Just like a gun without a bullet, doing oil paintings without the appropriate brushes is also as useless. A paintbrush is considered the most important tool in creating artworks so knowing the types, proper usage, and how to maintain them should be familiarised by anyone who wants to master the art of painting. For starters, there are two main types of brushes and these are the soft and the stiff bristled brushes. Brushes with softer hairs are best used in applying paint with smooth effects or when creating small details on the canvass. The stiff brushes, on the other hand, are perfect for moving paint on textured canvas or for applying the background or creating a base paint layer.

Moreover, there are four main brushes that every artist practicing the techniques of oil paintings should have. These are:

1. Bright brushes
2. Flat brushes
3. Round brushes
4. Filbert brushes

Bright brushes have round middles and flat ends and are perfect for doing landscapes. Bright brushes are very flexible. For example, when this brush is pressed sideways, it can create bold and broad stroke lines. When held up on its point, it can create thin lines that are perfect for creating details. Dragging it across the canvass, on the other hand, can give sweeping strokes. The second type of brush commonly used in oil paintings is the flat brush. It looks similar to bright brushes except that it has longer hairs. Flat brushes are also best used in creating landscapes and still life and almost have the same effects like the bright brushes. The only difference is that the artist can hold more paint when using this type of brush.

The third type of brush is the round brushes which got their name from the round ferrules or metal parts that is holding the hairs. The tips of the round brushes can either be pointed or rounded and they are designed in creating more controlled strokes. They are usually used in sketching initial shapes on canvass or to block gapped areas. Round brushes are best used for creating expressive strokes because the artist has more control of the width and texture of the strokes. The last type of brush is very important in oil painting- the filbert brush. This type of brush is a crossover between the flat and the round brush but has slightly curved tips. Unlike flat brushes, they are easier to control so that they can create different kinds of strokes. Filbert brushes are considered one of the main fundamentals in oil painting because they are perfect in creating almost just about any painting from portraits to figure paintings.

There are other various brushes that can be used in oil artworks too like the long handled brushes, short handled brushes, and fan brushes. Long handled brushes are perfect for large canvasses because they allow the artist to stand back and view their work from a far angle. Shorter brushes, on the other hand, are recommended for smaller paintings that need more accuracy. Lastly, fan brushes are wide Chinese-fan shaped brushes that are helpful in blending and spreading colours smoothly.

Author Bio: David Shepherd Artwork Alexander Millar Artwork

Category: Arts and Crafts
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