Every artist who uses acrylic paints knows that choosing the best brushes for acrylic painting is essential!

Finding a good, sturdy and reliable brush is so important for revealing all of acrylics’ best properties.

A correctly chosen brush will help you lay down your paint easily, making any kind of stroke in the technique you use, while creating the most stunning outcome.

If you’re interested in learning how to paint with acrylic paint, using a good quality brush since the beginning will only help you speed up the process.

And having several good brushes is a must for creating stunning paintings!

The quality of brushes is even more important than the quality of the paint itself, because brushes affect the way the paint will be laid on your canvas.

But how do you actually choose the right brushes for acrylic painting on canvases when there are so many of them to choose from? This article is meant to help you with this challenge.

What types of brushes are there?

The easiest way to divide the brushes is by their shape (and purpose).

• Round brushes can be thinner, thicker or designed specifically for tiny details (these ones are usually called detail round or pointed round).

Round brushes are the most well-known and versatile. Due to their shape and their edge they can give you control over both small details and thick lines.

They’re the best when used for outlining, filling in small areas, controlled washes, blending and sketching. The thinnest ones of them are wonderful for spotting, lettering and other cases of controlled lines.

• Flat.

They are also divided into regular flat brushes and angular flat ones.

Regular flat brushes have square ends and are used for fine lines, stripes, washes and bold strokes. Also they’re the best and most convenient option for varnishing. They are extremely good for filling wide, large spaces carefully.

Angular flat brushes have angled hairs at their ends and are great for curved strokes and filling corners easily. They have both tiny tip that can reach small areas and the ability to cover lots of space (and science tells us that angled sides are longer than straight ones).

• Filbert.

These ones are sort of a hybrid between round and flat brushes, because they are flat, have oval-shaped ends and long hairs.

They are extremely good for blending and drawing leaves/ petals/ ornament details. Thanks to their shape, filbert brushes can create a wide variety of marks, are able to cover a lot of space and fill in small details.

• Fan brushes are called like that because they’re flat, with their hairs spread wide, which makes the brush look like a fan.

Mostly used for watercolor paintings, they actually are very useful in acrylic painting as well (if they have sturdy, stiff hairs). They are extremely effective in creating textures like clouds, grass, leaves on trees and abstract paintings. Also great for blending and smoothing colors.

• Bright flat brushes are another type of flat brushes, they’re squared and have shorter bristles than all of the other flat brushes.

They aren’t too good for canvas painting, because they don’t have too much spring to them and are better for working up close, that’s why we won’t be talking about them much.

So, the best brushes for acrylic painting on canvas are those with long handles and stiff bristles. Another option for some techniques is a palette knife.

What brushes have stiff bristles?

Made out of stiff natural bristles – brushes like that are also often used for oil painting, since oil is a very thick medium as well.

Although luxurious sable brushes are an exception in that case, because due to their fast drying property, acrylic paints have to be wet all the time, and this moist will easily ruin the fibers.

So your choice can be hog bristle brushes. Another option for acrylics (and the most dearly loved by me) are synthetic brushes: sturdy, springy, easy to wash. Natural bristles will give you a heavier texture, while synthetic ones will produce flat paint trails.

Related:

Best Paint Additive To Slow Drying Time For Oils And Acrylics,

The 12 Necessary Acrylic Paint Colors For Beginners | And What To Use Them For.

What size brushes do you need to work on canvas?

Actually, any size. You’ll definitely need a variety of small to larger ones, to paint small details and to cover big areas or painting backgrounds.

If you don’t know yet what your preferred technique and style is, you’re going to have to try all of them, before you understand which one you like and use the most.

The size of every brush is indicated by a number on its handle, from 000 to bigger ones. This number means how thick (or thin) the brush is at its heel, where the hair meets the ferrule. And it doesn’t, in fact, indicate how thick the produced line will be, because the final line thickness depends on the way you hold the brush, the pressure you apply, the angle in which this brush is held and the flexibility of its hair.

So, basically, what numbers indicate whether the brush is “thin”, “thick” or “very thick”. So you can’t measure what line would it be and how many strokes will it take to cover the entire canvas from that.

All I can recommend is to use your artistic instinct and build up your priceless experience by trying the brushes out yourself.

What are the best brushes for acrylic painting on canvas that I can recommend?

Adi’s Art 10 Brushes Set for Acrylic, Oil & Watercolor

This wonderful set of brushes features everything you will need for acrylic painting on canvas.

They are affordable brushes, but this fact doesn’t affect their quality, since they’re made out of high-quality materials.

Their non-shedding hand-picked synthetic bristles are durable and very easy to clean. Their ferrules are rust resistant and made of light aluminum oxide. And the birch wood handles are long-lasting, convenient and feel extremely good in your hand.

The brushes are designed to hold a lot of paint and to maintain their shape no matter how roughly you use them (still it’s best to use them carefully). They won’t shed on your paintings or have any stray hair that might ruin your strokes.

