What are the different styles of brushes for art?

A Handy Guide to Painting How you Want, Learn Your Brushes!

Obviously, there wouldn’t be different types of brush strokes if there weren’t different styles of brushes. But how many of us really understand what using different styles of brushes does for our painting?

How many of us can accurately describe what kind a stroke a filbert brush can give us compared to a flat style brush? Well, with a little bit of help from Jerry’s Artarama, you will be a master of knowing which brush to use when!

Different styles of brushes and what are they!

• Filberts- Flat brushes with domed ends. They allow for great coverage and the ability to perform some detail work.
• Brights- Shorter than flats, Brights are flat brushes with short, stiff bristles that are good for driving thinner paints into the weave of a canvas. They also work well with thicker paints like impasto. Used in oils and acrylics.
• Rounds- Rounds have a pointed tip with long, tightly arranged bristles meant for detail work and creating smaller details. Used for oils, acrylics, watercolor, alkyds, gouache, etc. Generally excepted for all media.
• Flats- Long haired, with flat bristles, Flat Brushes are fantastic at spreading paint evenly and quickly over a canvas or panel. If you are laying down a base layer, using a flat will over your canvas very evenly. Used for oils, acrylics, watercolors and all types of painting.
• Fans – A fan brush is a brush with a thin layer of bristles spread out by the ferrule. A fan brush is commonly used to blend colors but is also perfect for painting hair, grasses, or thin branches

Other popular brush types include:

• Fans- Wide bristled brushes that are used for spreading paint widely and blending broader areas of your paint. Used in oils and acrylics
• Angles- A lot like Filberts, Angle brushes are great for spreading paint with lots of coverage and can also be used for detailed work. Their bristles are shaped angular and cut down from one side. Used in watercolors and acrylics.
• Sword Liners – Sword liners have a long flat bristle, sharp point and a full body that acts as a reservoir for holding color. The brush shape is ideal for pinstriping, hand lettering and creating continuous ornamental designs
• Wash Brushes – A wash brush is useful for laying in large areas of water or color, for wetting the surface, and for absorbing excess media
• Mops – A mop brush is a large, round wash brush most commonly used to cover large areas in watercolor or other diluted or liquid color whilst a wash brush is a large flat brush that does a similar job

Featured: The Mimik Kolinsky Professional Art Brush Collection has all the styles, shapes and sizes needed for creating the best artwork!

Watercolor, Oil and acrylic Brushes!

You may also want to know that for fine artist brushes, short-handled brushes are commonly used for watercolor, while long-handled brushes are used for oil and acrylics.

Now that you know a little more about the tools you use to paint, you can make educated decisions on what kinds of brushes you need to handle your artwork.