What are the Best Paint Brushes for Oil Painting?

Very difficult question! Everyone is different so what works for one persons style and technique and medium won’t work for everyone.

Don’t be afraid to try different shapes, brands and materials to find the oil painting brushes that work for you. There are some basic rules to choosing brushes suitable for oil painting:

Firstly most brands will specify what is for oils and what is not for oils (sometimes they have brushes that can be used both for oils and acrylics but these require trialing as the properties of the bristles can differ).

Hog Hair Brushes are designed for oils as they are strong bristles that have the “strength and spring” to be able to push the paint about. (These can also be “scratchy” to paint with). Goat Hair is softer apparently (I have never used a goat hair brush)

It is not recommended to use Water Colour brushes as these are natural brushes (Sable, Squirrel etc etc) (and can be synthetic) (and can be hugely expensive) that are designed to hold water and although available in different sizes:

• The large brushes and the longer water colour brushes are too soft for oil paint and can’t push the paint around.

• They are also very smooth and collapse when using oil paint and also the oil paint will wreck the brushes (Personal experience)

• Synthetics tend to be smoother and depending on their design can be soft or springy (These require trialling)

• Palette knives are for mixing paint and/or applying paint thickly or to give a certain effect or texture. Mostly but not set in stone used in impasto painting. different shapes and sizes are available.

These are opinions based on my experience and understanding of different painting types and brushes. The reality is to trial a brush to see how you get on with it. Brushes are integral and personal to an artist’s work and style.

Brushes come in different shapes, so what shape is the best?

The following is a quick guide:

• Flat — Accuracy in detail and great for large areas

• Long Flat — Large area painting or blending (Synthetic being smoother would be better for blending)

• Bright — (Short Flat) Short = Less bristle bend = allows paint to be moved easily and applied easily great for large areas

• Round — Small sizes for delicate detailed work & Large sizes for larger work

• Short Filbert — Shorter and thicker = more brush control

• Filbert — A mix of a round and flat brush very versatile (One of my favourites)

• Glazing — A wide brush for large areas — glazing or varnishing (I would actually use a sponge brush to varnish as they have no bristles = no imperfections or hairs in the varnish = smooth finish)

• Fan — Foliage painting such as grass etc or Texturing, blending, feathering etc (I personally haven’t used these very much)

• Mop — Clouds and blending (Recently purchased one to trial out)

And there can be variations and special shapes such as Angled brushes e,g sword. These can aid in creating various effects and I recommend trialing and testing different shapes to see what style and effectyou can get.

Brush numbers, what do they mean?

Brush numbers reference the brush size and these are varied and are not actually standardised to an extent. As even though these are written on the brush they can differ from brand to brand. As a rule the smaller sizes are 00 ( and below) and get larger (meduim sized) through 0 1 2 etc with large being 12 13 14 etc.

Handles, why they are different?

Long Handles allow working from a distance to see the painting while short are more ideal for close up detailed work. However if something works for you then use it.

So what is your preference?

I naturally paint smaller and detailed so mostly I use a mix of very small and medium sized brushes with a few larger brushes mixed in. I blend a lot and have a naturalistic style so this will influence how i use my brushes and what i need them for.

What are your go to brushes?

I have used very cheap school brushes and more expenisve brushes. If you go for very cheap ones you will find that they won’t give you a pleasant result. As they may lose bristles in your painting, the bristles wont be very smooth more rough and might drag the paint or stick out making fine lines quite hard to do.

I personally have discovered Windsor and Newton Monarch Brushes which are Synthetic Mongoose. (Mongoose was meant to be the best material to have a brush made from . I find them quite smooth and not too springy with a nice amount of resistance. I currently have brushes in sizes and shapes Bright 8 & Flats 10, Filberts 8, 4, Rounds 00, 2, 6, Fan 1 & Glazing Brush.

Pro Arte Prolene Synthetic Rounds in sizes 0, 2/0, 4/0. These I use for detailed work. (I break the no water colour brush rules here BUT don’t do this if you plan on using them for water colour & never the expensive brushes e.g squirrel)

I also have a set of miniature painting brushes I have a Pro Arte set of 4 Miniature Brushes Wallet Set (Synthetic) for detailed work in Sizes 10/0, 5/0, 3/0, 2/0.

I also have a few hog bristle brushes which I’m not a huge fan but do use if i need another brush to help place or blend a different tone of colour of and a set of cheap (I don’t care if I accidentally wreck this brush brushes). Which are very useful in situations that could end up in brush tragedy.

Recently I added a Silver Brush White Oval Mop (Synthetic Mop) to my collection in 1/2 in to try for clouds and a Hanover Foam Brush in 2in & 3in for Varnishing.

What are your Final Thoughts?

All in all, if you are a beginner, I suggest buying a few different kinds of brushes to try out something in hog hair maybe in a few shapes and sizes. Not too expensive but not too cheap either. Have a play with paint and meduim and see how it goes. As you grow to understand what you prefer and what effect a brush can give you you will most likely research and purchase different brush types to help give you a better effect e.g to give crisp line or blend etc.

If you have painted for a short time or a while and are looking to find a brush that helps you get a certain effect you are struggling with. I recommend looking at artists that create the effect that you want in their work. If they are on instagram or Youtube etc they might have a video of them creating the effect and you can perhaps see what technique they are using and what the brush looks like….or maybe ask them if you are feeling brave.