Cheap Synthetic Brushes Vs. Expensive Sable Paintbrushes- Microscope examination!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ส.ค. 2023
- Take a look at some common paintbrushes under the microscope! It's fun to see the differences between cheap and expensive paint brushes. Is it worth it to buy natural hair brushes, or is golden taklon (synthetic) good enough? My focus is on miniature painting, but the information in this video will be useful for a range of hobbies.
In this video I look at plaid folk art, sax optimum, the army painter hobby brushes, games workshop citadel paintbrushes, windsor & newton series7, monument pro sable, da vinci maestro, squidmar MK I, and more!! I even tease a bit of how to clean a dirty paintbrush ;-)
Most of the sample brushes shown in this video were bought by me locally in the past week.
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Disclaimer: two of the brushes which appear briefly in this video were sent to me as free samples by their distributor (monument and squidmar). I have received free samples from the army painter as well, but those samples do not appear in this video.
I got the idea for this video from chat while hanging out on Twitch! I'm in the habit of streaming on twitch Sunday afternoons ~~ 3pm EST. See ya there! :-) www.twitch.tv/goobertown_hobbies
I have been anticipating this since that stream! Bravo great video!
hey Goobertown you mentioned that you restored some brushes using just 'rubbing alchohol' and the results looked decent. You got a video showing how you do that ?
Remember: Dont do twitch kids
Thank you for doing this buying / painting guide!!
TIMESTAMPS for the paintbrushes' brands (I did not include prices, since those can change depending on the country you live and whether you are watching this video now or in the future):
SYNTHETIC PAINTBRUSHES
0:50 Eve Wand Makeup Brush (Disposable eyeliner)
1:10 One Happy Choice - Size 00
1:28 Plaid / Folk Art Golden Taklon
1:53 Sax Optimum - Size 0
2:54 Sax Optimum - Size 6 (for basecoats)
3:12 Artist's Loft Vienna No. 1
3:51 Army Painter Hobby: Highlighting
4:19 Citadel STC Base S (for basecoats)
4:51 Citadel Base S (small, blend of synthetic and natural hair bristles)
NATURAL PAINT BRUSHES
5:33 Army Painter Wargamer: Regiment
6:30 Army Painter Kolinsky Masterclass (ideal for eyeballs)
6:51 Winsdor & Newton Series7 - Size 1
7:20 Citadel Artificer Layer XS
8:15 Microscope examination
I would absolutely love to see a video with your process of how you rehab those older brushes, they look great when you were done with them!
Yep. Rehab and brush cleaning care tips/process would be priceless.
I intend on making this video for sure! The quick answer is rubbing alcohol to get the gunk out, and brush soap to condition them a bit.
@@GoobertownHobbieswill try this
+1 for a video about the brushes and/or? Paint rehab.
Would also love to see Goobs work here. Midwinter Minis has a nice video on this, also.
As a laboratory scientist, i just wanna say your slide prep is just fine.
so many air bubbles! ;-) thanks though, I appreciate it
@@GoobertownHobbies if you're prepping more in the future, it can be helpful to touch down one side of the coverslip first, then drop it from that angle. Also "pre-cleaned" slides are rarely that clean.
Also a lab scientist, and seconding this. You did fine. The really pretty slides you see in publications are the ones that turned out GREAT and got saved in a "fit for publication" folder somewhere, where the rest got turned into aggregated data and used in a graphical form. The stars really have to align just right for a slide to have no bubbles or other problems of any kind, and for the light to turn out just the way you want it.
Yeah, in my lab we typically use a mounting robot for our slides but when you have to mount manually it never turns out as good as with the robot.
The cats are on top form this episode
always :-)
My father trained as a sign writer back when it was still done by hand. I still have some of his fine detail brushes from the 1960s. He always said 'Look after your brushes and they will look after you.' He meant always keep them clean. I am often surprised at how many mini painters don't clean and store sable brushes after each session. My father also said professional tools don't make you a better artisan, but they do allow you to do the job with less trouble.
As a signwriter myself, $28 for a brush is actually cheap, I myself own some $200+ brushes, I not only clean them regularly but also re-oil them, and some of my brushes are over 15yrs old and are still close to perfect
@@matthewroderique7468 My late father would be happy to hear the craft still exists. Yeah. The brushes expensive to the mini painting community are not really expensive at all, and they can still last years with the correct care because we should only really be using them for the detail work.
@@matthewroderique7468 I’ve never heard of oiling a brush. Would you mind explaining it? I always clean my sable brushes with Master’s soap after each use, but I’d love to step up my brush care.
