Some people believe that there is an artist in all of us. Waiting for the right moment or the right place to express itself and be set free, the best brushes for watercolor might help you set the artist free !
Even if there isn’t an artist inside you, doing something completely different from your day job can sometimes be the difference between sanity and insanity.
It is for this reason that people pick up outdoor sports and extracurricular activities. Often we discover ourselves in those acts of curiosity.
Of course, quite often we become passionate about our day job. But for others, who like their work, and need a little extra to really discover who they are, artistic or adrenaline endeavours offer them aplenty.
Today, however, we’ll be taking artistic endeavours into consideration.
So painters and non painters alike, both could benefit from the guide we’re about to illustrate.
Below we’re presenting a comprehensive guide on the best brushes for watercolor.
Let’s get started.
It you have found the best brushes for watercolor selection featured below useful we invite you to cast a glance over the best acrylic paint brushes, best brushes for oil painting and the best sketchbooks for watercolor featured here on Architecture Lab.
Best Brushes for Watercolor
Table of Contents
Featured Image via Roman Kraft@romankraft
Image via Joanna Kosinska@joannakosinska
Best Brushes for Watercolor
1. Golden Maple 5 Pieces Best Professional Detail Paint Brush
- DETAIL PAINT BRUSH SET: 10pcs miniature...
- Perfect for all sorts of detailing. Good for nail...
There aren’t many instances when you can figure out something’s quality just based on its looks. But that is the case here indeed.
The brush are manufactured by using high end nylon hair. They have been imported from Japan. We liked these nylon hairs because they offer good water retention capacity.
While dipping in the color, and painting with various stroke angles, the water was firmly held by the hair bristles.
This also ensures that the tip is great in paint textures. The paint doesn’t leak, spread or stray on the paper.
Quite fortunately, the makers decided to go for triangle matte wood for the material chosen for the handles. This provides excellent grip and no breakage of material as well.
We didn’t notice any chips or deformities in the material handle when we unpacked the brushes. These brushes are well suited for acrylic paints and watercolor alike.
One thing we didn’t like was the sizes available in the packaging. Most brushes had little difference between each other.
- Good nylon bristles
- Strong wood for handle
- Little variety in sizes
2. Crayola 5 Count Triple Tip Markers
- TRIPLE COLOR: Crayola Washable Tri-Color Markers...
- 3 COLORS IN 1: Crayola Tri-Color Markers have a...
We like this product from Crayola because of convenience. How do? Let’s explain.
The tip of the marker comes with three tip colors. This means, that just with a simple rotation of the tip, you can have access to two other colors.
This is really convenient as it offers the chance to experiment without much effort.
What’s more, if you just rotate your marker in between strokes, you can achieve higher color differentiation easily.
Children can easily create their art with three colors at a time.
Another benefit these colors offer is their non toxicity. So you need not worry if this will affect your children. It won’t. In fact, this is one of the only product we came across that is absolutely safe for kids.
The washability from skin and fabric is another added benefit. In fact, we tried putting it on our handkerchief and test the claims. Like we said, it’s washable, easily.
Do note, that sometimes, things can a bit messy when trying all the colors at the same time. They also finish fast.
- Non toxic
- Washable
- Three tip colors
- Can get messy
- Color runs out quick
Image via Tracey Hocking@lazybonesaustralia
3. Creativity Street Round Brushes
- Canister of paint brushes includes 24 each of...
- Each paint brush features a brightly color plastic...
Coming from Creativity Street, here you get 24 brushes of 6 colors each. That’s a mind-numbing total of 144 brushes. We think that is enough to never run out of different options for strokes.
The bristles, as we expected, are made of nylon. That is a good choice considering their water retention capacity and flexible build.
The handle of the brush is made of plastic. Similar brushes do offer wood design in this price range, but considering the quality of the plastic, we can’t complain much.
We liked the fact that it comes in a storage container. This ensures that the brushes aren’t lost easily, while keeping them clean during storage as well.
And finally, the brushes are non toxic. So rest assured, it is definitely safe for the kids to use.
