How to choose the best watercolour brush

It is well known that selecting a good watercolour brush is essential for achieving the result you desire, as well as for enjoying the entire creative process. To choose the right brush, you need to know all the available shapes, as well as the types of natural hair and fibres, the stiffness and elasticity of each, and the different sizes that will make it fit your style as closely as possible.

Brush shapes

Which are the most commonly used brush shapes in watercolour? Below, we’ll name a few of them, but of course there are many more you can discover as you become more familiar with the type of work you feel most comfortable with.

Round Pointed: the essential brush for watercolorists, since its conical belly allows it to hold a good amount of water and pigment (depending on the hair or fibre used), while its tip enables you to create various details and fine lines. This duality offers the artist the possibility of creating a complete work with just one medium-sized brush.

Bright & Flat: characterized by its straight shape, it’s the perfect complement to a round brush. It’s used to cover large areas of colour, create gradients, and produce fine edges and lines when used on its side. Ideal for painting backgrounds, for rather geometric figures, and for certain architectural elements.

Filbert: we could define it as a blend of the bright brush’s wide body and the round brush’s more oval shape. This shape provides expressiveness and control and is mainly used in floral watercolour painting.

Rigger: if you’re looking for a brush for details that require a long yet controlled stroke, this brush will be your best ally. With its slender body and long bristles, it’s used for marine watercolors, branches, wiring, hair, etc.

Round Mop: very similar to a round brush but with more body and a fuller belly, which gives it greater absorption and retention capacity. For this reason, it is used by artists who have already mastered the technique to some extent and by those who love working with large amounts of water.

Natural hair or synthetic fibre

When choosing a watercolor brush, it’s important to know the different types of natural hair and synthetic fibers available. There are differences in absorption, brushstroke, maintenance, and price. We recommend our article “How to Choose Between Natural and Synthetic Brushes for Watercolor Painting” to learn in depth about the characteristics of each.

Hardness, Absorption, and Spring

These qualities determine how the brush behaves.

Stiffness: soft hair or fibres allow for smooth strokes, while a stiffer brush provides firmness, control, and precision.

Spring: the brush’s ability to return to its original shape after pressure is applied to the working surface, as well as the elasticity it offers during the stroke. When a brush has good spring, it provides greater control and precision, making it ideal for detailed work or specific styles that require expressive brushstrokes. Even so, too much spring can make strokes less fluid.

Absorption: this characteristic is significant and refers to the ability to retain water and pigment. Brushes with higher absorption are generally better for washes or for those who work with a lot of water, while those with lower retention can be more optimal for greater control and for working on more detailed illustrations.

Size

The brush size is numbered on the handle (they typically range from #3/0 to #30 or more in some cases). The number is just a way to classify a specific brush size, so the most important thing is to know the hair’s thickness (diameter) and length out (bristle extension).

Small sizes (from #3/0 to #4) are ideal for short strokes such as details or fine lines, without carrying too much water or pigment.

Medium-sized brushes (from #6 to #10) offer greater versatility with each stroke, allowing you to experiment more with brushwork and cover larger areas, as well as create finer details with the tip.

Large sizes (from #12 to #30 or larger) are typically used for larger formats or for creating backgrounds and washes.

In any case, with a brush of each size in the shape that best suits your artistic needs, you could finish a an artwork.

Artist level

Not all brushes are suitable for every stage of the learning process.

At first, the most important thing is to understand how water and pigment behave. As you gain confidence in your brushstrokes, the brush becomes an extension of your own hand, allowing for greater precision, expressiveness, and control.

If you are starting out, we recommend using brushes with a normal water load and good nerve, as they will offer you precision and help you have control over each stroke. Barroco or Prado can be a good starting point.

If you have mastered the technique a little more, we recommend brushes that allow more water and pigment loading and allow you to play a little more with your wrist, such as the Versàtil or Perla series.

Finally, if you are looking for a professional brush, the synthetic-natural series Chronos cannot be missing on your case. On the other hand, if you want to work with large quantities of water, Último and Último Evolution will be your best allies. If you are used to work with natural hair, Reserva, Óptimo and Aquario can be great options too.

All brushes, whether natural or synthetic or with more or less absorption, can be ideal for your type of work and painting skills. It’s a matter of trying and choosing the one that best suits you based on all the characteristics mentioned earlier in this article.

That’s all for the explanation of every detail of the fundamental characteristics of a watercolor brush! We hope this content helps you choose the brush that best suits your artistic needs.

In the end, painting becomes a very personal experience, and the brush is a fundamental part of it. At Escoda, we encourage you to try different options and find the tools that truly suit you and your style.