1 Wal-Mart Royal & Langnickel and a $8 Army Painter brush. I can tell a huge difference between any brush and a real kolinsky sable and if you are a experienced painter they're worth every penny if you take care of them.
Get a pack of the rosemary and co workbench warriors set, they are awesome, there synthetic red dot is one of the best I have. One of the few brushes I've had that live up to the hype and are a reasonable price. They also have a squirrel brush in the set that is really good. I'd love to get your OP on them and a comparison against the cheapos that are punching well above there weight.
Try using a toothpick vs using a brush for the eyes. You can put not only the pupil and iris on the eyeball using them you can put pin point highlights on the eyes. It's going above and beyond for gaming minis, not so much on your display minis.
I have some expensive brushes which are used sparingly for specific cases (fine lines, minute details etc) and the rest are synthetic. Can't beat them for general paint work.
Great video Luke. My painting style will never win any painting competitions. I just wanted to get that out first, but I got my detail brushes from Wish to test them out. 25 brushes for £4... when they die they get used for painting glue on bases etc...I am a bad brush owner so I never will buy expensive brushes... sorry I will rephrase that. I Ionce bought a GW dry brush for £4. I live on Shetland, but when I used to get down to the mainland I would raid the Pound shops as well as the Works...I used to get big tubes of artists acrylics for terrain making as well as brushes.
Most of the brushes I use are just the airfix ones that you get in the kits. They work really good and I've had them for a couple years and they're only now starting to break down. I have a couple games workshop brushes that I use for fine detail and that's about it
I recently found an amazing synthetic brush in my sons paint the page with water and all the appropriate colours just appear on the page. Wish I could find out who supplied the company the brushes
Sh!* had I seen this earlier. Either way, thanks for sharing your knowledge . I’ve made some dumb and expensive purchases on God awful brushes. Hopefully this video can help others before they make that same mistake.
I wouldn't use these kinds of brushes to paint Mini's. Maybe for terrain but not Mini's. I think brushes can be a very personnel choice. I've used Citadel brushes for years and have always been my favorite. More expensive but if looked after will really last. Never use Windsor and Newton for Mini's either. Expensive and don't last long. Always great videos mate. Cheers!
Windsor and Newton are living on reputation these days because their quality control has gone down the pan. I had a set of Series 7 that lasted years. I had to replace my size 1 and size 2 due to eventually dying and I replaced them with more Series 7s. The size 2 wouldn’t keep its shape and kept splitting and so was useless for anything at all, you couldn’t even base coat with it, and the size 1 shed half of its bristles after only a few models. Since then I have moved on to Artis Opus and Broken Toad, the AO brushes are about the same price as W&N and the Broken Toads are a bit cheaper but both are far better than W&N these days. I still have the other W&N brushes, 000, 00, 0 and 3 and they are still going strong.
Cheap watercolour brushes are fantastic. They're designed to hold moisture. I do like a good kolinsky brush, but standard watercolour brushes are some of the best I've come across for mini painting.
I'm not a fan of synthetics, they always curl after just a few uses. They do have uses and the ~10 packs for 3-4 bucks are the perfect price to performance range. Also, if you like natural hair brushes, try to find a local art shop and see what they have for water color brushes. I found an entry-level red sable water color line that are incredible for me
Funnily enough I just picked up a pack of 4 details brushes from The Works for £2 last weekend. Still to try them out. I don't use expensive brushes anyway as quite frankly they are not going to make enough of a difference to my tabletop quality painting level, which I'm fine with. :)
Thanks you for the video! I almost always use the cheapest set of brushes I can find online - as I dislike real hair brushes I only use synthetic ones. I haven't seen a correlation between price and lifetime of a brush. In contrast, the cheapest ones I bought lasted the longest.
Very informative Luke. I don't do a whole lot of army painting so I keep a small selection of sables from Rosemary & Co. that last a while otherwise I pop to the Hobbycraft in Guiseley for my synthetics. Never thought to use the watercolour synthetics but if you can recommend them I'll definitely give them a try, thanks for the insight mate.
I have a problem with synthetic detail brushes getting hook tips or split tips. Got a vallejo 1 recently and it got hook tip the first day of use. I usually use sable brushes, ofc they're hit and miss too. Its just that using this fresh synthetic for the first time in years and it immediatley hook tipped brought back bad memories of my zero budget hobby days.