I feel that a good brush raises the ceiling of what you can do, but if you don't have the skill to take advantage of the increased quality it's not going to help.
@@BalooSJ great point, yes I still have cheap brushes but for high end work a good brush is essential
People within Games Workshop have revealed that GW-brushes are in-fact just rebranded Winsor & Newton brushes.
ah yes! I remember hearing that. This makes sense, they even come in the same plastic tubes! :-)
Yeah that "lead bristle" on the GW brush is common in W&N brushes as well.
For content: Could you test the adage (that for example squidmar is saying) that you should use cheap brushes for metallics, because it messes them up or destroys them for other non metallic color use? I think the microscope could be very beneficial here. Testing old wifes tales as an idea, or like hobby myth busters.
I'd love to see that!
Metallics apparently contain very large pigment particles, and from my experience, they dry and goop up the brush very quickly and are quite difficult to clean. I can’t say if they do lasting damage to the brush, but you don’t want to get them up in the ferrule, as that will be very hard to remove.
Need that scope to paint eyes.
Only the bad workman blame his tools
Your hand movements wouldn’t be fine enough for it to work. You’d barely move your hand and you’d have the brush totally out of frame.
@@comlitbeta7532Excited to see your video painting minis with a 2" flat nylon paint brush from Home Depot. ;)
@comlitbeta7532 That's only true to a certain point, if your vision is weak for example, then you certainly need good tools to make up for it, such as a magnifier and probably a good pair of glasses, regardless of your overall skills.
I'll try it someday for lols :-)
I'm a traditional painter, and this is probably the best video ive seen on brush comparisons. Really knocking it out of the park here on how the different brush fibers interact. might need to pick up some of those $0.07 brushes for single use fine detail work.
Pretty neat, eh? :-)
YES, some OG Goobertown nerdery! This is my kinda shit. And I know some watercolor artists who will love this one, so I'll get sharing. ❤
yay!!! thank you finkel pruh!
@@GoobertownHobbies I got you, little brother 🥰
Here's a tip for your tool box/ For clipping off those errant strands of fibre on old brushes, use nail clippers. The curved shape of the blade allows you to be selective about the strands you want to clip and they are sharp enough to take that fibre out.
Ahhh yes this is such a good tip! I use some cuticle nippers myself, the pointed end and plier-like grip I can hold them with means I can be super precise 😊. I also like to gently grab the rogue strand with tweezerman pointed tweezers to isolate it and make sure I'm not catching anything else - cheaper tweezers would probably be fine but I only buy tweezerman ones because they stay really sharp while also being grippy enough because of the shape of them I think? The point is very precise but the inner surfaces are flat against each other when you close them so you can get hold of really fine hairs/fibres without just chopping them like I've found cheaper tweezers to do 🙃
What a fantastic video! Educational, entertaining, and original also? meta breaking.
Gotta love the orange floof trying to get pets while you were filming this 😍
I bought like 100 synthetic brushes for less than $10. They are great for base coating (you dont generally need precision) even when their tips start to bend. They are also great for paints and effect paints that you dont want to expose to your nicer brushes (texture paints, rust paint, oil, ect). Everyone should have at least a pack of these as sacrificial brushes.
yupyup, synthetics are perfect for basecoats!
And also, you avoid cruelty to animals.
Stuff like this is why I love Goobs, just a quick interesting dive into something a lot of us wouldn't think of.
You can get the sax green brushes from a school supply wholesaler in the US for ~.50 each! Give it a quick goog
that's who I order from, in the ~6 packs they come out closer to 90 cents... but maybe the price wanders a bit?
@@GoobertownHobbies It could very well differ by size and time of year for sure!
I really appreciate the scientific approach to this question. I have constantly asked myself if I was going about things the wrong way preferring synthetic brushed(mostly for the cost point). I also really appreciate you saying the brushes that you use the most!!!!
I'd love to see you use that microscope to show how brushes and paint interact with the model as its being applied, from regular paints, to glazes, and contrasts.
I'll have to experiment to see what neat stuff can be observed :-)
Great video!
I would love to see you paint on a plastic sheet under the microscope with different brushes!
This is a good idea- actually I bet it would be easy to just paint directly on a glass slide... I bought a box of 100, gotta do something with the rest of them! :-)
@@GoobertownHobbies You should look at how different paint finishes (matte, satin, gloss) and primer are under the scope. Great Video!
