I have been thinking of writing this post for some time. As many of the readers of this blog will know, there is something rotten in the state of paintbrushes nowadays. I have been having serious problems acquiring good brushes for miniature painting the last few years, and I know that I am not alone here. I will not go into the exact causes, but I have heard rumors that this has something to do with the current conflict with Russia, as most of the high quality sable fur that is used to make the best brushes have been coming from there. Apparently the problems may stretch back to even before the war in the Ukraine, as there was a US ban on the material previous to that for other reasons, etc.
While the exact reasons may be obscure, the fact remains that good brushes are hard to come by. For me personally, I started noticing a decline in the quality of the brushes I had by then come to rely on, the W&N “7” (more on this below). This led me to search for alternatives, and I have actively been seeking out all the different makes of brush that I could find. Therefore I have made quite an extensive review of probably around 20 different brushes by more than 10 different brands.
First, the benchmark. Winsor & Newton’s Series 7. This is a brush used by many model and miniature painters. While it is not made primarily for miniature figure painting, it is a good brush and suitable for the purpose. It is famous for having originated from orders to the firm by none other than queen Victoria in the 1800s, the queen herself being a keen watercolorist.
Incidentally, the variety called “W&N Series 7 Miniature painting brush”, https://www.winsornewton.com/products/series-7-kolinsky-sable-brush-series-7-kolinsky-sable-mintature-painting-brush-round?srsltid=AfmBOooXfxiFVLCVsY_A-6Q_BQlGpaVFyVTHeNzd_NM9wR9SYCEv6adW is actually not the best miniature figure painting brush. As far as I can tell, the nomenclature refers rather to small details in watercolor painting or miniature paintings, rather miniature models. In my experience, the W&N “Miniature” brushes have too short bristles, which hold to little paint, even though they often have a good, fine sharp point just like the 7 series overall. The standard series 7 have more normal length bristles and can therefore be loaded with an appropriate amount of paint. For some detail work, the “Miniature” brush might be useful, but overall, I still prefer the standard 7 in almost all situations. There simply is no need for anything else. This may seem like an advertisment for W&N. But read on, and you will see that this is not quite the case. The “7” is indeed a good brush. But that does not mean that all W&N brushes are good, quite the contrary.
The point is the point
As I said, the “Miniature” is still a good brush, as its bristles come to a fine point and it retains that sharpness in its point for many hours of use, just like the standard “7”. And that is what it is all about. The point is the point. I paint hundreds of miniatures every year and most of them are painted with one or two, sometimes three layers of highlighting, plus a number of small details such as eyes, buttons, uniform collar and cuff piping etc. In all of these cases, a sharp point is necessary. A brush that lacks a point is useless and will likely result in your highlighting ruining the look of the model rather than improving it.
So, as I said, over the last couple of years I have tried a number of other brands in the hope of finding a reliable maker or one that might even surpass the hitherto undisputed cream of the crop. This is what I found…
Decent, poor or useless…
Having used these brushes for some time, I recently sat down to try to systematically review the alternatives. I knew already that the results were disappointing, but it is not all doom and gloom. There are degrees, even in hell, as we all know. It should be said here that my main interest is in sizes 0 and 00, primarily the latter. Larger sized brushes are useful too, but 00 is the main one for detail and it is in that size that the problems are most obvious. When using larger sizes of brush, a sharp point is not quite as important, as you are doing other things with it. It also seems that it is easier from the production standpoint to make a larger brush with a good point. Paradoxically, this means that some larger brushes in size 0 or 1 are in fact better at detail work than poor detail brushes! A too large brush that has a decent point is still better than a smaller brush which lacks a point entirely, even for detail work. This is significant, because there are so many poor detail brushes marketed towards miniature painters that you should really just stay away from!
I divided the brushes I tried into three main categories:
1. Decent brushes which work for the most important and demanding part of the painting process (highlighting and details).
2. Somewhat acceptable brushes which may not work for the above requirements, but may well be useful for other parts of the process, such as priming, washes, base colors (“blocking in” the main colors before the shading wash), etc.
3. Useless brushes which should not be used for miniature painting.
The results are perhaps somewhat surprising and they partly go against some of my expectations. The main surprise is the number of brushes that land in the useless category.
Category 1: The few good ones
Unfortunately in view of the original premise of the exercise, the first brush which qualifies here is still the W&N series 7. And it is also much better than the other brushes here, despite the unevenness in its performance. The “7” produces a good point, loads well and retains its shape and point for a long period of use. Indeed, some brushes are still useable even though half of the bristles have fallen off after a couple of years of hard wear.
