Another useful application is for painting the fluffy seed heads of thistles. Use several colours in similar tones, loosely mixed, so each brushstroke contains variety of colour. The strong bristles of hog’s hair will create ridges in heavy body acrylic paint, adding to the texture.
4 Watercolor Techniques For Painting With A Fan Brush
Have a fan brush but have no idea how to use it? Here are 4 watercolor techniques using a fan brush, courtesy of Steve Mitchell. Thanks Steve!
- A few small sheets of watercolor paper
- Masking tape (width 1″)
- Painting palette for watercolor paints
- Your choice of watercolor paints
- A container of water
- A towel or rag to dry off the brushes
- Fan brush (size 4 and size 10/0)
- Round brush (size 8)
Random Upward Strokes
Tape a small sheet of watercolor paper to your workspace or a wooden board for support (you can switch papers whenever you run out of space). Then, using the round brush, mix some water into your green paint before painting a saturated line onto the paper. While the paint is still wet, take the clean size 4 fan brush and gently brush in an upwards motion, starting from the bottom of the line of green and ending above the initial line. Gradually lift the brush off the paper to taper the points. You can curve the lines to the left and right to create a grassy effect. You can also use a twisting motion, or use the edge of the bristles to prevent the grass from looking too patterned (i.e. regular).
The next technique was taken from oil painter Bob Ross, and can be used for oil painting as well. Steve calls this technique the “side crunch”, where you hold the fan brush perpendicular to the paper and “crunch” the bristles onto the paper. Move the brush up and down in a stabbing motion, and work your way back and forth to create a dotted texture. The resulting effect should look like spiky leaves on a tree.
Side To Side
Another method is to hold the fan brush so it’s horizontal to the paper, then use the edge to paint side-to-side. Don’t paint completely straight lines; rather, you can let the brush move down a little occasionally to create a mossy or grass-like texture (called “scumbling”). For more controlled strokes, use the corner of the brush. Another way to use this technique is to paint water ripples with some blue paint. As mentioned before, you can scumble the edges to create a more irregular effect.
The most unusual technique is the bouncing technique. This is where you hold the end of the fan brush between your thumb and forefinger, then lightly bounce the brush on the paper. This creates a dot-like texture, although Steve doesn’t really recommend using this technique to paint foliage as it is again too regular-looking. You can bounce the brush on its edge to vary the effect and prevent the dots from looking too patterned. Feel free to experiment for yourself! You’ll discover which techniques you’re most comfortable with, and practice your fine-motor skills at the same time. Here’s a video of Steve demonstrating each technique:
Origins of the fan brush
Originally conceived as an oil painter’s brush, the fan’s traditional use is for blending colours or softening hard edges. (Give that a try with other paint types too, to see how effective it is.) Yet the fan brush is so much more, being suited to other paint media and to a wide range of mark-making possibilities. All my examples here use heavy body acrylics.
Fan brushes are available in synthetic (often referred to as nylon) or natural hair. The natural brushes vary from soft to stiffer bristles, depending on which type of hair is used – sable, badger or squirrel, goat or hog.
Most manufacturers indicate the different sizes numerically, using only even numbers, or sometimes as Small, Medium or Large. Brush ranges usually include several different sizes of fan, sometimes sold as a set. They vary slightly in size, bristle length, width and density, depending on the range and manufacturer.
The most useful size depends on the usual size of your artwork. The very biggest may be too big to be beneficial, unless you regularly work at a large scale. I suggest buying one and then adding other types or sizes later as necessary.
The majority of fan brushes retail at £5-£10, so this is a brush that won’t break the bank. Once you have invested in a brush, care is important for longevity. To keep the bristles evenly spread, be sure to clean your fan right down to the ferrule.
While the nylon bristles look evenly spaced when dry, when wet the fibres are prone to dividing into chunks, or points, giving stripy marks. Not always ideal, though that can be a useful attribute on occasions.
I mostly prefer hog’s hair fan brushes as, in my experience, they usually spread more evenly when wet.
As natural hair spreads more evenly, I prefer them whether painting in watercolours, inks, acrylics or oils. The softer hair types work well with fluid media; hogs hair can be used with any medium. The stiffer bristles of hog’s hair are particularly effective for rendering textures in acrylic, especially heavy body. For watercolourists, fans are available in Kolinsky sable.
Make a fan brush test sheet
I contend that the fan brush is hugely useful, and deserves its place in your painting kit. Broken edges, long lines, stippling, texture, wispy strokes – the fan brush takes them in it’s stride.
So how do we use a fan brush? Whenever you purchase a new brush, I recommend making a test sheet. I’ve often heard students say that they own a fan brush but don’t know how to use it. A test sheet solves that problem, is useful reference, and is fun to produce.
Write down the brush size, or draw around it, so you know which was used for this test sheet. The selected brush may seem obvious now, but it’s easy to forget with the passage of time.
Take a fresh page of your sketchpad, or use a large sheet of card, about A3 size. Avoid scrap paper, as you’ll want to keep this sheet for future reference and loose paper is prone to damage or loss.
Now you are going to make a series of different marks on the sheet and write the method of creation next to each mark, as a useful future reference.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Load the fan and stroke it across the paper, to give a broad stripy line. Wiggling the brush creates a varied line.
- Zigzag the brush
- Stipple – hold the brush perpendicular to the paper and dab the tips of the bristles on to the paper give a broken line. Holding the brush at an angle will give curved shapes. Overlapping the marks with another colour will produce interesting variations.
- Hold the brush perpendicular to the paper. Stroke it away from you and then to one side so that the initial thin line becomes thicker and stripy.
- Flick the brush away from you in overlapping strokes of different lengths
- Take advantage of the curve of the fan by resting the tip of the brush on the paper and then lift off. Repeat.
- Twirl the brush.
- Wipe off excess paint and then make short delicate strokes
- Print with the brush. You could layer and overlap with different fan sizes.
- Try combining different marks to suggest a texture or subject
Continue to experiment with your fan brush to discover other interesting marks. Review the marks you’ve already made – are they reminiscent of anything? Perhaps that horizontal mark suggesting rippling water could also be employed vertically as a basis for tree bark texture?
As with any brush, practice will give control and understanding of its capabilities.
Further uses of your fan brush
Dippers, Acrylic on board, 34 x 24 ins (87 x 61 cm)
Once you know what marks fan brushes will make, you can use them to create various shapes and textures in a single painting. In my painting of Dippers, a fan generated long flowing lines for the water, flicked marks created the frothy spray and the rock texture was stippled.