@@GoobertownHobbiesI'd be especially interested in seeing paint bead up on over-primed surfaces vs a proper coat. Or maybe the difference between air brush vs hobby-specific vs Krylon.
Awesome idea
I love how we can take a nerdy hobby and make it even nerdier. It amazes me where my attention will be pull.
I love your painting science videos. These scratch some itch for me. Could you show us your deep clean routine? I might save some brushes from my "rough up or let my child use" pot.
indeed! time for us all to do some deep cleans 🙂
@@GoobertownHobbies , my niece (11-12 years old) paints a lot but she does NOT take care of her brushes. It hurts to see the state they are in.
The other nice thing about those eye brushes, when they don't work on paint anymore, you get a bunch of pieces to build with after cutting off the dead brush. Makes great handles for swords and such
I love when chemistry nerds talk about polymers!
If you'd asked me "what would you like to see in hobby videos?" I would not have said this.
But when you ask "do you want to watch a Goobertown microscope exam of brushes?" the answer is "OH HELL YES, right now, please!!"
hehehehehehehee :-)
@@GoobertownHobbies You in full science mode hits that same spot as those video tours of pencil making factories. Ahhhhh... 🧘
Hell yeah man, bringing the science to mini painting. Love it!
See ya in Texas next week!
Goobertown doing the hard work to dig up the answers we didn’t know we needed. Thanks, Brent!
The extreme closeup of both hairs, combined with the side biy side of the older brushes before and after cleaning, was really striking.
A very "ah ha!' Moment in the difference between the two.
This was awesome! And just to explain that feeling of strength you get from natural hair, the reason for their durability is elasticity coming from the layered structure. The synthetic strands are made from nearly uniform material making them inherently more susceptible to permanent bending and breaking.
Now there is a company called Escoda that claims to make synthetic brushes that perfectly replicate behavior of natural hair but I have yet to try them as they can cost as much or even more than sable.
Also, my favorite brush so far is Raphael 8404 size 4, I highly recommend that series.
that's really cool! now I want to buy a more expensive microscope and start looking at cross-sections of hairs and bristles :-) Thanks for the information, I'm really curious about the advancements in synthetic brushes!
Your lab assistants are great. 😼
I love my W&N Series 7 brushes, they just feel soft and delicious to paint with :D
Ive had huge success with W&N series 7 and Raphael Kolonsky sables both have lived through years of punishing use.
good to know! thanks for sharing your experience :-)
Actually the most useful video on brushes of all time
the cats, the topic, that was awesome. you always bring great ideas!
Always such a pleasure to get the notification for your videos. They cut through the noise of a lot of hobby content by being informative, non-clickbaity and full of personality, truly in a league of their own.
Agreed about the rush of seeing a notification from Goobertown. I also think it helps that he doesn't flood us with updates just for the sake of it; you know when there's an update that it's going to be high quality.
awww, thanks for hangin out! 🙂
Have you tried a “synthetic kolinsky” brush before? I snagged some at the local artist supply store for ~$7-9/brush and found they were solid performers. Wear out faster than my natural hair brushes but had better performance than the mid tier gold taklon I was using before. There seems to be an industry push to find a way to make better synthetics to avoid all the issues that come with Russian weasels.
I'll keep an eye out for these, good quality synthetics are definitely needed. It's hard to tell when it's just marketing hype or when the synthetics actually are something new and different... Let me know if you have a recommended brand! 🙂
@@GoobertownHobbies I have had good luck with the Princeton “Velvetouch” line so far - found them at Artist & Craftsman in Portland. They have a pretty dizzying array of options there at every price-point so it was hard to decide.
nice! well... that's on my list of things to do this week hehehe@@mattcongdon3283
Thanks for this. I think a brush maintenance and cleaning video would be helpful to your audience.
Next, a video about a paint brush made from free and easily obtainable cat hair, and how paint brushes are made.
someday, someday :-)
I have been very happy with my Rosemary and Co. Kolinsky sable brushes, which cost $8-9. Sadly, I don't have a microscope like yours to see how neat they really are.
I bet they look similar to some of the other nice Sable brushes in this vid- I'm glad that you have some brushes you enjoy!! :-)
Rosemary and Co brushes are really hard to get in the US
I wish that were not the case!
@@michaelreste That's a shame. They are really good and cheap for what they are.
Thank you for doing this buying / painting guide!!
Yeah!
This was so educational. As a miniature painter for years I'd heard that natural brushes were better, and now I see why.
kinda cool to see, right? :-)
@@GoobertownHobbies Heck yes. Again thanks. It will definitely factor into my next brush buying decisions.
my favourite kind o' Goobertown video. I do love me your hobby science!