You are a shame on this hobby
@@GeekGamingScenics, smart money is on OP valuing status, gatekeeping and elitism above brush quality.
you are a shame on this planet
You're a shame on this comment section...
Captain Context
Quick, get out the shame bell 🔔 🤣
We've found the Raphael rep!
this video was very reasonable
And it was only £0.00!
I felt like this discussion on the cheaper brushes was very reasonable. Great video, Luke.
I'm VERY new to the hobby, and I massively appreciate your reasoned, open-minded approach. Thanks for putting this out there!
Welcome to the (Mini Painting & Terrain building) party, pal!
Die Hard reference aside, Luke won't steer you wrong!
You are an enrichment on this hobby ;) seriously, after 5 years of painting, im using my cheap brushes 95% of the time. Sables are kinda limited to acryl paint. for washes, inks, oils and contrast/SP and Base-coating i strongly recommend cheap synthetics. thx for all of your great work, still learning from you or get inspired.
Some very reasonable points here. Have used a set of 5 rosemary and Co sable brushes for the past year and a half (1 size 1, 3 size 2, 1 size 3) and they're still as good as the day I bought them (200+ models later!) Have never really got on with synthetics but will certainly give them a go after watching this. At the very least I'll buy a bunch for my daughter to have a go with!
I have a set of Rosemary brushes as well, and they are really nice!
As a beginner the Royal&Langnickel set off of Amazon for a tenner has served me well!
I recently bought some more new brushes from The Works, the points are brilliant and I feel like I'm painting better with them now!
The Works for the win! Those £2 brush sets are great 👍
I use brushes from the works: they’ve been brilliant
I'll be honest Ive avoided cheap brushes because I was told to do so. ..... this video has opened my eyes.
I bought that exact 10 piece set from the Range a coupe of months ago to paint my mates Super Dungeon Explore.
I used to work for a place making damien hirst, chadwicks, rembrandts, etc..ive been painting for years also. I totally agree with you luke! The works brushes that come in dark blue packets are very good. There is definately a place for more expensive fine brushes, but i only use them for details and touching bits in. The nice thing about cheap brushes is they are easily replaced and i can snip bristles and make my own without worry of ruining an expensive one. Drybrushing and stippling take their toll on brushes for sure
+1 for the works brushes!
3:24 that sound cue, blending in the music as the sfx for the vortex mixer, gave me a big, silly smile.
Thanks for another great video.
Nice to see those little details do get noticed. Enjoyed putting this one together :)
SPOT ON LUKE - your commitment to reasonable prices for reasonable people is just spot on! I've been crafting for over 45years and I know where a few pence more DOES make a difference, but on the whole there is no point paying for a name. Many cheaper goods aren't always the best, but they certainly offer affordability and can give good service. Its the wannabes who stock up with everything from the top range and often can't even use them 'worth a lick'.
I sometimes think there's also a little bit too much provided for crafters, horses for courses but 'crafting' is about making [not pre-buying]. I could print a tree on my anycubic but I'd enjoy making one from scratch just as much, if not more.
Sounds odd, but my Artis Opus sable brush is the best value brush I've ever bought. Wasn't cheap, but used as my workhorse brush for nearly 2 years and still going strong. Incredible value.
What’s the best way of looking after those brushes to get the years out of them?
@@kevski722 Honestly, I didn't do anything other than clean it. I have no explanation for its longevity other than it being a very good brush (or dumb luck).
@@user-ko3tv7jl2r haha hopefully I will have the same luck mate
I'm going to try those Pound shop brushes but I really only use Raph 8404 (except for drybrushing) and they'll last you 2 years if you look after them. A size 2 and size 0 will cost you about £25 for both of them and last you 2 years. To date, I've never had a synthetic (or cheap sables) last more than 2 or 3 hours of painting before they hook. Not sure if that's a symptom of my painting style but I don't treat the 8404 any differently. I even use them for washes. I think the synthetics for me would make a lot of sense if I did terrain but I'm strictly a mini painter
Yay, Workz! That's where I get mine. It's laughable how many brushes I get from there for a fraction of the price of a Games Workshop brush! I keep looking at them at our local GW outlet and they have exactly the same amount of brushes on the display as they did when they first put the display up, except now they are covered in dust!
Honestly it's great to see how much your channel has grown. Been watching you since I picked the hobby back up well over a year ago!
