How to choose your artist brushes hair for watercolor painting
1. Brush Hair
The soul of a painting brush determines its water absorption, elasticity and lifespan
The material of watercolor pens directly affects the load-bearing capacity of the pigments and the texture of the strokes.
Common materials can be classified as:
There are two major categories: natural animal hair and synthetic fibers.
Kolinsky Sable Hair or Weasel Hair (red sable/Siberian sable) features:
Excellent water absorption (able to absorb 70% of its own weight in water),
strong elasticity, and outstanding pen tip tip concentration, suitable for detailed depiction.
Applicable scenarios: Professional-level landscape paintings, realistic flowers.
Disadvantages: Expensive and requires meticulous maintenance.
Good things are all precious and need to be attended to
The characteristics of squirrel hair: Its water absorption is more than twice that of sable hair. The brushstrokes are soft and it is suitable for large-scale blending.
Applicable scenarios: Wet painting background, sky and water surface where water and color blend together.
Note: It has relatively weak elasticity and is not suitable for fine lines.
The mixed hair (squirrel hair + synthetic fiber) is generally about 90% squirrel hair for the master grade, while for the academy grade, it is about 60% squirrel hair mixed with nylon hair.
Balanced choice: The academic grade combines the water absorption of natural wool with the toughness of synthetic wool, offering high cost performance and making it suitable for beginners.
Advantages of nylon/synthetic fiber: durable, easy to clean, affordable price, suitable for dry painting or texture shaping.
Limitations: Poor water absorption, it requires frequent dipping of the pigment. If you frequently dip the paint, the consequence will surely be leaving many strokes on the paper. However, we can use it to draw some pictures that require a dry brush or have a smaller area of detailed colors and a higher concentration.
The shortcomings of the pen are also its advantages, so it is still a good pen.
Advantages: More cheaper price than Kolinsky Sable Hair and squirrel hair.
Purchase suggestions: If your budget allows, choose a Kolinsky Sable Hair round-tipped pen. If you have a high need for shading, prepare a squirrel hair mop pen. For daily practice, a mixed brush or nylon pen can be used to reduce wear and tear.