Thank you for doing the hobby sience for us, very informative and easy to understand ... really appreciated 😊
Love this. As others have said, would love to see your routine for both caring and rehabbing brushes. Thanks for the video!
I get the impression that brushes marketed as specialized tools for mini painting generally give you less value for money than brushes from non-specialized brands. It does make sense economically, as they operate in a space where there's less competition (game store vs. art supplies store) and they do provide some value for the buyer by explicitly informing them that a specific brush is suitable for the intended task. If you're going to be painting base coats, a brush that's marketed as being good for base coats is probably a decent choice. It might be functionally identical to a no. 5 brush from a general brand that 30% cheaper, but if you don't know enough about brushes to tell that they're basically the same, you might want to pay the extra 43% to be able to stay in the store where you just bought a mini and not run the risk that you buy something that just doesn't do what you want it to.
It also fits my anecdotal observation that many people switch to general art brands once they have enough experience to know what they're looking for.
Thank you for the deep dive on the different types of brushes
Brent do a video about surface structures of the different materials minis are made of under the microscope, metal , different plastics, resin, etc that eould be interesting especially how primer adheres or even fills up irregularities on the surface. You could even do microscopic imaged of different painting methods, washes, blends, drybrushing, layering, stippeling, etc. You just opened a whole new range of videos for your channel.
dang that's a good idea!! texture of primers... hmmm yess...
Always providing a fresh perspective on an old topic. Thanks so much.
the two creatures of the warp watch you with great interest
I'm really loving the deep dives into the science and finer physical details of our mini painting hobby.
So I'm guessing we're looking at paints next? You could probably even do different episodes for different types of paint. A video for oil paints, an acrylics episode, washes, metallics, panel liners! The list goes on and on!
I like the scientific aspect of this video, even if naught but overkill ;)
as for brushes, I stick with artist brands. more reliable, easy to get from stores, consistent quality, and affordable. I had a lot of bad experience with so called "miniature painting brands".
i love the shots where the cat is intently looking at the brush or what's going on under the microscope.
would lay odds there's an out take or two of little kitteh paws trying to bat the brush off that little holder.
I really appreciate kitty's dedication to science! Awesome vid as always
I was a huge stickler for cheap brushes until I ran out of brushes that didn't have hooks in them and noticed my one regiment Army Painter brush still had a pointy tip for a bit after it was cleaned. I eventually caved and obtained a W&N Series 7 and I'm blown away at how durable and responsive it is. Going to have to crunch out some more commissions to afford some more ha!
that regiment brush was a surprise. I've used several of them, but never really appreciated them until I put it under the microscope!
You're doin the lord's work. Thanks Brent. ❤
Nothing like some sweet hobby science to get you ready for the week.
that's the spirit :-)
Would love to see different metallic paints and their flake size under a microscope
This was really cool to see! Thanks for the deep dive into brush basics!
Our hobby is pretty from the get go. This even more geeky. I Love It. Science. Knowledge. Fun.
*geeky is missing.
Let's get down on that
"GOOBERTOWN!"
One thing I've always wondered: how does the water used to thin the paint affect it?
Is it better to use hard water, soft water, or even distilled water? What about things you can add to it, from cheap detergent to professional flow improver?
Admittedly, that's probably because the water I use is pretty hard, and I want to blame it for everything that goes wrong.
I've seen the folks using flow improver / soap, and that seems like a neat idea. I dunno if pH has much of an effect or not... it's probably not worth the effort of trying to buffer whatever comes out of your tap though ;-)
This is the best brush video I've ever seen and your research assistants are adorable. Can't wait to see what other use cases you come up with for the microscope!
Brent strikes again! Love how you approach the hobby with a scientific mind to provide to us amazing information that we can't find anywhere else but here! Thanks for taking the time to investigate the brushes and the treasure trove of information you've provided!
Love the research vids. Great stuff Goobs!
I really love these in-depth experiments with hobby products and also the scientific explanations. Great stuff.
Been looking forward to this!
Very cool video. Thank you.
Awesome video as always!!!
Man you went the extra mile with this one, congratulations I love when you mix science with our favourite hobby!
Thank you for making this. VERY COOL!
This is very interesting. Thanks for showing us this microscope images.
This was awesome, thanks!
This was really educational! Thank you for setting up the test : )
Always learning, it is cool to be a nerd. This is cool
Years ago, I abandoned GW brushes for Windsor Newton Series 7 and my painting immediately improved.