"Must have got a bad batch"
So diplomatic
I have a full range of synthetic and sables but never knew that watercolour brushes could be so good. Looks like I'll be taking a trip to the Works and Hobbycraft soon. Cheers Luke. Keep the great videos coming
If you have a Poundland nearby head there for the daler rowney stuff, get some of there acrylic and watercolour brushes. They also have really cheap good craft paints for terrain and bits like that.
The oils I use are the daler rowney cheap 5/6 pack they sell and they even have low oder thinner in my local one, On top of that they have lots of small craft bits that are useful for terrain, basing and kit bashin.
Hobbycraft is good for having a large stock and good selection but is very over p[riced. The works can be hit or miss on the quality of there stuff, ive had some ok brushes from them but there cheap craft paints are crap.
@david g Great, thanks David. I shall pop there first 👍
When I first started hobbying I used to use watercolour brushes as they were cheaper and I liked the way they kept their points better
Best synthetics I've bought so far come in sets of like 12, they've got triangular grips and cost about 15 euros on amazon. Now that doesn't really say much because there are hundreds of different brands selling similar but not exactly the same thing over there. However the ones I'm talking about were some black chinese ones that came with insanely good tips,like their size 1 had sharper tip than any of my detail brushes, including sables.
I can't tell you what brand they are because I can't read chinese and they were pulled from the website when I went to buy another set of them. Was like I caught lightning in a bottle.
Been using those Daler Rowney watercolour brushes from Poundland for a couple of years now, I bought five packs and am still using the first one, they last really well if you use brush soap and care for them, seriously impressive for a quid!
been using that exact blue brush set from the start of the videos for a few weeks now. Couple quid from The Range. Punching well above their weight.
I keep a fancy sable brush as well, but only bring it out for the special occasions now like highlighting faces on character models and some glazing stuff
The trouble I've found with synthetics is a lack of consistency. For every good one, like Bishop, you get a couple of murderous psychopaths, like Ash and David 8.
Can confirm, some of the best brushes I've used have been cheap synthetics that I bought from eBay for less than $10AUD. Same for sculpting tools, craft knives and files, etc.
Brand name brushes from my FLGS are $10+ each and seem to be fairly low quality shite.
I've never had the fuller break off a cheapo brush, but I have had it happen twice on Army Painter's brushes and once on an AK Interactive brush _after one use._ Sure, the tip on the cheap ones gets hooked after maybe half a squad, but I paid a couple of bucks for it so meh.
There seems to be little to no reason to buy expensive synthetic brushes. I think the best I've bought was a pack of 144 from eBay for like 30 bucks. A couple weren't glued properly but at like 20c a brush I don't really care
When I'm in the mood to use a sable I do like Raphael 8404 for the price (for sable), I picked them up for 8-12 dollars online from a reputable art materials seller (they were double to cost from hobbyshops)
those multi packs from the works are all ive used for years, brilliant brushes
I bought some of the Boldmere brushes from The Works as cheap and disposable brushes and was so impressed they've become my main brushes.
Same here!
Been really pleased with the ones I got from Artiscapade. They’ve put in a good graft and taken some abuse over the last few months and are still in good shape.
Are they the ones you had the code for? Picked some up as a direct result of your video and found them very usable - prefer them to some much more expensive sable brushes I got a few years ago.
I'm not keen on the finger grip bits on those brushes.
Although saying that, I've not tried the Artiscapade brushes because I tried a similar looking brush and found it very uncomfortable.
The watercolour brushes are fantastic, I have a few that I use quite often, some of my best brushes are the cheapest you can get! I do have some I got from a company called “the brushman.” He has some nice cheap sable brushes if you interested in quality? Great vid and full of thoughtful information that serves the entire community!
My personal favourites are Winsor & Newton Cotman brushes. Pretty cheap, but great quality.
I thought this video was very reasonable
Very reasonable.
Cheap synthetic brushes are fantastic. I have recently become a student to become a nurse. I have gone from full wage, to no wage. So mini painting is truly a luxury for me.
I have used The Range brushes for ages. A little bit of soap after use and they will last you for ages!
Great wee info video Luke. You are a credit to this hobby!
I use brushes from The Works. Excellent for the tasks in hand.
Great vid, All the ones you mentioned are my tried and tested ones too. I love the stiff brushes and also have sable Raphael that are amazing better than w and newton or DaVinci in my opinion.
I had W&N and years ago they were brilliant but in the last few years their quality control has gone down the pan and they are very hit and miss. These days I use Broken Toad and Artis Opus.
