How to choose brush? Natural Brushes or Synthetic brushes?
When it comes to paint brushes, some prefer to paint with natural bristles while others prefer synthetics. What’s the difference?
What is a good paint brush,point as below:
- Bend Recovery, & Wear
- Consistent filament quality
- Superior paint application
- High chemical resistance
- Excellent abrasion resistance
- Excellent elastic memory
Then what’s the difference for synthetic filament and natural boar bristle?
From the price: Synthetics are made to act like natural fibers without all the special care involved and are easily mass-produced, less expensive than boar bristle which comes from the boar hair.
From the performance: Synthetics filaments are made to act like natural bristle, by chemical process treatment. But animal rights and other environmental sustainability issues may be a concern for you
Then how to choose synthetic filament and boar bristle for paint brushes?
Boar bristle:
- work well with oil paints –oil conditions the bristles or hairs making them more pliable
- work well with watercolors—really soak up water and redistribute onto canvas
- are not super compatible with acrylics
- tend to hold shape well-good shape retention
- are more expensive
- can become damaged by acrylic paints
- tend to leave brushstroke marks—can be good or bad depending on your intent
- animal rights and other environmental sustainability issues may be a concern for you
Synthetic brushes:
- are made of nylon or polyester or mix of both and by chemical process or physical process.
- more budget-friendly
- also work well with acrylics, oils and watercolors
- tend to hold and release a lot more paint
- splay more easily/faster
- leave a smoother finish, and few to no brush marks
- don't exploit animals
- are good for all levels of expertise