If you are a beginner or novice when it comes to acrylic painting, you probably won’t need that many brushes to start. It is best to try to choose a few acrylic brushes in various sizes.
One of the most difficult things for beginning painters is simply knowing what they need to start. If you want to learn how to paint acrylics are a wonderful medium for beginners. You don’t need any special tools to start painting with acrylics, all you need are some paintbrushes, quality acrylic paints, and a canvas to get started.
While it sounds simple, your first trip to the craft store may feel overwhelming! You can find yourself looking down the paint aisle at a loss for what to choose. What’s the difference between a liner and a flat brush? Do you really need multiple sizes? And should you get synthetic or natural bristles? This article is a guide to the essential paintbrushes used for acrylic painting. Read on to learn the basics and start your painting journey struggle-free!
Basic Paintbrush Shapes
Knowing the different brush shapes and how to use them is key to improving your painting technique. For example, liner brushes can help you paint thin and precise lines whereas a flat brush is ideal for bold/broad strokes. Having a variety of brushes in different shapes and sizes opens up different painting techniques and styles for you to try.
Below we’ve listed the most common paintbrush shapes out there and how they can be used. Feel free to save this graphic to refer back to until you’re comfortable with using each brush.
Try practicing by painting simple strokes with each brush until you’re comfortable using it. Experiment with different angles, levels of pressure, and amounts of paint. Practice will help you get used to the unique feel of each paintbrush.
Paintbrush Sizes
Paintbrushes come in a variety of sizes indicated by a number, usually on the handle. The numbers can start from 000 and go all the way up to 20. Be aware that different brands of paintbrushes in the same size can look different.
Each size of a paintbrush has its own purpose. Smaller brushes are used for detail work and fine lines, mid-sized brushes are the most versatile, and larger brushes can be used for washes or painting large areas.
For beginners, try starting off with mid-sized brushes (sizes 6 to 8) in different shapes. Once you know more about your painting style you can branch out to smaller or larger brushes depending on your needs.
Anatomy of a Paintbrush
Did you know each part of the brush has a different name? DecoArt’s Art For Everyone Learning Center has free videos on all the paintbrush basics, including paintbrush anatomy.
Paintbrush Bristle Types
Paintbrush bristles mostly fall into two common categories, natural and synthetic. Natural bristles will be made of a material such as hog bristle or soft sable whereas synthetic bristles will be made from nylon and polyester.
There are pros and cons to each bristle type. Natural bristles can handle heavier paint easier and are better at holding their shape over time. This makes them a favorite for oil painters. However, acrylic paints can damage the natural fibers and these brushes cannot handle sitting in water which may make them too finicky for beginners.
On the other hand, synthetic bristles won’t break down in acrylic paint and don’t mind sitting in water. They don’t hold their shape as well as natural bristles, but can still last a long time if properly cared for. Overall, if you’re using brushes mainly for acrylic painting, synthetic brushes are the way to go.
How To Store and Clean Paintbrushes
A common mistake beginners make is letting the paint dry on their brushes. Dried acrylic paint can quickly ruin even the nicest set of brushes, so always keep water on hand to rinse off your brushes after each use. Make it a habit to wash your brush clean of paint and smooth it back into its original shape once you are done using it. Using a brush cleaner will maintain the soft delicate brush bristles and keep your brushes lasting longer.
This video on brush care is a great resource for art and craft painters who want to take good care of their brushes.
What Paintbrushes You Need to Get Started
This may seem like a lot of information, but don’t get overwhelmed! Here’s our recommended list of paintbrushes for beginning painters looking to get started.
If you’re looking to get started painting DecoArt has all the supplies you need! Our Designer Brush Sets are a great starting point for aspiring painters, and our new Acrylic Paint Sets come in a variety of color sets to help you get a jumpstart on your collection. Click here to check out all our painting supplies.
Next Steps
Now that you know all about paintbrushes it’s time to pick one up and start painting! Our video on basic brush strokes can help you practice with your new brush set.
If you’re new to painting or looking to refresh your skills, our Art For Everyone Learning Center is a wonderful resource. We upload free videos on a variety of techniques and other art basics to help you learn to paint right at home. You can also check out the DecoArt blog where we post new tutorials and projects every week or the DecoArt Project Gallery.
Happy making! From your friends at DecoArt.
The Various Kinds of Brushes for Acrylic Paint
Many things come into play when choosing brushes for acrylic paint. Further on in this guide, we will discuss acrylic brush size and shape, but, for now, we will delve into the types of materials used to make the bristles of professional paint brushes. There are two categories, namely synthetic and natural bristle brushes.
Are Natural or Synthetic Acrylic Brushes Best?
Choosing a type of brush for your acrylic painting is important. The bristles of natural brushes are obviously created with natural fibers. These include sable for softer bristled brushes and hogs’ hair for brushes with stiff bristles. Some professional paint brushes are even made using hair from a camel! That said, the majority of natural fiber acrylic brushes are made from the hair of horses, goats, badgers, and ox, to name a few. Natural bristle brushes are best used for oil painting, rather than acrylic. This is because they can manage the heavy load of oil paints while still retaining their shape.
Many people will assume that natural brushes trump synthetic, but the truth is that acrylic paints work far better with synthetic brushes!
If you use natural brushes when using acrylic paint, you will likely cause damage to your brushes. You are unable to soak natural bristle brushes in water for too long, and this will cause your brushes to decay faster. Of course, you most certainly can still use natural brushes, however, it is important to remember to clean them and look after them properly after use. Another thing to remember is to make sure any residue oil paint has been removed using turpentine if you have used the brush to paint with oil before using it with acrylic paint. Oil paint repels acrylic.