Good call on synthetics! I can finish a table top AOS army with 1 size 3 synthetic and some brush soap to extend its life. Still havent cracked my squidies as i have a lot of nice pointed synthetics
It's all about tools for the job. I have a load of REALLY cheap synthetics of all sizes that I use for things like basing, drybrushing, and even basecoating, but leave the detail work to the few Rosemary & Co series 33 brushes that I have. I buy the synthetics pretty much by the handful and given the cost, if I only get a single basing or big drybrushing session out of a brush then no worries, at the very least, the handles make for decent stirring sticks.
Excellent info Luke. It's great to see someone who's not pushing a high dollar brush you might not need. Someone like me. 👍😃
I enjoyed the video, the tone like you're talking to a friend and all. And the prices are very reasonable indeed.
This personal and deliberate attack on my purchasing decisions will not go unnoticed.
I use the £ shop brushes. They have had regular use on most days for the past 3 months and are still going strong.
I’ve got a bunch of cheap synthetics that I use for basecoating, metallics, washes... anything where the brush gets battered really! Found the tips curl really quickly so no good for detail. Got a couple of Windsor and Newtons for detail work which are amazing.
Yeah, any kind of brushes can be a bit of a lottery, you can get a cheap one that keeps its point or a more expensive one that is hooked out of the pack. I was on holiday last week in Wales and I couldn't resist going into the Works when I saw it to get some some brushes 😁 They're nice too, mostly on the larger side for terrain but the smaller ones are great for drybrushing and washes like you said, better than using my old good brushes, now knackered old brushes for the same job.
Same brushes here in France in Action Stores. They do the job.
The only issue I've had with cheap brushes is the ferrule falling off :p I just try to keep paint from getting in the ferrule, clean them well and hang them tip down to dry.
Something I've found useful with cheap synthetic brushes is to get some super glue, one of the bottles with a fine applicator needle, and squirt a tiny bit of glue into the base of the bristles, down in the ferrule. It stops paint going up into the ferrule and it holds the ferrule on too. Don't go mad with the glue. It also helps the bristles keep their shape.
Don't do this with sable brushes, I did it to a new Artis Opus brush and it was ruined.
There's a point about this reasoning, for drybrush I use cheap makeup brushes, they're perfect, but for the precision works I choose some good quality ones, at least they don't lose some hair on my minis!
Never thought to try watercolor brushes. I'll have to swing by the craft store and pick some up.
I use synthetics a lot. I also love my sable brushes for detailing. But synthetics are wonderful for base coating, contrast, oils, washes, etc. They then turn into paint-transfer brushes or basing brushes.
Great video on synthetic brushes, they are my go to brushes for all my projects now. I rarely use a natural hair brush, and I can’t recall the last time I used one.
Some very good points that I’ll be following up. Ta for a great vid
This was a very reasonable video.
Good to see - have been getting these from the pound shop for the last couple of years. The smaller ones tend to curl quickly enough but I think thats more my use of them I think.
I've been using the Daler and Rowney Poundland watercolour brushes for over a year now. I pick up a couple of packs every time in the shop and think they are amazing. They get relegated after each project but mid lockdown I was using the same 2 for 6 months.
Cheap brushes all the way for me lol .. some very reasonable transitions in the video from Pickle 😁
I like to wet blend and feather, so having a firmer brush comes in handy since the firmness helps to drag the paints how I want.
Daler & Rowney are okay from my experience. I did get burned by a super cheap no name mixed set of brushes from The Works. Most of them fell apart immediately as I was washing out the treatment they came in but they didn't look like any of the sets you got. Considering I'm not the best of painters and I'm quite rough on my brushes, I don't mind getting lower end stuff so long as they actually hold together out of the box.
This is a great video, I've usually stayed away from synthetics purely because... no apparent reason! So now I'm gonna check some out for myself. Thank you!
A very reasonable video.
Joking aside, I have a few expensive sable brushes but the bulk of my painting is with cheap, bulk pack synthetics - they're awesome workhorses for 95% of what we do.
I primarily use synthetics. That’s what I’ve had my best success with. I can never really get a razor sharp point, though. But I’m happy with my overall results.
Good brush points are more a feature of the construction, rather than the material. So it will vary quite a bit between price points and brands, and even ranges within brands.
You are right. The only expensive brush you need is a tiny one you use only for eyes. For everything else a cheap brush is fine.
