A few of my GW paint brushes have recently started to refuse to hold a point properly, and before buying some new ones, I thought it might be good to find out from the community whether other people tend to use GW brushes, or prefer something different!

So that's it really, how do you find other brush suppliers compare to the GW ones, and what would you recommend?

Additionally, any tips on brush maintenance to keep them at their best for longer?

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WIP thread: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25860

I currently use Winsor&Newton Series 7 and Raphael 8404. They're both kolinsky sable brushes. They cost twice the price of the GW ones but are worth every penny. There's also Rosemary, the prices are between the GW and other ones. The quality is better the GW but less then the other ones. So every brush is its price worth. Here's an old review of mine: http://thefellowshipoftheminiatures.blogspot.be/2015/12/brushes.html

And for maintenance: Masters Brush Cleaner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoovPge1Rq4)

Hope this helps you...

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Parva Mundi

I am a big fan of da vinci brushes. They have a great belly and store a lot of paint which reduces the number of trips you make back to the paint pot. Their tip is also amazing. I also use army painter brushes. The tips are good, the brushes are in expensive but the belly is a bit lacking. Reaper brushes are also good, on par with army painter.

Da Vinci's will run you $20. Worth. Every. Penny. These are made from the winter coat of a Male kolinsky sable (a weasel). Top notch, high quality.
Army painter brushes come in two varieties, hobbiest and wargamer. Hobby brushes are synthetic and wargamer are sable. You want a rothmarde sable brush given the choice between the hobby and wargamer lines.
The master class brush is also very good for its price. I was very impressed. For about 7 euro it is made of kolinsky sable, same as the di vinci but the belly is a bit lacking.

I don't know what your painting goal is, but I would consider buying Army painters mega brush set. It comes with the entire wargamer brush line and the masterclass brush for 45 euro. I bough it a year and a half ago and was very pleased!

Keep in mind, you get what you pay for.

Winsor newtons are also good.

For brush care, keep the little plastic tube that came with your brush. Wash it regularly. Use either an actual brush cleaner, or use a small amount of dish soap and warm to cool water (not hot as this upsets the glue). Once cleaned, reform the tip and replace the plastic tube. I clean mine after every project so roughly once every week. I used to clean it after every session but I feel that was excessive.

Store your brush with the cap on and upright. Do not store your brush tip down as this can harm the tip.

Do not leave your brush in your rinse water. This upsets the glue. rinse your brush, "dry" it on your paper towel or tissue near by and then set it down (or continue painting).

It is also easier to rinse your brush out if you are using thinned paint. Paint from the pot becomes thick over time. You can reverse this by adding a few drops of water to the paint before storing it. If you use thick paint the probability of paint drying up inside the ferrel (the metal collar connecting the handle to the bristles) will increase. Thus, by using thinner paints they rinse out easier and the brush stays cleaner, longer.

Thanks guys, that's very informative (the army painter brush set does seem like a great deal!).

@ Werner (or anyone else who uses Winsor and Newton) - what sort of sizes do you find most useful to you? There's a review from someone saying that a size 1 "you can paint anything from an eye to a cape with", but I see that the brush line goes way smaller than that all the way to 00 and 000. Do you need anything that small for the finer edge-highlighting stuff, or are the larger ones fine?

Cheers!

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WIP thread: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25860

It's correct you can paint everything with size one.

@jdizzy001 which da vinci exactly do you use and thanks for the tips concerning the armypainter brushes

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Parva Mundi

I have two da vincis. The 1 and 00 from the maestro series. The water color ones. I primarily use my army painter brushes for rank and file troops and save my da vincis for heroes and Dark Sword Minis. In all honesty, I could use my da vincis for everything and throw out all my other brushes. Minus dry brushing. I would *never* dry brush with one of my da vincis.

In regard to brush sizes, it is important to remember that the size of the brush doesn't really matter, it is the tip that is most important. That is why it is worth the effort to purchase a brush that holds a point for a long time. If you were to speak with some of the top notch painters in the industry such as Jen Haley or Jess Rich, you would find that despite the outstanding quality they achieve, they use a very limited number of brushes. Usually, just a single size 1 brush.

As a side note, if you have never googled Jessica Rich or Jen Haley's mini paint jobs, leave right now and don't come back until you have. You haven't seen what this hobby is about until you have seen their work (That was said with all the love in my little boy heart and not meant to be offensive in any way. Now go google the brushmistress!).

Thanks again: which one exactly do you use: http://www.davinci-defet.com/englisch/artist-brushes/artist-brushes/news/maestro-our-finest-quality-for-60-years.html?

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Parva Mundi

Series 10. I love them! Honestly, I can't say enough good things about them. They are without a doubt my most favored brush. With the Army painter series close behind.

My main brush is W&N size 2. I can do eyes with it.
I've heard Broken Toad have improved their brushes and I intend to try them.

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What about these?

http://www.sceneryworkshop.nl/winsor-ne ... 96701.html or these http://www.sceneryworkshop.nl/brush-sta ... t5101.html

I don't have any brushes yet either

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I thought it would be beneficial for you as well!

The first link is to a set of red sable brushes. They should be alright. They appear to be made from the same hair as the army painter brushes, rothmarde sable brush.

The second set is the army painter hobby set. I don't recommend those as I am not a fan of synthetic fiber brushes. They fish hook after use.

I am not familiar with broken toad brushes. The description of their bristles uses all the right buzz words. I would love to hear from someone who has used them.

I've used Raphael 8404. I've been very pleased with them. Here is a link to an article comparing them to the W&N brushes. http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=7

The TLDR of the article is that the Raphael brushes have a larger belly (meaning they hold more paint) while still having an ultra fine tip. As has been stated before it's the tip that matters, and having a large belly is actually better because you have less paint drying on the brush.

So go for the first one?! I do however plan on dry brushing a lot so I still need a dry brush instead of using the red sable brushes for that. I do however have a citadel starter brush, can I dry brush with that?

I use Rosemary & Co brushed and really like how they paint.

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Another option if you're looking to dry brush a lot - GW actually sells a Dry Brush specifically mad for dry brushing.I've used it a lot and I think it works pretty good. Don't know if it's popular amongst the veteran painters here on the site but I like it

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Of the two you presented, I would go with the first option. For a dry brush, I have both the GW drybrushes and the Army painter dry brushes. I like the army painter brush better, but GW's brush works well too.

If you don't want to buy a dry brush, then, yes, your beat up starter brush will work just fine.

For drybrushing I use an old brush with the tip chopped off.

For general painting I typically use just one brush (a size one or two depending on what I pulled out of the collection) with a separate brush marked with blue tape for mixing.

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Vast amount of advice here, thanks all. In the end I found a set of 4 Winsor & Newton series 7 with a 0, 1, 2 and 3 significantly discounted from buying separate brushes. Thought that would likely keep me going for a while, hopefully I find them better than the GW ones!

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WIP thread: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25860

I will be surprised if you don't like them. I have not used W&N brushes, but I have been told they are on par with Da Vincis (my brush of choice). If this is true, you will never go back.

Now, in all fairness, the newest line of GW brushes seem to be of better materials and may be on par with some of these are brushes. Has anyone used the new GW brushes?

I orded a small drybrush and small layer brush from GW. I also ordered Winsor & Newton size 0 and 1 . So I should be okay for now! Any tips on how to use them correctly? I also ordered some cleaning stuff.