Before you move forward with our top 5 watercolor brushes, we would like to notify you about our best pick based on the customer reviews and the highest sale. The Nicpro 12 Pcs Paint Brushes Set has a solid range of brushes that are reasonably constructed. Brushes are of good quality and a great value and bristles will not come loose easily. There are also no visible bubbles in the paint on handles.Â
Beginner Watercolor Supplies — My favorite recommendations to get started
One of the beautiful things about watercolor painting is it’s simplicity — You only need 3 supplies to get started with: some paint, a brush, and paper! Here are the supplies I’ve used since Day 1 of my watercolor journey and a few extras that I also recommend for beginners. I’ll be creating additional guides that go into more detail in the near future!
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Watercolor Paint
My first set of watercolor paints (besides the crayola set my kids were using) was this Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketch Set with 24 colors.
It’s a nice quality set for beginners and intermediate artists. It has a good variety of colors, and the paints are a good quality — better than your basic $10 sets and more affordable than the Daniel Smith tubes I use now. Plus, it’s portable and comes with a waterbrush, sponge, and lots of mixing space!
Other good options for beginner watercolor paints:
- Sakura Koi Pocket Field Kit 30 assorted colors with water brush pen
- Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Paint Sketchers’ Pocket Box, Half Pans, 14-Pieces
- Arteza Watercolor Paint, Set of 12 Assorted Vibrant Colors in Half Pans, Tin Box with Water Brush Pen
- Arteza Watercolor Paint Set, Set of 25 Water Colors, Vibrant Pan Paints with Brush,
If you want to skip ahead to professional quality paints, my favorite paints are Daniel Smith. Windsor and Newton is another good option.
You could start with this perfect beginners set that includes two complete sets of primaries (so two blues, two yellows, and two reds). Using this set will help you become familiar with color mixing and how different pigments behave and interact.
Another option would be Jane Blundell’s Ultimate Mixing set for Daniel Smith. Jane Blundell is a wealth of knowledge about pigments and mixing and watercolor generally!
If you purchase tubes of paints, you’ll want your own palette to put them in. I use this simple plastic palette (I actually have 3 of them). I also highly recommend Expeditionary Art Art Toolkit Palettes as well. Plus Maria is an incredible resource for all things watercolor — supplies, tool, techniques, color mixing, etc.
Watercolor Brushes
Watercolor brushes vary by shape, size, and bristle type. So when you are shopping for brushes you’ll see information like Round, Size 14, Synthetic.
- For shape, you’ll see words like round, oval wash, dagger, script, mottler, filbert, fan, and more).
- For size, the larger the brush, the bigger the number telling you the size. So a round size 8 is smaller than a round size 14. Unfortunately, sizes are not consistent across brands, so a Size 8 Princeton Velvetouch may be a different size than a size 8 Grumbacher brush. Just a head’s up!
- As for bristle type, you can find brushes that are made of natural hair (like genuine goat or squirrel hair), brushes that are made of synthetic hair (often engineered to behave similar to a specific natural hair), or bristles that are a mix of natural and synthetic hairs. Natural hair brushes hold more water and are often much more expensive. Synthetics give a nice range of price points, still manage water very well, and often keep their shape better and for longer than natural hair brushes.
Watercolor Paint Set
The heart of any watercolor endeavour is the paint itself. I strongly advise investing in a limited selection of high-quality colors rather than opting for a large set of children’s watercolors. Quality paints yield vibrant and long-lasting results, providing you with a more enjoyable painting experience.
Winsor & Newton Cotman, Half Pans, 13 count
Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Paint, Set of 12
5 BEST WATERCOLOR BRUSHES ON AMAZON
We looked at the ratings, number of purchases, customer reviews and remarks about the products. All of this then, mixed with our experience, helped us make our conclusion, so that you feel at ease while picking anyone of the following that meets your needs.
We have selected the following brushes after a thorough research as the best watercolor brushes on Amazon:
- Filbert Paint Brush Set
- Santa Fe Art Paintbrush Set
- Nicpro 12 Pcs Paint Brushes Set
- Synthetic Paint Brush Set
- Magic Touches Artist Paint Brush Set
Filbert Paint Brush Set
You’ll find this oil watercolor paint brushes wonderful and incredible for acrylic paint and watercolor paint. These sable brushes are extraordinary to use for children, and students. They are red sable brushes contained with a blend of premium natural kolinsky sable hair that expands great liquid limit.Â
These are the oil painting brushes conveying extraordinary strokes while painting you paint your masterpiece, without stray hairs. These are better than any of the less expensive watercolor brushes available. These filbert paint brushes hold paint pleasantly giving you the incredible ability for all your techniques.