Never looked back, especially because GW stopped making my favorite drybrush like 15 years ago.
The Citadel Artificer brushes are actually just rebranded WN Series 7s
@@Kafeenuk
So when I abandoned GW brushes, they didn't sell an artificer brush.
GW only had crappy brushes that lasted about 20 seconds before they splayed out and were useless back then.
@@Kafeenuk They may come from the same manufacturer but they aren't the same brushes.
@@JayAdan The folks up at Windsor and Newton make a lot of brushes for a lot of companies. Different companies will be ordering to different tolerances. Happens a lot in industry i imagine. Same goes for paints. The company making GW paints very likely also makes for other companies that you may prefer. Its a small world once you get out of the shop that sells paints/arts and crafts etc. The Channel Painting Phase has a great interview with a former GW highup/product designer. Very illuminating. Should be required listening really for anyone interested in anything even tangentally GW. My fave tidbit, the company that makes GW's retributor gold (literally best gold paint) also makes for Rolls Royce, but GW have it made to HIGHER specifcation.
When you think about it it means that there are legions of Sigmarines out there with objectively higher quality paint on than the millionaires Rolls Royces do. :)
Fantastic video. Lots of top information thankee
Brent "I'm gonna use it to paint eyeballs."
Kitty: "Get away from me! Get *away* from me!"
This was incredibly interesting. To me, the synthetic bristles not only look more fragile, but also less... puffy? Seems like natural brushes could keep more paint in the belly.
yeah! It's cool to see this stuff in a new way :-)
Yes. I was going to ask about their ability to hold paint. I would have thought it had to do with the microstructure of the bristles, but you might need a scanning electron microscope to see the surface of the hairs, which are _not_ sub-$200 microscopes.
Just wanted to say I genuinely enjoy your content. Relaxing, educational, and enjoyable. So yeah, thanks for doing this.
I'd love to see a video of a loaded brush applying paint to a miniature under the microscope, to see the fluid dynamics and forces involved in the capillary action and paint transfer, bristle deflection, etc. Also, a microscope close up of the soap and chemicals cleaning an old brush. Maybe a stress test to see how much pressure a bristle can take before it breaks or deforms, to help get a sense of manual techniques?
There's a lot of invisible factors you could reveal by painting a mini and washing a brush under a microscope.
Great video, loved the work you put into this.
Such a great video, as always. Yay hobby science :)
Ty very much for your time and effort. Looking forward to the next one 😊
The video I never knew I wanted, thank you sir !
We really need more science based channels for miniature painting. There are 100's of video on blending, but only a few that explain why and how flow improver does what it does or examine brushes under a microscope.
JUST bought one of these microscopes to paint with and while it didn't do what I wanted, it does what it does incredibly!
pretty cool, eh? :-)
Are you painting tiny, miniature paintings with your microscope?
Nice work Brent!
Much appreciated!
You have a great channel brother. It’s not easy to do this day in day out. Whenever it gets tough, keep it up and never stop! Keep the creative juices going and pumping out videos. You have my support all the way, I’m gonna become a patreon today. Thanks again for the hard work and great videos.
Great vid Brent! Very helpful
This was fascinating. Thank you.
I, also, sit in my car outside the hobby shop and have a quick panic attack thinking about the damage I'm about to do to my bank account.
it's tradition! :-)
Loved this video! Keep it up!
Amazing video. As a man of science I can really appreciate it. You can see a groove down the sable hairs.
Thanks for the video brother, very informative!
One of the best informative vids in this channel!
Great video. Synthetics have definitely come a long way to replicating a natural hair brush, but they’re not quite equal yet in my opinion. Would really appreciate a video going through how you restore and condition the brush as you’d give good insight into reasoning
It appears they can't completely avoid getting bubbles into the polymer mix in the extrusion process. If they can solve that, then they'd be much more on par. (Better quality synthetics get close to doing so.) It's the little bubbles that cause breaks or weaken things as the synthetic fiber narrows from being stretched out.
If you look into how "wet spinning" works, then that likely gives a good idea of what is going on when they make the fibers.
Great video - thank you! You do such educational vids for which I am grateful
Thank you very much for this great video! 🤩👍
This is why your videos are so awesome. You presented a unique and intelligent take on answering this age old hobby question and made me feel like I can actually make more well-informed decisions now. Thank you!!
I love that yhis video is very informative, insightful and does not need a clickbait title!
thanks for watchin! :-)
@@GoobertownHobbies you are welcome!