Brushes

In the next few articles, we’re going to talk equipment! This should be easy, as it is a nice, non-controversial subject, upon which there is 100% agreement across the world!

Riiiiggghhtttt….

If you are an aspiring board game speed painter, there are really only a small list of things that you really, truly need, apart from the game itself. And then there are truck loads of things that are nice to have. These posts will focus mostly on those essentials, but we will also briefly list some common, optional accessories in future posts.

First, let's talk brushes. We’re not going to get very far without these. Sadly, brushes are a pain in the neck. Don’t get me wrong, they are a wonderful tool of creation. But they are also a mess of non-standardized materials, terms, sizes and shapes. But let’s keep it as simple as we can.

In our world, brushes break down into two major categories, sable and synthetic.

There are folks out there who will tell you that synthetic brushes are an abomination! And that if you commit the blasphemy of touching a miniature with anything but the finest in Siberian, virgin, weasel butt hair, your miniature will explode, costing you three of your fingers and your left eye… And it’ll be your fault!

Not surprisingly, we speed painters can relax a little. If your immediate goals include entering miniature painting competitions, then yes… some sable brushes might be in your future. But if your goals are more along the line of speed painting Imperial Assault for next month’s game night, synthetics will work just fine.

The easiest thing to do is to grab some Citadel brushes from your nearest FLGS that carries Warhammer stuff. If you are just getting one brush, get a standard brush (orange tip). If you are all gung-ho, also pick up a large brush (red tip) and a detail brush (yellow tip).

Now, I said this is the easiest thing to do, not necessarily the smartest. These are low end brushes, their quality varies wildly, they wear out quickly and they cost twice as much as they should. That being said… I have speed painted many hundreds of miniatures with them, to good effect, before I knew any better.

Warhammer greenskins all painted with Citadel brushes.

If you’re willing to put in a little more effort, you can spend about the same amount of money and get a better synthetic brush. My brush of choice is Princeton Series 4050 Synthetic Sable Round. If you go this route, grab yourself a size two. If you’re gung-ho, also pick up a size zero and size one brush. They are nice for detail work, but the size two will be your workhorse. Also grab yourself a number ten flat brush. We’ll use it when we run into large surfaces.

Most people have some old, dead paint brushes around the place somewhere. If you do, dig those out. We’ll use them for some dirty work and spare your new brushes some pain. If you don’t, grab yourself a bag of cheap brushes of various sizes.

A quality natural hair sable brush will likely run you at least three times the cost for each brush. Due to the price point, I don’t have a wide range of experience which this category of brushes. I own the Winsor & Newton Series 7 kolinsky sable brushes. I’m not going to lie… They’re fantastic. But I barely use them for board games, only pulling them out for fine detail work. If you’re just getting into this hobby, you’d be crazy to spend that much on brushes until you have more experience and know how to care for them.

When it comes time to buy, an online art supply store is going to get you the best price. I order from DickBlick and have been very happy with them.

Next time, we'll talk about other necessary tools for painting bliss!



This post was adapted from an article originally published on the Mad Adventurer's Society.