Pros:
- These brushes are easy to clean and store.
- They will give you ease in each stroke with an equivalent measure of lightweight without cramping your hand.
- These are astounding brushes that will keep going quite a while if you store them properly.
- The weasel hair brushes are simply incredible. The fibers have a pleasant spring to them and snap back into shape after being pressed. You can even paint a straight line with them because hairs are of good quality.
Cons:
- The minor issue with these brushes is that sometimes brush hair fall out on the canvas.
Check the latest price on Filbert Paint Brush Set
Santa Fe Art Paintbrush Set
The brushes of this set appear to be firm and well made. The handles are of good quality and appear as though they will keep going quite a while with proper care.Â
These brushes are wonderful, agreeable and set down the paint smoothly. When using these with acrylics, they work exceptionally well with mixing. The detail brush handle is extremely comfortable and keeps up control of the brush. They are stacked with fibers, which makes them able to hold a great amount of paint.
Pros:
- These are of versatile quality brushes for acrylic, watercolor, gouache, oil, face paint.
- They have no free hair. They are 12″ brushes and have well-adjusted wood handles.
- The set includes fan, filbert, round, tapered, wide, and fine detail brushes.
- The set of brushes is available in a protective bag that pops up to show the paint brushes while painting.
- From beginners to experts, all appreciate this quality arrangement of brushes including 100% lifetime replacement warranty.
Cons:
- These brushes might lose their points. The brushed metal might get isolated totally from the handle being unstable to be used.
Check the latest price on Santa Fe Paint Brush Set
Nicpro 12 Pcs Paint Brushes Set
Each brush highlights secure high quality aluminum crimped ferrules that oppose to rust and won’t shed. Seamless defender tubes on the brushes additionally go about as each brush’s handle. These are made in the USA with quality materials. You’ll find these brushes durable.Â
The manufactured sable gives fantastic paint stream and spring. They are easy to clean as well. The guidelines are included in the packet for longer enduring bristles.
Pros:
- These are in a round brush travel set with which one can appreciate proficient outcomes outside or inside the studio.
- Four diverse sizes are available that one may require most;Â round: (1, 4, 8 ) flat:(6, 11) filbert: (2, 7, 9) angel: (3, 5, 10) rigger: 0
- They have long enduring fibers made of clean manufactured sable; incredible for oil, acrylic, and watercolor paint use.
- Customer satisfaction is ensured and it is risk-free purchase for anyone.
Cons:
- These are one of the most commonly used brushes by the customers.
Synthetic Paint Brush Set
You will find these brushes suitable for multi-purpose tasks as tempera, ink painting, dyeing, pigmenting, face painting, food coloring, water coloring, and etc. Many sizes are available from fine, small, medium to large brushes. Synthetic brush hair is suitable for beginner & learner artists as well as intermediate and experienced painters.
Pros:
- You will find them convenient for storage & easy transportation to travel, holiday or painting retreat locations.
- There is a separate room for an eraser & your favorite sketching pencil.
- This student paint brush set is hand-crafted right here in the USA using globally sourced components for the best quality.
- If these artist paintbrushes don’t meet your standards or are otherwise defective, you can simply make a request for a full refund or exchange.
Cons:
- This is a thorough assortment of artist-quality paintbrushes.
Magic Touches Artist Paint Brush Set
Check the latest price on Magic Touches Paint Brush Set
FINAL VERDICT
While all painters require great materials, finding an amazing brush is a dire need for watercolor painters. With rising brush costs, more craftsmen are attempting different materials and will explore different avenues regarding an assortment of materials and styles before finding their most loved brushes. Artists who make substantial works will require a lot of bigger brushes than artists leaning toward little, point by point work.
As a rule, it’s smarter to choose a couple of good brushes, for example, a couple medium-estimate round and a level brush as opposed to attempting to gather a full scope of sizes and styles. Great quality rounds and pads can give the vast majority of the strokes which claim to fame styles offer. You can likewise try different things with various sorts of brushes to discover the kinds of brushes to suit your work of art style best.
Hopefully, you liked our list for the best watercolor brushes on Amazon. Let us know if you find any problems with it.
Beatrix Ainsley (Bea to her friends) is an abstract artist who was heavily inspired in her twenties by the abstract expressionist movement of the 1940s. Since then Bea has acquired three degrees in Science, Education and most importantly Fine Art. Her art works showcase exploring emotion and introspection of self. To achieve this – the use of bold, sweeping, intricate layers of color, and spontaneity of form is enhanced by reflecting on decades of life experiences. Bea has amassed a vast knowledge of art in all its forms, and hopes to pass it on with her contributions here.
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