Product Review: Paint Brushes

I have been looking for cheap and affordable brushes to use in art classes. I still wanted it to be really good quality brushes, though. I never expected to find brushes quite as cheaply as I did. I was very skeptical about how good these brushes could be, but decided to put them to the test. I share the results in today's blog. I also found some better quality brushes that were quite reasonably priced, in my search. I share the results of the tests I conducted on these brushes, as well.

The first brushes I tested, was purchased from a store in Benoni. I was a packet of five flat brushes of the same size that cost only R25 for all five brushes. When I opened the packet, I found the bristles to feel way too much like nylon for my liking. The handles were also extremely short, about 3/4 of the length of a normal length brush.

I tested the brushes on acrylic ink. I was certain that the brushes would not be able to pick up enough paint. I was pleasantly surprised when they did. The also painted it quite nicely on a page. Then I drew a flower with a pen to see if I could accurately fill the flower, or if the bristles would all go in their own direction. I was pretty impressed with the accuracy I managed to get from the brushes without much effort.

From another store in Benoni, I bought even cheaper brushes. These were six almost similarly sized brushes with random lengths of bristles. The packet cost only R14. These were once again flat brushes. I once again thought the bristles felt too much like nylon/plastic.

Yet again, I was surprised by how much paint I could pick up with the brush and how well it spread on the page. It was also very accurate when I used it to fill a flower with paint.

I found similar round brushes at the same store. This time they were of varying sizes. I did not like how the bristles all seemed bent at the tops.

I had similar results as with the flat brushes, but this time I had to compensate for the bend in the bristles, making it slightly more tricky to fill the flower accurately.

The brushes grouped together. Here you can see how short the first brushes are by comparison to the others.

I then turned my attention to a range of specialty brushes brought out by Pro Art. These are much more expensive than the previously tested brushes, but very reasonable when compared to similar specialty brushes from other brands.

I used the Rigger to write my name and found it worked a charm.

After that, I tested the Dragger. Fabulous!

The Angle Brush also impressed.

I bought two Rake brushes of different sizes. I liked the 1/2.

The 3/4 left me with no complains.

I then wondered how these brushes would fair with watercolours. The R25 brushes impressed me even more than with the acrylics.

The R14 flats were equally impressive.

Again my only complaint with the round R14 brushes, was the fact that there was a kink in the bristles that had to be compensated for.

An overview of the cheap brushes on watercolours.

Then I tested the Rigger on Watercolours as well. Lovely, as the first time.

I loved the Dragger with watercolours!

The Angle had no issues with the watercolours.

The 1/2 Rake was charming.

I am convinced that I will in future always use the rake brushes to pant grasses, hair and similar shapes and lines.

A view of the tests on watercolours.

An overview of all the tests conducted with these brushes. After testing the cheaper brushes reviewed in this blog, I was very impressed with their performance. However, when a couple of weeks later, I had two friends who knew nothing of art over for a painting lesson, they promptly pulled the hair from the brushes and proved themselves utterly unable to work with the brushes. They only achieved success once I gave them some of my more expensive bushes to work with. I do add this note here in the end as a warning. It also leaves me rather baffled. No professional artist will be willing to work with these cheap brushes, yet novices seem incapable of doing so. Perhaps they should then rather be avoided? Please take note: this comment does not apply to the white Pro Art brushes tested in this blog. These are simply brilliant!

You can watch a short compilation video of the above blog on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/43jdzCGPx40

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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