The best acrylic brushes would be those made with synthetic nylon. You are also able to purchase brushes made of polyester or even a combination of both synthetic materials. There is also a massive range of choices when selecting acrylic brushes made from synthetic materials. These brushes are available in softer or stiffer varieties and are easy to clean with no adverse effects on the bristles. This means that synthetic brushes are far more durable and also a lot more affordable than natural bristle brushes. The only real disadvantage is their inability to hold a lot of paint.
Different effects can be achieved with softer or stiffer bristles – Stiff bristles can help achieve more texture, while softer bristles work well for blending your pigments.
When one paints using acrylic paints, much of the paintbrush’s life will be in the water. This is why using natural brushes is a poor choice. Imagine leaving your higher-priced sable bristle brush in water for half a day – it would cause irreversible damage! This is why buying proper acrylic brushes made especially for acrylic paint is so important – these brushes hold their shape after use and are far more durable – making them the ideal choice for anyone painting with acrylic paint, especially novices. Here we have laid out what to expect from every type of professional paint brush.
| Natural Paintbrush | Synthetic Paintbrush | |
| Expensive | ✔ | ✘ |
| More Affordable | ✘ | ✔ |
| Oil-based Paints | ✔ | ✔ |
| Acrylic Paints | ✘ | ✔ |
| Bristle Loss | ✔ | ✘ |
| Cleans Easily | ✘ | ✔ |
| Durability | ✘ (needs more care) |
✔ |
| Smoother Strokes | ✘ | ✔ |
| Retains Stiffness With Acrylics | ✘ (loses stiffness over time) |
✔ |
Important Notes About Brushes for Acrylic Paint
We need to remember that a paint brush is not simply just a brush. There are more things to consider. When it comes to the design of professional paint brushes, each brush has a “toe end” and this is the part of the brush where its bristles come into contact with your canvas or whatever it is you are painting. The “belly” is the part of the bristles which has the widest section of hairs and the head of the brush is referring to all the bristles as a whole.
Most people have no idea that the metal part of the brush which helps connect and keep the bristles in place with the handle has a name! It is called a ferrule. This crimp-like metal section fastens the bristles in place. The heel section of the ferrule is the part that is squished. This is how the bristles are kept in place. Most brush handles will have stamped or engraved the size of the brush and often the style of brush, too.
If you are a beginner or novice when it comes to acrylic painting, you probably won’t need that many brushes to start. It is best to try to choose a few acrylic brushes in various sizes.
This will enable you to experiment and find which are the best brushes for your unique tastes, style, and so on. Paint brushes are a personal thing, much like your choice of shoe! What works for one artist, may not work for another. In fact, you might be entirely satisfied with more affordable varieties of brushes and never need to spend the money on expensive, higher-quality brushes for acrylic paint. Since we have now compared natural brushes and synthetic ones and made the realization that synthetic brushes make more sense for affordability reasons, there are still a few things to consider when choosing types of paint brushes for acrylic.
The Size of the Acrylic Brushes
Professional paint brushes are available in many different sizes ranging from large to very small and fine. Your choice of brushes for acrylic paint will be dependent on what exactly you are painting, and what you are painting on. Different brush sizes are for different effects. For example, if you are painting fine and precise detailing, you would opt for a smaller brush. If you are painting a large area and need a lot of coverage, a bigger brush may be preferred.
You can find brushes as small as size 0000 all the way up to a huge sized 24! As a beginner with this medium, it would make sense to choose three acrylic brushes. One small, one medium, and one large. This would be a good start to building your acrylic paint brush sets. Be sure to double-check if you are buying brushes online, as some manufacturers of brushes use different sizes with different numbers.
The Shape of Each Paintbrush
Each brush shape will create different and various patterns and effects. It is best to take time using different brush shapes to find which effects you like and want to recreate in your artwork. Some of the brush shapes available include the following shapes:
The Texture of the Bristles
When using a brush with stiff bristles, you can create texture. This is great for abstract pieces. Softer bristle brushes work well for blending. Depending on what you are looking to create in your artwork, will depend on which texture bristles you want to use.
The Cost and Affordability of Brushes for Acrylic Paint
There are so many different types of paint brushes for acrylic available, and so many different brands who create them! Most of the time, the only thing that may hinder your choice is the price tag! That said, if you have an open budget, it will not hurt to choose brushes that are more luxurious and of higher quality!
If you want to, you can visit a physical art shop so you can hold the brushes and get a feel for them in your hands.
Once you know what you prefer, you can do your shopping online – there are so many more options and often specials online for you to take advantage of! Remember, if you are underpainting or needing to cover a large surface area, using a cheaper brush is just fine.
Which Acrylic Brush Sets are the Best?
There are not only a plethora of paint brush options but a huge range of manufacturing companies that make them. This means that there are tons of acrylic brushes available to suit a wide range of needs and budgets! When purchasing acrylic brush sets you will want to choose a high-quality one. You will need brushes that will hold up well, and also hold pigment nicely. If you do not know where to begin, thanks to all the options available, read on for our top acrylic paint brush set choice!
Top Choice Beginner Acrylic Paint Brush Set: SOUCOLOR Acrylic Paint Brushes Set
This awesome set from Soucolor has every brush you may require while painting with acrylic. Not only is this acrylic paint brush set easy on the wallet, but it is of decent quality as well. The brushes in the Soucolor set are also very versatile and you will be able to use them with both oil paint and acrylic. They are even a good choice for watercolor too!
This versatility makes it our top choice for almost any art and craft project. The brushes are also easy to clean and long-lasting. The nickel ferrule is double-crimped and will not rust, meaning it will last much longer and not lose hairs as many brushes do. If you have been searching for a gift for an arty friend, then this acrylic paint brush set is the ideal choice.