I have some very expensive sable brushes from monument, and they don't hold a better point while painting than cheap synthetics I buy with 50 in the same bag.
I've been using the same two brushes from two different 50 packs for the last 6 months...
Been on the lookout for some good cheap brushes since my last lot failed to live up to expectations - looks like a trip the The Range is in order, cheers Luke 👍
Make-up brushes from the pound shop are the best dry brushes I've ever had
I’ve not used these particular Daler-Rowney brushes, but my standard go to brushes are the graduate range by them, literally use them for all types of painting/crafting and they are awesome! I may have to pop to the pound shop to get some of these to try and compare 😊 great video
“Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”
Every time I go to town I get a couple of packs of the dahler and rowney brushes from poundland. Can't go wrong for 50p each.
I love my Major Brushes synthetic sable (taklon) rounds, size 6 is my workhorse brush and you can get a pack of 10 for about £8!
I've been using those cheap synthetic for about two years. Bought a good Marta brush, used it twice, and back with the cheap stuff.
I figure if Sam Lenz can do 80% of his work with synthetic brushes, what's my excuse?
Great video as always. Thanks Luke!
An excellent video I bought from the works a few times and you are right they are good brushes I will also go and have a look in the range
The pound shop twin packs of water colour brushes are awesome, ive been using them for a while.
If those Dahler Rowney brushes are the Sapphire line, as they look to be, buy them up at that price. They're mixed red sable and synthetic, and while inexpensive, they're still $5-6 brushes.
I found those Daler Rowney brushes a few months ago and they're really good. I've considered doing a series on how to get into the hobby as cheaply as possible following a few posts I've seen on Instagram recently
My favorite set of brushes are teacher pack of 36 round brushes, from Hobby Lobby. They sell them for $19, but you can get then 50% off every other week, so if they're full price, wait for next week.
Do I own expensive sable brushes, ye sure.
My suggestion would be checking out the local art store. While you don't get 10 brushes for £2 you can easily find good synthetic brushes from £1/piece.
If you can find them, check out Mig Jimenez synthetic brushes. I just started using their Liner and Filbert brushes and darn, they're nice. The liner brush is the best that I've tried for panel lining tbh. Prices start from €1.25/piece.
I'll keep in mind that I need to try out some watercolour brushes though. Thanks for the tip!
Same as what I do i love the 1.99 range specials. Just smash out a project bin the ones that didn't last, keep the good ones and boom saved 20 quid.
@Luke: I love cheap brushes, no guilt while using techniques that really work since the brush cost almost nothing.
Also a great follow up to this video might be brush cleaning and care.
Love love love
I've got Rosemary & Co for some nicer small brushes, but my daily drivers are almost always Daler & Rowney, they're easy to find cheaply, you can grab a couple at once, and they're fantastic quality on all 3 types, Watercolor, Synthetic and Oil brushes. I like the Orange/Yellow ones myself, but I'm definitely gonna grab a Blue pack now after seeing how well they flowed here.
I've never wasted money on nice brushes. I have series 7, Artis Opus, Da Vinci, Raphael, etc. Not only did it VERY OBVIOUSLY improve how I painted, but I've never had to buy new ones yet after like 3 years. Whereas cheap brushes die out in a matter of a few weeks typically.
Rosemary&Co make really good synthetic brushes. Red Dot Round or Red Dot Spotter brushes. Amazing.
Thank you for the video! I have only just started with age of sigmar mini figures and I am on a small budget so this is a lifesaver because I was just about to give up
shoutout to poundland, respect. and for Geek Gaminng Scenics for keeping it real, respect
I have two kinds of brushes, cheap synthetic or top of the line kolinsky sable. If it's not Kolinsky sable I can't tell the difference between a $1 Wal-Mart Royal & Langnickel and a $8 Army Painter brush. I can tell a huge difference between any brush and a real kolinsky sable and if you are a experienced painter they're worth every penny if you take care of them.
I have the same favourite brushes as you. What a coincidence.
Get a pack of the rosemary and co workbench warriors set, they are awesome, there synthetic red dot is one of the best I have. One of the few brushes I've had that live up
to the hype and are a reasonable price. They also have a squirrel brush in the set that is really good. I'd love to get your OP on them and a comparison against the cheapos that are punching well above there weight.
