Of all the items that can fill an artist’s paint box, art brushes will have more impact on the quality of results than any of your other art supplies. As the brush is, quite literally, where paint meets canvas, selecting the right brush for the task at hand is critical to realizing artistic intent.

What makes a brush good for one’s own particular painting sometimes is the same for all painters- the brush should be well-made, with a properly shaped tuft fixed in a seam-free ferrule, crimped twice to the handle; the hairs should have intact flags on the ends (the  splits at the ends of the hairs or bristles that distribute paint evenly and leave an attractive texture on the paint film. However, for a specific painting, the selection of brushes needs to be appropriate to the task at hand.

The first, obvious choice is the general type of art brush. The type of hair should be well-paired with the medium. For oils, the bulk of brushes should be natural hog bristle, or a synthetic substitute. Bristle has sufficient stiffness to retain snap even when fully loaded with heavy paint. Oil painters also may wish to include some small rounds with soft hair for detailed work.  For acrylics, however, synthetic brushes are the best choice due to their resistance to water. The range in quality for synthetic brushes is quite broad, so look for similar properties to those used when choosing bristle brushes- shape, natural-looking flags, good crimping of seamless ferrule to handle.

Watercolorists require altogether different types of brushes, for a medium more responsive than any other to the brush. The very best brushes for watercolor are Kolinsky Sable brushes; a genuine Kolinsky brush combines durability, sensitivity and a gradual, regular distribution of paint like no substitute. Every watercolor kit should contain at least one Kolinsky brush. However, if the cost of an entire Kolinsky brush set is prohibitive, a broad range of substitutes are available.

Red Sable is a natural hair, from other animal sources (usually weasel) that performs acceptably well where absolute responsiveness is not an issue (broadly wetting the paper, dropping in color). Sabeline is a dyed animal hair (sometimes ox or squirrel) intended to look like Kolinsky.  Sablette, depending on manufacturer is either entirely synthetic, or blended synthetic and natural hair, intended to give the benefits of both types of hair in the same brush. Sablette is good for long painting sessions where an entirely natural brush would become waterlogged and lose snap.

Nylon and Taklon are common synthetic sable substitutes. Both hold their shapes well, but not all synthetic hairs taper properly or distribute paint smoothly. The best synthetics for watercolor will have a subtle roughening or “cuticle” imposed on the surface to hold paint more like real hair. Ox and squirrel brushes are economical choices for large brushes to wet the paper and broadly spread paint. Camel hair is a generic term for mixed natural hair of non-specific source, best left for craft applications only.

Beyond the basic type of brush, the artist should have a variety of sizes and styles that allow all possible types of markmaking and paint manipulation. You may want to use our handy reference guide for brush tip styles to aid in your selection. Choose sizes of brush in scale with the dimensions of the painting, considering these questions: Will it be possible to achieve the desired coverage in a quick application? Will visible brushstrokes be descriptive of the forms on the picture? Can I load enough paint in the brush not to need to reload too frequently? Can I make the marks I need, from detailed to broad?

Beginners especially need the best art brushes they can afford, because a good one is much easier to control. Keeping multiples of a favorite style helps keep colors from polluting one another (keep a separate brush just for yellow and white) and reduces wear on any single brush. In general, one cannot have too many brushes, nor can they be of too good quality. The effect on your paintings will confirm this statement 100 per cent.