However, there is at least one other decent alternative, although I have only put it in this category by the smallest of margins. These are brushes sold under their own brand by the local maker IB Wahlström (an old and well-known artists shop located here in Stockholm) and look very similar to W&N. They do not perform as well: they do come to a good enough point, but the point does not retain its shape for as long as the W&N, which makes it more difficult to use. Still, in light of the results for many of the other brands, this is quite an achievement.
I would say that Army Painter’s (white) “Character”, “Detail” and “Insane Detail” brushes also fall into this category. I have had some of these that have been quite good, but others much less so. The best ones come close to the “7”. So in that case it is a question of uneven quality. Army Painter also sell a (black) “Masterclass” brush, which is more than twice as expensive as their white brushes. Surprisingly, in my experience, the Masterclass is of inferior quality, if anything. Again, one would assume that this has to do with (very) unreliable levels of quality. Some individual examples of the AP brushes belong rather in category 3. They are very uneven. If you buy them, you are taking a chance. They may be OK, but only if you are lucky…
Category 2: The acceptable ones
In the second category I have placed a couple of different brushes by Raphael. This is also a renowned and well-liked brush, with high-quality sable bristles just like the W&Ns. However, something is off with these brushes. In sizes similar to W&N sizes 0 and 00 (Raphael seems to label them differently), they do not produce as sharp a point and therefore are not very suitable for detail work. On the other hand, in slightly larger sizes (corresponding to 1 or 2), they are very good and I use them for base coating the main colors, even smaller things like hands and weapons. So while Raphael is not quite up to the hype (Ive heard and read some recommendations of them), they have a distinct niche use. Larger brushes with a good point are an important part of your arsenal and play a huge part in speed painting, where you will need to paint an intermediate level of detail quickly. For that, Raphaels are very good. This includes the Raphael imitation sable “Precision”, which is also relatively OK (it is actually a synthetic, which I at first did not believe!). But they do not quite work for the most demanding detail work, in my experience. I have also put Warbases “Platinum” series here, they have similar quality.
Category 3: The useless ones
Sadly, the number of brushes that fall into this category is almost endless. I have put W&Ns “Cotman Round”, W&Ns “Professional Watercolour (synthetic)”, Citadel brushes, Leonhardy, AK Interactive, Vallejo, Abteilung 502 and Artis Opus here, among many others. It is quite terrible that so many well-known brands are so poor in quality!
To be fair, some of the brushes are synthetic, and after testing them, it becomes clear that synthetic brushes frankly do not seem to be up to the job. Synthetics can seem to have a somewhat good point, initially. The problem is that they soon bend at the very tip and start to spread out. Bending of the tip or splaying is also difficult or impossible to remedy once it has occured! Unfortunately, this tends to happen almost as soon as you start using them. Furthermore, even straight out of the packaging, the point is often less sharp than with organic brushes and I would not recommend synthetics for miniature painting at all really.
But many brushes are sold as sable or even Kolinsky (the finest quality sable), even though they have no point at all even when brand new. I dont know if this is a matter of material quality, or if it has to do with sloppy manufacturing, or perhaps both. In any event, the results are disappointing. With several brushes in this category being made by well known brands, including two by W&N themselves, for the consumer, this is certainly a minefield. It is very easy to be fooled into buying a crap brush thinking it is just a less luxurious version of the “7”, which uses modern materials to produce the same performance. This is just not the case.
The price…
One issue to consider here is price. You do get what you pay for, to some extent. It is certainly true that the W&N 7 is more expensive than the category 3 brushes. If they have anything in common it is the fact that they are, for the most part, rather inexpensive. Probably about half of the price of the 7 for the same size brush. Raphael’s 8404 has the same price tag as the 7. The good cheap options are AP, Warbases and Raphael’s synthetic Precision brush. The latter three are as cheap if not cheaper than the brushes I have put in category three.
Conclusion
The result of my exercise is that nothing still comes close to W&N 7, even though its quality has declined somewhat in recent years, and despite the fact that W&N themselves also produce useless brushes. What we can learn is also that there are way too many poor quality brushes out there. I certainly feel sorry for young wargamers or miniature painters starting off with their hobby. It is very easy to go wrong and get off to a bad start. Thinking back, I can unfortunately not remember what brand of brushes I used when I first started painting miniatures. But I have a distinct feeling that they used to be quite OK. In those days, it was more a question of affording to buy a new one when the one decent brush you had gave up the ghost. Possibly, it was easier then in one way. You would almost always buy your brush in a brick and mortar store, so that you could at least inspect the individual examples that were available before you bought them. Now that much of this is ordered online, there is no way of quite knowing what you will get.
Pancratist 