I use the brushes from The Works, The Range and Poundland. Cool video by the A team. Luke and Josh
Try using a toothpick vs using a brush for the eyes. You can put not only the pupil and iris on the eyeball
using them you can put pin point highlights on the eyes. It's going above and beyond for gaming minis, not so much on your display minis.
I have some expensive brushes which are used sparingly for specific cases (fine lines, minute details etc) and the rest are synthetic. Can't beat them for general paint work.
Great video Luke. My painting style will never win any painting competitions. I just wanted to get that out first, but I got my detail brushes from Wish to test them out. 25 brushes for £4... when they die they get used for painting glue on bases etc...I am a bad brush owner so I never will buy expensive brushes... sorry I will rephrase that. I Ionce bought a GW dry brush for £4. I live on Shetland, but when I used to get down to the mainland I would raid the Pound shops as well as the Works...I used to get big tubes of artists acrylics for terrain making as well as brushes.
Most of the brushes I use are just the airfix ones that you get in the kits. They work really good and I've had them for a couple years and they're only now starting to break down. I have a couple games workshop brushes that I use for fine detail and that's about it
I recently found an amazing synthetic brush in my sons paint the page with water and all the appropriate colours just appear on the page. Wish I could find out who supplied the company the brushes
Sh!* had I seen this earlier. Either way, thanks for sharing your knowledge . I’ve made some dumb and expensive purchases on God awful brushes. Hopefully this video can help others before they make that same mistake.
I wouldn't use these kinds of brushes to paint Mini's. Maybe for terrain but not Mini's. I think brushes can be a very personnel choice. I've used Citadel brushes for years and have always been my favorite. More expensive but if looked after will really last. Never use Windsor and Newton for Mini's either. Expensive and don't last long. Always great videos mate. Cheers!
Doesnt recommend cheap synthetics.. But recommends GW.. Hahaha, how much did GW pay you for this comment you shil.
Windsor and Newton are living on reputation these days because their quality control has gone down the pan. I had a set of Series 7 that lasted years. I had to replace my size 1 and size 2 due to eventually dying and I replaced them with more Series 7s. The size 2 wouldn’t keep its shape and kept splitting and so was useless for anything at all, you couldn’t even base coat with it, and the size 1 shed half of its bristles after only a few models. Since then I have moved on to Artis Opus and Broken Toad, the AO brushes are about the same price as W&N and the Broken Toads are a bit cheaper but both are far better than W&N these days. I still have the other W&N brushes, 000, 00, 0 and 3 and they are still going strong.
@@TheKodiak72 Didn't recommend anything. It's down to preference.
Cheers Luke ,
A Very reasonable up-load
🐺
I love using those cheap brushes, for the price they're amazing 👏
Cheap watercolour brushes are fantastic. They're designed to hold moisture. I do like a good kolinsky brush, but standard watercolour brushes are some of the best I've come across for mini painting.
I'm not a fan of synthetics, they always curl after just a few uses. They do have uses and the ~10 packs for 3-4 bucks are the perfect price to performance range.
Also, if you like natural hair brushes, try to find a local art shop and see what they have for water color brushes. I found an entry-level red sable water color line that are incredible for me
I found curling on synthetics too. Not fun to experience.
I have 1 brush that I paid $8 for then I have like 50 cheap brushes that I use all the time for painting minis so I love the cheap ones
Great vid I may give theses a go from my local shop.
Funnily enough I just picked up a pack of 4 details brushes from The Works for £2 last weekend. Still to try them out. I don't use expensive brushes anyway as quite frankly they are not going to make enough of a difference to my tabletop quality painting level, which I'm fine with. :)
Thanks you for the video! I almost always use the cheapest set of brushes I can find online - as I dislike real hair brushes I only use synthetic ones. I haven't seen a correlation between price and lifetime of a brush. In contrast, the cheapest ones I bought lasted the longest.
Very informative Luke. I don't do a whole lot of army painting so I keep a small selection of sables from Rosemary & Co. that last a while otherwise I pop to the Hobbycraft in Guiseley for my synthetics. Never thought to use the watercolour synthetics but if you can recommend them I'll definitely give them a try, thanks for the insight mate.
I have a problem with synthetic detail brushes getting hook tips or split tips. Got a vallejo 1 recently and it got hook tip the first day of use. I usually use sable brushes, ofc they're hit and miss too. Its just that using this fresh synthetic for the first time in years and it immediatley hook tipped brought back bad memories of my zero budget hobby days.