by Judith Northwood

Thanks for taking a look at the first of what I hope will be many Q&A columns on painting miniatures. To kick things off, I’ll answer a few of the questions I often hear while teaching classes on painting, but I’d rather respond more directly to what’s concerning you right now, so please send me an email with any of your painting quandaries or frustrations, and I’ll select from those for future columns.

Selecting a Brush

Q: What should I consider in buying a brush?

A: At its simplest, the answer is Fiber Type, Construction and Preference.

There are a variety of fibers used in making brushes, most of which are completely unsuitable for painting miniature figures. Hog bristle (yes, just what it sounds like) is too stiff, and squirrel is too soft. The first one will leave visible brushstrokes and the second one won’t hold the fine point we need for detail work.

Synthetic fibers are often used in brushmaking, with nylon, often called Taklon, being the most common. Brushes made from nylon fibers are inexpensive and are often made in very small sizes, ideal for work on miniatures. However, nylon fibers stain, and they don’t hold up well for use on a textured surface, breaking down quickly when pressure is used to get the brush tip into recessed areas. Often within a single painting session, nylon brush fibers hook, splay and curl, destroying the fine point that’s so essential in the kind of painting we do. It can be fixed, if you’re very careful, by heating the tip of the brush with a heat gun (a blow-dryer probably won’t be hot enough) and then reshaping the hairs. A clothespin gently closed over the fibers will help them hold the corrected shape while they cool. I can’t speak for everyone, but to my mind, this is way too much work for something with as little value as a synthetic-fiber brush. If you have some like this, my suggestion is to chop off about half the length of the brush, then use it for stippling effects, very helpful with stone techniques.

The most reliable option is sable, actually from the tail hair of a marten (a.k.a. a weasel). Not only does sable resist hooking and splaying, it holds more paint and the paint flows more evenly from the brush. Traditionally, Kolinsky sable has been considered the highest grade, with the most resilient hair, but red sable is often so close that it’s difficult to tell the difference in use. More importantly, Kolinsky sable brushes are made by the artisans with the highest level of skill, and that has a lot to do with what makes for a good brush.

Truly cheap brushes are machine-made, and it’s pretty easy to tell. The hairs don’t lie together nicely, and if they form a point at all, they don’t hold it well in use. You can find some sable brushes that are made this way, often in packs of three or five at a local crafts store for a few dollars. These do very well for brush-on primer and sealers, far better than synthetics, but they’re not going to be able to provide precision.

Better brushes are made by hand, starting from a single, perfectly straight hair, then building around it, placing hairs so that the natural curve of the hair turns inward, supporting the point and directing the paint it will hold down to that razor-sharp tip. It’s genuinely easier to paint with a well-made brush. As brush-makers learn, they progress to different teams, steadily working with higher quality brushes and better materials. The most expensive brushes utilize not only the best materials, but also the highest skills among brush-makers, so you’re paying for quality in all aspects of the brush’s construction. This has a lot to do with why the best lines of brush last for years of steady use.

There has been some concern lately about the use of Kolinsky sable. The specific species of marten that produces it has been over-hunted in the wild, so companies who had relied on wild-caught sources of Kolinsky hair are now without the materials to continue making brushes. From my research, Vallejo and Holbein are both among this group, and Arches may be as well. Other companies have bought farmed hair, which does not involve the same kind of hunting and killing. Winsor & Newton, Raphael, Isabey, Da Vinci, Escoda, and pretty much all the brush makers who are currently in active production are using farmed hair.

A more practical question is how to know you are looking at a well-made brush. There’s actually an easy way to find out. At the art store, or as soon as you receive a shipment of brushes, wet the hair, gently working out any sizing. Run the brush along the back of your hand to identify any obvious problems in shaping and make sure all the sizing is gone. Dip the brush in water, letting it absorb as much as it can, then lift it out without touching the sides of the water container. You want as much water as possible to remain in the brush as you lift it. Snap the brush with a quick, firm flick of your wrist, much like shaking down an old-fashioned thermometer. Most of the water will fly off the brush, and the hairs will return to the position they were placed in during manufacture. The brush should now have a crisp, sharp point with few or no stray hairs. If it doesn’t, you are holding a brush that won’t maintain a fine point while painting. At a store, look for a different brush, or send it back to the seller if it was part of a shipment.

There’s one other complication in selecting brushes. In the miniature figure painting hobby, we tend to use round brushes, but not all round brushes are actually the same. There are rounds, miniatures, pointed rounds, extended rounds, spotters, liners and script liners, all varying in the length and flexibility of the hair. Sizes also vary slightly from brand to brand, so an Escoda 00 won’t necessarily be the same size as a Da Vinci 00. But take heart, the point on very nearly every brush of size 0 and smaller will be virtually the same. It will be the length of hair overall and the diameter of the belly just above the metal ferrule that will vary the most.

Spotters are the shortest and very narrow, designed to do just what the name says, make a single spot on the surface. Miniatures are the next shortest, but they tend to be much fuller in the belly than the spotter, since they’re intended to carry more paint than just enough to make a spot. Rounds are in the middle, with moderate length and diameter. Pointed rounds are longer in proportion to the diameter, holding less paint, but offering very good precision and control, with a point that tends not to flex open as much under pressure. Extended rounds have a point that extends out from the belly with a pronounced taper. They hold a lot of paint, but have a working point much like the pointed round. Liners and script liners are very long, designed to hold enough paint to do hand-lettering, like the way signs used to be made. These are usually also very flexible, and can be difficult to control. There are a few more variations on these and specialty brushes, but this list covers most of the styles of round brush you’d run into while shopping for your next brush for minis.

Now comes the tricky part. I can’t tell you which you’ll like the best. Different people’s intuitive painting style will mesh best with different brushes, and often different brands. Escoda hair is springier than Winsor & Newton, for example, and their round brushes are a little closer to a pointed round. Raphael hair is more flexible than Winsor & Newton, and their round brushes are a bit more like an extended round. Soft hair spreads more with pressure than firm, but you can use that to your advantage by varying the pressure used in a stroke to vary the width of line you’re painting. I find that makes highlighting and shading a lot easier, so I tend to like Raphael the best. Winsor & Newton, though, is probably the closest thing to a medium softness, so it’s a good bet to try first. Try several over time, and you’ll find some that simply feel better to use than others. Painting is a lot more fun when you’re not having to fight your tools, so it’s well worth trying a few brands to see what you like the best.

Do you have a painting question that you’d like to have answered? If so leave a question here in the Comments or Contact us and we’ll send along your question to Judith.