Even though this set isn’t huge, it still has a lot of variety in it:

• 2 flat brushes
• 2 angled brushes,
• 3 filbert brushes,
• 2 versatile round brushes and one rigger brush (another name for a very thin round brush).

And you can also use them for another kinds of paints: oil, watercolor, gouache or body paints.

This quality, variety and versatility can satisfy even professional artists. Another thing that will make an artist fall for this particular kit is their design: a combination of black and silver colors is outstanding, eye-catching and makes you want to hold and use them more and more and put them in a very visible place.

Maestro Series Professional Paint Brushes for Artists with Carry Case Travel Kit by D’Artisan Shoppe

15 brushes set will give you lots of options to explore and practice whatever technique and style you prefer.

It includes:

• 4 flat brushes,
• 1 angled brush,
• 3 round brushes
• 1 rigger brush,
• 4 filbert brushes,
• 1 fan brush,
• and 1 wide brush – a huge variety of choices for painting both tiny details and large spaces.

And they are not only great for their variety – but for the extremely good quality too. They won’t shed on your work. There won’t be any loose or stray hairs to mess up your paintings. And you simply won’t get frustrated over any of these annoying experiences.

They are made to last, to hold up paint very well, to work with other materials, not just acrylic paints, and they are also extremely easy to wash and clean. You’ll spend much less time cleaning them, and they will not mess up your paints with another unwanted pigments that don’t come off easily.

Their design is elegant and satisfying, and there’s another great thing: they come together with a sturdy, convenient and lightweight brush holder. You will be able to carry them around easily, store them conveniently, and you will not be afraid of losing any of them somewhere.

Also, here are couple of other nice sets that can also be useful for you.

Art Paint Brushes Set by Mont Marte

A set of various sizes and various shapes, that features round, fan, flat, angled and filbert brushes – 15 in total – to satisfy your every need.

They are wonderful with acrylics, and their long handles make them perfect for working on canvas.

Handmade with care, they provide the best professional quality: the finest materials were used, no bristled will be shed and left behind on your painting, the hair is smooth, well-picked and sealed reliably in an aluminum ferrule.

The brushes come in a very convenient portable zippered holder to store and easily take them with you wherever you go. It will help you organize your working space and keep the brushes safe and in good condition.

Have you been worried that your brushes may get lost or damaged while you are traveling or just carrying them around? Well, these ones will totally serve you well for a long time and won’t get lost.

Artist Paint Brush Set of 15 Different Shapes & Sizes by Benicci 

Originally meant for watercolors, these brushes are also extremely good with acrylic paints.

The set is stored in a sturdy and beautiful case for your convenience and safety of the brushes. It includes 15 brushes of different types (angled, flat, filbert, fan and round) and a couple of bonuses: palette knife for mixing or applying paint right on the canvas, and watercolor sponge. Which makes this set the perfect tool to help you fulfill your ideas.

You can use these brushes for small details, for big areas, for the uncomfortable corners – wherever you want to. The high-quality springy nylon hair will not fall out due to the very secure ferrule, and the handles will feel nice and comfortable in your hand no matter what style and technique you prefer to work in.

Despite being pretty affordable, this set has a really good quality and won’t let you down. It’s suitable even for professional artists.

The last thing you need to know from this article is how to keep your brushes clean:

You probably know that acrylic paints dry very quickly and they can damage your brush if they dry on it completely. So please don’t forget to dip your brushes in the water if you make small pauses during work, and to clean them thoroughly after you’re done for today or in general.

Don’t leave them bristles down in the water even for a short period of time, because this position will cause their hair to wear out pretty quickly and damage the shape of the brush.

How to clean brushes after a painting session?

• Put the bristles between some napkins or a paper towel (or a rag if you’re using one specifically for paint, don’t use your own clothes!) and squeeze out all of the remaining paint. Don’t do it too hard, just squish the bristles lightly.
• Flap your brush a little in the water once again to be sure that you removed all the visible paint, and then lightly and gently shake the water off.
• Rinse the brush under running water, don’t be afraid to use your fingers a little to squeeze the bristles and remove even more paint (there could be a lot of it left in between the hairs).
• Use some soap to wash the bristles. You can buy special brush soap or use some regular hand-washing soap. Some artists even recommend a 1:1 mixture of a dish-washing soap and vegetable oil from your kitchen. Oil is used to keep the bristles springy and sturdy after using soap on them. And don’t forget to rinse it all off completely! There are also such things as brush-cleaning liquids, and you can try them out as well.
• If you need, repeat the previous steps until all the paint is gone. Then shake your brush to get rid of the water, squeeze it out with a paper towel or a napkin and place them horizontally to dry.

Done!

You know everything you need about choosing your perfect brushes and taking care of them.

Now you can go ahead and use this knowledge in life to create masterpieces – and every work is a masterpiece when created with love!

Hanna is an artist, poet and musician who lives in Minsk, Belarus. She loves food, cats, gigs and esoteric stuff.

Author: Hanna Martsynkevich

Artist and Writer