Choosing A Paintbrush – A Boring Necessity

Choosing a paintbrush is certainly not a topic that will generate a lot of excitement. i mean, c’mon… it’s a paintbrush, right. A stick with a hairy end on it.

What’s the big deal?

Of course, the truth is you can make choosing a brush far less complicated than what I present in this video. If you’ve watched a few of my videos, you know I like to overcomplicate things. Still, I have enough folks contact me asking “how do I pick a brush” that I thought making this video would be helpful. Even if it was boring.

As with choosing any tool for our hobby, some thought needs to be put into our goals. What is it that we are trying to achieve with brush painting?

Choosing A Paintbrush

When I built aircraft, I never thought about a brush. I had a few cheap nylon brushes from Hobby Lobby, and I used those to paint a few cockpit details, add a panel line wash, and that was pretty much it. Brush, drybrush, add a wash – done.

I’ve gone further down the brush painting rabbit hole, especially the side-tunnel labeled “miniatures”, I quickly realized my brush strategy was lacking.

I can’t say I started out trying to develop a personal “brush strategy”. It’s really something I evolved into over time. Usage of various brushes piqued my curiosity to try others. As I learned and experimented, I realized that a pattern was emerging. While probably a bit too “nuanced”, I’ve settled on a plan for when to use certain brushes. And knowing why I do so has helped me have more fun.

Because overcomplicated fun can still be fun!

Take a look at other Shop Talk videos.