However, not all is good here. The plastic, although hard, can be broken easily in clumsy hands. And the brushes while 144 in number, can be a headache to decide and use.
- Storage container provided
- Nylon brushes
- Non toxic
- Hard but brittle plastic
Image via Khara Woods@kharaoke
4. US Art Supply 20 Piece Large Round and Large Flat Hog Bristle Brushes
- A fun 20-piece set of children's large 10 round...
- The brush handles are easy to grip for excellent...
Manufactured by US Art Supply, these brushes ensured that we had a ball while testing them. These 20 brushes come in two shapes.
A large round and a large flat brush design. The volume of the brush is pretty high. This ensures ample paint retention in the brush.
The handles are well made as well. We liked the wood build of the handles and the shiny metal like build of the ferrules.
Hog bristles, specially, hold a good amount of water and paint alike. It’s likely to be the favorite of you or your children.
Not only that, the handles are easy to grip as well. They fit well with children and adults alike.
And if you need to clean them, that’s fairly easy too. A simple soap and water solution should do the trick quite well.
Which brings us to the only qualm we have of this product, its joint at the ferrules.
We doubt if these brushes will last long.
- Good paint retention
- Easy to clean
- Easy to handle
- Not the best joint at ferrules
5. Creative Mark Original Scrubber Watercolor Brush Set of 3
- FEATURES: Made of extra stiff white nylon, scrub...
- PERFECT FOR: Works well with all watercolor paper,...
These brushes from Creative Mark come with a special scrubber technology. This enables them to lift color off of a palette easily.
The brushes function is further strengthened by their string nylon fiber build.
The ferrules really stand out. In our opinion, the nickel coated ferrules stand out most amongst all the brushes that we’ve tested.
Creative Mark has provided three different tip sizes here. There is one which is really thin, and there is a medium sized brush for all medium strokes. And finally, the thick brushes offer thick strokes easily.
These brushes are suitable for watercolor, charcoal, pastel and even graphite colors.
One problem in these brushes is the lack of options. All you get is three sizes and that’s about it.
And of course, the materials used are all non toxic and easy for children to use. Just be mindful of the nickel coated ferrules, they are not sharp enough to cut, but could be an irritant.
- Good water retention
- Excellent nylon bristles
- Non toxic
- Good build
- Lack of options
- Nickel coated ferrules could be irritating
Image via via Kelli Tungay@kellitungay
Things to Keep in Mind Before Buying Brushes for Watercolor
We have a formed a list of factors that you should keep in mind while buying a paint brush for your colors.
Hair Material
When choosing a hair type or bristle type, always keep three things in mind. The performance, resilience and the cost. It is always a good idea to select a brush that has good paint retention.
The brush should also be able to distribute the the paint material evenly on the surface of the canvas or paper.
Hard brushes usually end up in spoiling the drawing material.
The best hair material is made of sable hair. It’s an animal found in the northeast region of Asia. And the best sable hair is called Kolinsky as it is savaged from a weasel in Siberia.
Due consideration can also be given to ox, squirrel and goat hair as well. Although inferior to sable hair, they provide a decent cheaper alternative.
Shape
Of course, needless to mention that you must buy what suits you the best. If you are looking for thick strokes on a huge canvas, a brush with thick bristles and draw area is a better choice.
Similarly, for something finer, go for a thin bristles.
All around ability
For the versatility, nothing beats a round brush. It can easily be used for broader strokes, and for linear and think strokes as well.
If you’ve decided on buying a sable hair, we recommend going for round bristles for the all around capabilities.
Size
Again, for large canvases a large brush is a must. It is good to put large brushes to use in areas which do not require much detail.
And selecting a finer and thinner brush is the go-to choice in case you need to put in a lot of details.
Conclusion
We’re sure that if you keep the above factors in mind while buying a brush of your choice from our list, you can almost never go wrong.
Quite meticulously, we’ve selected and reviewed some of the best brushes on the market today. That’s so you don’t have to the hard work, just the smart work.
And for everything else, we’ll always be reachable.
Till next time.
