One of the fundamental skills of an artist is the ability to paint beautiful pictures. So, if you want to be a good artist, you must first master the painting skills and what other importance are there except to know your tools where in this context, it is the brush? Like tools for the carpenter, the brush determines how your painting would be like in the end so it is essential that you know which one to use and apply before starting out on your canvas.
The most common types of brushes are the flats. As the name implies, flats are commonly used when you want to paint a bland and flat surface. They are the most common brushes used which are commonly applied when you want to paint the basecoat or for priming. This is usually in the beginning stages of the painting while flats are also used at the end stages when you are varnishing the piece. Other usage of flats includes floating and blending of the painting.
The Cat’s Tongue is also known as the filbert
Basically it is a flat brush where the edge is rounded which makes it look like a cat’s tongue, and hence the name. This type of brush is very commonly used for base-coating because they are designed to eliminate ridges. Another common type of flat brush is known as the Chisel Blender which comes with shorter hairs. This type of brushes are popular for touching-up and for blending techniques while they are not too popular for flowing strokes.
A flat brush that is made with an angular chisel or a brush tip is known as the angular brush. It is also referred to as the rose petal. If you want to create a more tight shading effect and to highlight, then the rose petal is the ideal brush because they are made not to hold too much paint and water at any one time.
The round brushes are the ones that you will use when you like watercolour. There are many sizes when it comes to this type of brushes which is also the main type of brush used in stroke-works as well as for those who want to improve your brush control skills.
Liners are a type of round brushes and similarly they come in many sizes
Basically, liners have different lengths and thickness which will be the main elements that will determine how the effects will be like. Depending on the characteristics of the brush, you can use a script liner, a long liner, a mid-length liner or short liners to create the desired effect you are looking for.
On top of that, you will also gradually learn to use specialty brushes like the filbert rake brushes which are commonly used to paint hair and feathers, the mop brush which is specifically made to create softening edges and blending purposes, the stippler which are commonly used dry, the fan brush which typically is a flat brush with a fan-like edge and the needle-pointed brushes which looks very much like the Chinese brush that are used to paint strokes, grasses and such.
